Victoria Police pay dispute back on table after top brass shake-up
Victoria Police is looking to put recent extreme instability and leadership changes in the past, as voting on a crucial enterprise bargaining deal begins tomorrow.
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Voting will open on Monday on a crucial police enterprise bargaining deal amid high-level, long-running turbulence in the force.
Victoria Police top brass and the state government will be hoping the 4.5 per cent wage offer will be backed by members and defuse at least one of the law enforcement issues currently dogging both.
There has been extreme recent instability with Chief Commissioner Shane Patton and Deputy Commissioner Neil Paterson forced to walk the plank, with both told their contracts would not be renewed in the wake of a staggering no-confidence vote.
Acting Chief Commissioner Rick Nugent last week said he supported the enterprise bargaining officer and spoke of the importance of settling the matter.
Ballot agent True Vote will conduct the poll, which closes at 3pm on Friday.
Failure of the EB would potentially send more shockwaves through a force left reeling by the Patton and Paterson departures.
There was bafflement among many police when news broke on Friday that Paterson was gone.
He was only 56 years old and regarded by some as the most capable figure in an organisation which five days earlier had lost Patton.
Paterson’s supporters say he was a deeply passionate cop, committed to policing and those who worked for him.
Some of those who were not fans say his style rubbed some up the wrong way and that he was prone to blow-ups they won’t forget in a hurry.
But one source said – either way – he was an extremely capable cop, making his dumping all the more puzzling.
“He understands policing. He sticks up for members and understands the consequences for the community,” a senior police source said.
“He looks at the knock-on effects. The government isn’t good at that.”
One theory for the departures of both men is that they were willing to spell out the effects to the State Government of a range of their decisions.
If so, some police fear this risks cowing into silence those who have to deal with the government in the future.
“Will they just tell them what they want to hear? Their (the government’s) reach-in her is too great. The independence of policing is a concern,” a source said.
Another well-placed figure said Paterson was a highly intelligent man who had paid the price for his direct style.
“He didn’t play the game,” that source said.
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