For love or money?: NZ cops flood Australia causing headaches back home
Cheeky Aussie ads in New Zealand newspapers promising ‘warmer days and higher pays’ across the Tasman have caused an international fracas.
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A huge chunk of New Zealand’s in-demand police force are being tempted Down Under with massive pay packets, rather than staying to carry out radical new youth crime initiatives in their home nation.
Kiwi cops are being offered a $20,000 bonus and $130,000 salary to move to Australia, with full-page ads promising ‘warmer days and higher pays’ in sporadic editions of the New Zealand Herald over the last 10 months.
The cheeky adverts show two smiling former New Zealand cops stand on the footpath of a sunny Queensland beach, with clean waves crashing and the Gold Coast’s iconic pandanas in the background.
“Queensland is calling with a $20,000 resettlement bonus for NZ Police,” the ad announces.
According to a QPS media release at the August campaign launch, it was “deliberately launched in the midst of New Zealand’s frosty winter.”
The result has been a boon for QPS but a symptom of a concerning staffing issue for our friends across the ditch, as a rush of officers take up the tempting offer to ditch Christchurch for Coolangatta.
The Northern Territory Police Force’s Accelerated Recruitment Program is also targeting New Zealand officers with over two years of police work on their resumes.
This program offers base salaries between $93,000-$108,000, in addition to $20,000 relocation assistance.
It too has been taking out full-page NZ newspaper ads.
In contrast, police officers in initial training in New Zealand earn an annual salary of $56,000 ($AU51,535), graduate officers start on $75,000 ($AU69,021) and police officers in their fifth year earn $83,000 ($AU76,383).
Last month, the Minns government announced plans to address the shortage of about 1500 officers in NSW by fast-tracking the training requirements for New Zealand police and officers from other states.
These officers can join the NSW force while retaining their current ranks.
Other Australian states and territories are open to former Kiwi cops applying but with lesser pay incentives.
The precise number of NZ officers who have joined Australia’s ranks is unclear, but news.com.au can confirm that 64 have joined, or are in training with, QPS since August last year, while 23 officers have completed training and joined the NT Police Force over the same period.
500 officers short of radical NZ plan
While the Sunshine State and the Northern Territory grapple with well-documented crime struggles, so is New Zealand.
So much so our neighbouring nation has launched radical new initiatives including updated criminal designations for hardcore and repeat youth offenders, a pilot military-style boot camp program, and additional police to patrol central business districts nationwide amid a spike in retail crime.
However, the nation is roughly 500 officers short of being able to carry out the policies.
The conservative National and New Zealand First coalition, which came into power in 2023, was elected on a tough-on-crime platform that promised to boost police by 500 officers in its first two years.
Instead, it currently faces ongoing attrition rates of roughly five per cent.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon recently expressed that New Zealanders were “fed up” with the rising crime rates and that many felt unsafe in their homes.
“Nobody should have to fear walking down Queen St here in Auckland,” he said.
“Nobody should have to fear going to work, worrying whether their store is going to be robbed or ramraided.
“I’m sick of it, Kiwis are sick of it, and it’s unacceptable.”
However, serious logistic concerns have been raised about the government’s new plan, with fears that the island nation has haemorrhaged an unacceptable amount of law enforcement staff due to aggressive Australian recruiting campaigns.
‘We cannot compete’: NZ leans on love of country
NZ Police Minister Mark Mitchell revealed earlier this year that the force cannot currently compete with offers from the like of QPS and NT Police.
Over the previous weekend, as an Auckland jeweller was violently robbed by hammer and knife-wielding offenders, Mr Mitchell fronted press to promote the government’s ambitious new youth crime initiative.
“There will be some who go to (Australia), but the majority will stay,” he said.
“The government will back them, give them the tools they need and support them to … protect and serve their communities, that police are controlling the streets, not gangs,” he said.
In April, Mr Mitchell had conceded “we cannot compete” with Australian pay offers believing up to 100 had already crossed the Tasman.
Perhaps concerningly, he hoped officers would stay because they “love their country”.
“A lot of police officers choose not to go to Australia because they love their country, and they love the service that they provide, and particularly the community that they live in,” he recently told Radio New Zealand’s Checkpoint program.
“Australia have got a much bigger and a healthier and stronger high-wage economy than we have, and that’s one of the big jobs that we’ve got as the incoming government is to strengthen our economy and start to head towards being a higher wage economy that at least goes some way towards competing with Australia.
“But at the moment we are definitely not in that position.”
Queensland police told news.com.au the force had added 27 much-needed former Kiwi cops to its roster, with 37 more currently in training at the QPS Academy in Brisbane and are scheduled to graduate in October this year.
In addition to the $20,000 moving bonus, QPS offers fast-tracked, paid training and free accommodation at police academies in Brisbane or Townsville, a bonus ‘cost of living allowance’ and much higher wages than those offered across the ditch.
In the NT, two former NZ officers graduated in August last year, with 21 more graduating this year, news.com.au can reveal.
Figures from both forces suggest an uptick in applications.
NZ Police insiders, however, were confident local staffing levels were not yet declining alarmingly.
A spokeswoman from the New Zealand Police Association said tracking exactly how many officers have made the move was difficult as “NZ Police does not record reasons for resignations, which makes it difficult to confirm whether those who leave do so to join Australian police services.”
She told news.com.au: “Overall the association believes the Aussie campaigns have not had a material impact on attrition rates in NZ which remain pretty low at about 5- 5.5 per cent.”
Most recently, an overwhelming 75 per cent of NZ Police Association members voted against a proposal that offered a flat $5000 pay increase, along with an additional four per cent increase in July and again in 2025.
‘Abysmal’: Former NZ cop’s damning inditement
In a March article published in the New Zealand Herald, titled “Why New Zealand police are moving to Australia – in their own words,” numerous officers expressed their discontent with the working conditions in New Zealand.
The officers had spoken out, with varying degrees of anonymity, after choosing to continue their policing careers in Australia.
One former New Zealand officer, Chaenelle, now serves with the NT Police Force.
She made the international move with her partner and their two teenage children, stating, “We can set ourselves up for our future because the money is exceptionally better.”
She disclosed that her husband, a 17-year-seasoned detective sergeant, earned more as a trainee in Australia than he did as a senior, fully trained officer in New Zealand.
“After he leaves training, he gets a 28 per cent increase in his pay. It’s significant, especially with paid overtime,” she explained.
Their move was further incentivised by a free four-bedroom, two-bathroom home provided by the Australian authorities.
Both Chaenelle and her partner were deeply disillusioned by the government’s poor pay offer.
“He was upset with the abysmal (pay) offer,” she said.
“We felt things were going backwards with police and also just in New Zealand in general.”
“We thought things were going to change and we were going to have a bit more support there from the government, especially with Mark Mitchell being quite vocal about being a (former) police officer. But it’s been verbal support only.”
During her tenure in New Zealand, Chaenelle said she was assaulted by a young offender, necessitating surgery and time off work.
She was troubled by the lenient stance on crime, noting, “They got a discharge without conviction because of their age. The sentences probably don’t seem appropriate for the crime that they’ve committed.”
Originally published as For love or money?: NZ cops flood Australia causing headaches back home
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