Police Amendment (Death and Disability) Bill 2011
Back to SpeechesThe Hon. MICK VEITCH [5.58 p.m.]: I oppose the Police Amendment (Death and Disability) Bill 2011. The object of the bill is to:
(a) to terminate the existing industrial award-based scheme for death and disability payments to police officers injured at work or off-duty,
(b) to replace that scheme with entitlements to death and disability payments in accordance with an approved insurance policy,
(c) 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
(d) to make other consequential or ancillary amendments.
The police provide a valuable service to our communities—I hope that no-one in this Chamber would deny that. They are the first port of call when anything goes wrong. It is normal for police to see horrendous things every day. They attend murder scenes, domestic violence scenes and sex offender scenes, and see every spectrum of any imaginable violent or harmful situation. The Minister for Police repeatedly brought this point to the attention of members when he was in opposition. Indeed, on 30 November 2005, in his contribution to the original Police Amendment (Death and Disability) Bill, he said:
Because of the nature of their work, police officers see things and work under pressure that members of this House and the wider community could not begin to imagine. Imagine turning up at the scene of a horrific motor vehicle accident … Imagine turning up at the scene of a fire such as the one at Wyong which resulted in the death of a number of young children in and around the home. Imagine turning up at the scene of a violent crime or finding that a police officer has taken his or her life—as has happened far too often.
The general jobs that police officers attend day in and day out include attending premises in the middle of the night and being told it is believed that armed offenders are inside. They enter those premises with their partner while waiting for backup. Most of us in this place could not begin to imagine the stress and strain under which police officers perform their duties.
None of that workplace pressure and stress has changed. The only thing that has changed is the support for and capacity to work constructively with the Police Force and its collective, the New South Wales Police Association. The Police Association provided me with details of what officers can expect in a day's work. The list begins by listing common weapons that are used against the police, such as screwdrivers, baseball bats, garden forks, firearms and knives. The next category on the list is common injuries suffered in the line of the duty. Previous speakers have referred to post-traumatic stress syndrome but police also suffer from anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, nightmares, blood contaminations and physical injuries. The final category on the list is common events that police officers regularly endure, such as attending a death where there is a bloated body, murder scenes with severed heads or attending a suicide where the person has jumped in front of a train. I could go on but it only gets more gruesome. I can only imagine how hard that would be to see once in real life, let alone more than once.
I gained an insight into how this feels last Friday, 18 November, when I read an article on the front page of my local newspaper, the Young Witness, entitled "Government Scheme Revives Horror for Officer". In this heart-wrenching article Senior Constable Brendan Clark said that he felt compelled to tell his personal story publicly after hearing about the Government's attack on the death and disability scheme. Senior Constable Clark was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after attending a triple homicide: two children and their grandmother had been murdered by their grandfather. Senior Constable Clark said:
I would find myself waking up sleeping on my daughter's bedroom floor and when my wife would ask what I was doing sleeping on the floor I would say I am protecting her …
I then stopped trusting everyone and distanced myself from my close friends and family, although my family and my wife's family are loving and trusting people I would not let my daughter go and stay at their place because I started thinking you cannot trust anyone.
Three years on my life is still a roller coaster … I still have nightmares and still have trouble sleeping.
In the article Senior Constable Clark said it was some comfort that the death and disability scheme existed because if he was not allowed to return to work he would still be able to support his family. He said:
All this time I knew I was protected by the NSW Police death and disability insurance which we all pay for out of our wages and I knew in the back of my mind that if the day ever came where I could no longer handle doing the job that I know and love so much my family would be protected financially.
Unfortunately, Senior Constable Clark's story highlights the remarkable issues faced by police officers in country New South Wales. It is common for police to be injured physically or psychologically: it is the reality of the work they undertake. Every member of the Police Force deserves to go to work knowing that they are protected, just as every person in the State deserves and expects to be protected by the police. I particularly highlight the complexities faced by country police when recovering from an injury. Often they must endure rehabilitation in isolated communities, and they often have to travel great distances for treatment, whether it be surgery, physiotherapy or counselling sessions. They certainly do not need the additional stress of watching the management of this issue play out in the media.
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