Funding role in policing for Federal Government

Among the Police Federation of Australia council members and observers were: 1. PASA deputy president, Nick Pippos; 2. WA Police Union president, Mike Dean; 3. PFA president, Peter Alexander (SA); 4. Police Association (Victoria) secretary, Paul Mullet; 5. PASA committee member, Rick Day; 6. Queensland Police Union president, Gary Wilkinson; 7. PFA CEO, Mark Burgess; 8. PFA vice-president, Jon Hunt-Sharman (ACT); 9. PASA vice-president, Trevor Haskell; 10. Police Association of New Zealand president, Greg O’Connor; 11. PFA vice-president, Shane Butler (Vic); 12. PFA executive member, Randolph Wierenga (Tas); 13. PFA executive member, Ian Ball (NSW); 14. PFA consultant, Chris Hayes.

Governments that take a tough line on law and order must also increase police resources, according to Deputy Premier and Police Minister Kevin Foley. And for the sake of funding the police, health and education portfolios, he claimed recently, other ministries would have to “be a little more patient”.

“State governments have to be about defining what the core responsibilities are at a state level,” he said. “In our view, that is health, education and policing. You can’t do anything else in an economy, or a society, unless you’ve got civil order...”

Mr Foley insisted that, because only law enforcement could bring about that civil order, policing would always be “a major, if not the major priority of government”.

His comments came as he opened the annual Police Federation of Australia council meeting at the Radisson Hotel in Adelaide on November 10. Council members and police union observers had gathered from across Australia and New Zealand for the two-day meeting.

Speaker of the SA House of Assembly, Peter Lewis, also attended the meeting for its opening session.

As Mr Foley continued his address, he spoke of the states’ need for “greater Commonwealth (Government) involvement” in policing. He warned, however, that every portfolio represented a difficult relationship between the federal and state governments.

“I think there is a growing feeling that...the Commonwealth accepts that there needs to be more responsibility,” he said. “They want to have more jurisdictional responsibility – that’s got to come with more money and access to better resources.

“But it would be wrong of me to simply say that the Commonwealth should put more money on the table unless we, as states, are prepared to do the same.”

Police Federation of Australia president, Peter Alexander – who chaired the meeting – said issues such as global terrorism had changed Canberra’s thinking on policing.

“Those things have made the Federal Government realize it has to have a greater stake in law enforcement and, with that, of course, goes the responsibility to fund,” he said.

“It’s the richest government in the country, so it’s important that we have federal government money to supplement state government police budgets.”

With the meeting opened, Mr Alexander delivered his annual report, in which he spoke first of the federation’s new two-storey Canberra office, purchased last year for $950,000. He said its official opening by Prime Minister John Howard last September had signalled that the federation had “arrived”.

He described the decision to buy the building – on behalf of the federation’s 47,000 members – as “the right one for the long-term future of policing” in Australia.

Mr Alexander then spoke of the need for the federation to “be across everything happening in policing, right across the world”. “That is our challenge,” he said. “We cannot rest on past glories.

“We must move forward as one, to ensure that the voice of our members throughout Australia is heard by the Federal Government, and bureaucracy.”

Federation CEO, Mark Burgess, industrial consultant, Chris Hayes, and treasurer, Vince Kelly (NT), followed with their reports. Mr Kelly indicated that, based on property prices around Manuka, the value of the federation building now likely exceeded $1 million.

Of the 15-year loan on the building, he said he expected the federation would pay it off in no more than eight years.

Mr Kelly described the federation as a “strong, viable organization”, with an income-over-expenditure account that showed just under $94,000.

On day two of the meeting, PFA Police Lawyers Network representative, Morry Bailes, spoke on the issue of subpoenaing police complaints records. He highlighted South Australian cases, in which the Police Complaints Authority had handed over records in response to subpoenas, and not notified the Police Association or the named member.

He also explained that the PCA had not resisted subpoenas in cases in which such action might have been possible.

“We entered into a protocol with the police department, the Police Complaints Authority and the association to ensure that, when subpoenas get served, the relevant parties were informed,” he said.

Mr Bailes also spoke of the inability of police unions in some jurisdictions to instigate investigations into police departments that might be culpable in the on-duty deaths of police officers.

He said recommendations that would “beef up” the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act in SA were currently with the State Government.

“In New South Wales, the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act has been amended, such as to enable secretaries of trade unions to instigate prosecutions against employers for a gross departure from standards,” he said.

In another day-two address, WA Police Union president, Mike Dean, gave an impassioned speech on oversight/corruption bodies. He spoke of the new Corruption and Crime Commission due to establish itself in WA, following that state’s 2002 royal commission into alleged police corruption.

Mr Dean warned that such bodies were empowered to deny police officers their civil rights, and setting police agenda, including operations, wages, conditions and training. He also claimed that they were not sufficiently accountable.

“It’s an industry in its own right, and $100 million a year is going into it,” he said. “What we’re talking about here, is $100 million that should be going into policing.”

Mr Dean told the federation councillors that the issue of oversight bodies came with implications for police unions, and that the PFA was best placed to co-ordinate responses Australia-wide.

The council resolved to refer the issue to the incoming executive, for which the Australian Electoral Commission conducted an election soon after Mr Dean’s speech.

Federation president, Peter Alexander (SA), was re-elected unopposed, as were:

• Shane Butler (Vic), vice-president.
• Jon Hunt-Sharman (ACT), vice-president.
• Vince Kelly (NT), treasurer.
• Ian Ball (NSW), executive member.
• Randolph Wierenga (Tas), executive member.

Mr Alexander said he was pleased to have another opportunity to continue as president. “I’ve been here as we’ve gone from just an information-sharing arena to one far more significant, in terms of lobbying government and having an effect on policing nationally,” he said.

Day-two proceedings continued with an address from University of Adelaide Centre for Labour Research chief, John Spoehr. He explained the concept of linkage grants, which were available through the Australian Research Council, a federal government funding body.

He said that, in 2004, the council would make $17 million available to “any conceivable body outside the university sector” for its own research project. Such a body could include a police union.

“These grants are designed to build linkages between the university sector...and researchers in industry,” he said. “For every dollar you’ve got available in cash, or in kind, for research, the Australian Research Council will provide a dollar back in exchange.

“And it’s not uncommon to attract up to $100,000 per annum, over a three-year period. So the opportunity is there to think about your forward agenda, and work them into projects that might stand up as successful applications.”

From a number of motions debated and carried over the two-day meeting, the federation council resolved to:

• Oppose lateral entry into the police profession without the establishment of pre-requisites: minimum qualifications and experience as a sworn officer.
• Support the notion of Australasian mobility, at rank, of sworn police officers.
• Refer police superannuation issues to the sub-committee to develop a strategic plan for greater Commonwealth funding.
• Support the Police Association of SA in its EB4 negotiations.
• Refer the issue of national and international security to a sub-committee to develop a strategic plan for greater Commonwealth funding of state, territory and federal police.
• Commit to a contribution of $800,000 to build a national memorial for police officers killed in the line of duty.
• Donate $10,000 from PFA funds for the national police memorial.
• Endorse the concept of PFA assistance to Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, East Timor and Western Samoa in establishing police unions.

Mr Alexander said the meeting had gone “very well”, and that council members from around the country no longer thought with “their state hats”. “They realize that the job is going national, and that we have to think nationally,” he explained. “So, in terms of policing, they come together and think as Australians.”