Sada-e-Watan
Sydney ™
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POLICE AMENDMENT (DEATH AND DISABILITY) BILL 2011
POLICE AMENDMENT (DEATH AND DISABILITY) BILL 2011
Debate resumed from 9 November 2011
The Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE [25.11.11-4.28 p.m.]: I reiterate Labor's opposition to the Police Amendment (Death and Disability) Bill 2011. This is a bill for an Act to amend the Police Act 1990 with respect to the death or disability of police officers; to amend consequentially the State Authorities Superannuation Act 1987 and the Industrial Relations Act 1996; to rescind consequentially industrial award provisions relating to payments for the death or disability of police officers; and for other purposes.
The objects of this bill, as we are informed, are as follows: to terminate the existing industrial award-based scheme for death and disability payments to police officers injured at work or off-duty; to replace that scheme with entitlements to death and disability payments in accordance with an approved insurance policy; to amend the Industrial Relations Act 1996 to remove the jurisdiction of the Industrial Relations Commission to make or vary industrial instruments that provide for death and disability payments in respect of police officers; and to make other consequential or ancillary amendments.
We in the Opposition are in solidarity with the 5,000 police officers who demonstrated their opposition yesterday, and we are with every one of the Police Force's 16,000 members who object to this bill. This bill simply has the effect of extinguishing the rights of police officers in times when they are most in need. How low can this Government get, hitting the men and women of our Police Force while they are down, injured and most vulnerable by taking away their entitlements, taking away moneys that would otherwise help them to recover and to receive necessary support while looking after their injuries? Irrespective of how severe their injuries are, or even if they die, the O'Farrell Government seeks to take away what is naturally the right compensation to provide. I encourage Government members to read the statements of police officers giving accounts of their suffering after being injured at work in the Police Association's bound statements titled "Protect the Police that Protect your Community".
Why is the Government introducing this bill? I believe, for one, the Government is doing the bidding of the big fat cats in insurance companies who have imposed a deadline. The Government has clearly put the interests of insurance companies ahead of protecting injured and disabled police officers. We know that insurance companies are making super profits and ought to return some of those profits to the people who invest in them, but no, the fat cats want more. So what does the Government do? It trades the wellbeing and livelihood of the men and women of the Police Force for a fistful of dollars to feed the ever-hungry fat cats of insurance companies. The O'Farrell Government is simply doing their dirty work. Whether it is a self-insurance scheme or whatever it is, the Government must ensure adequate support is provided to the men and women of the Police Force who are injured, disabled or killed in the line of service.
Further, this Government is clearly hell bent on destroying the Industrial Relations Commission. It has speared the Industrial Relations Commission in the guts with the Industrial Relations Amendment Bill, and now with this Police Amendment (Death and Disability) Bill 2011. It ultimately wants to use the inquiry into opportunities to amalgamate tribunals as a backdoor way to diminish the power and authority of the Industrial Relations Commission and the critical institution that it had become as key arbiter in industrial relations disputes.
In arguing for urgency and why the bill ought to be given priority over other bills the Minister, the Hon. Michael Gallacher, noted a number of reasons. I will not go through all of them but two reasons given for the matter being urgent were that the costs of the scheme are simply unsustainable and that the scheme merely offers a big cheque to injured officers. Clearly, the real object of the bill is to take proper compensation away from police officers who suffer death or disability, leaving their families struggling to make ends meet.
Yet again, the Government wants to ram through legislation that will deprive injured police officers of the benefits they have had in previous years. Many police officers go out every day and night putting their lives at risk. They are comforted by the fact that, should anything happen, the Government will look after them and their families through the existing scheme. That sense of security or reassurance will no longer exist. That protection will be watered down, diminishing final compensation top-up payments. As the Minister said this morning on 702 ABC—I was listening to him—
The Hon. Michael Gallacher: What time?
The Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE: Early in the morning, at about 8 o'clock. As the Minister said on radio this morning, the proposition is that injured officers will get 100 per cent salary for six months after injury and 75 per cent for the next five years for injury and disability. It is not clear what will happen after five years. Perhaps the Government believes that there will be a miracle recovery and disabled officers will simply pick themselves up, dust off their uniforms and hit the road. The Minister this morning referred to an independent assessment that he relied on. I have not seen it, but I would like to see that assessment and how the figures were worked out.
This Government is going about its business without proper and frank consultation with the Police Association.The Minister has tried hard to argue that he is talking to the Police Association; however, those who listened to the police at yesterday's rally have a completely different impression. The Government has introduced this bill in haste and is seeking to ram it through in this session of Parliament. This is far too serious a matter to be treated in such a fashion. Police officers feel disappointed, bewildered, dismayed and let down—and they have every right to. The officers have every right to be furious at planned changes to the death and disability scheme. The scheme has provided to them the support they deserve and the Government now seeks to restrict it. Helping police officers to get back to work is not a bad thing; what is bad, however, is the sneaky and underhanded approach that this Government has adopted in dealing with police without sufficient consultation. The president of the Police Association, Scott Weber, told the rally yesterday that Barry O'Farrell's Government had failed to negotiate a fair deal for police officers injured on duty and called on the Government to withdraw its death and disability bill from Parliament. I echo the president's sentiments.The Government should not add insult to injury by introducing this unacceptable bill.
The Hon. Shaoquett Moselmane MLC.
Parliament of New South Wales
Parliament House
Macquarie St, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
