Tasmanian Police Association fears any State Budget cuts will hurt morale, retention rates

The Tasmanian Police Association has appealed to the state Treasurer Michael Ferguson not to reduce spending, saying more officers will leave if resources are cut.

Tasmania’s police union has called on Treasurer Michael Ferguson to effectively quarantine the service from any spending cuts in September’s state budget, saying fewer resources would result in more officers suffering stress-related illnesses, or quitting the force altogether.

Police Association of Tasmania president Shane Tilley said that with 12 per cent of the state’s police service currently having an active workers compensation claim, any reduction in government funding would only heap extra pressure on those officers already playing vital roles across a number of services.

Mr Tilley said it was crucial that the government focused not only on recruiting more police, but on retaining those officers already serving on the force.

The PAT boss took on the role last year following the resignation of former president Colin Riley, who quit citing the police service’s failure to deal with officer burnout.

Shane Tilley, Police Association of Tasmania president. Picture: Linda Higginson

Mr Tilley said it was not just officers on the beat who were feeling the strain, with workers compensation claims being lodged by police from across the service.

“Our frontline workers are not the only ones affected, because we’ve got members off work from forensics, prosecution, CIB, and the drug squad,” he said.

“They are all down, and all working on the bones of their backsides.

“But we would not be having this conversation if we had the numbers, and could find ways to retain people in the organisation.”

After last month’s federal budget, Mr Ferguson said forecast declines in GST revenues would result in all Australian states having less ability to maintain levels of spending. 

“The budget we release in September will provide our best assessment of income impacts on Tasmania,” Mr Ferguson said a day after Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down the federal budget.

“But if GST goes down, we have less money for state government public services.

“I will not be marking out any particular impacts on our state budget - it is too early to tell.

“But the point is that whenever our receipts are lower, [there is] a lower capacity to fund strong public services.”

Mr Tilley said he was concerned that any cuts made by the Treasurer to the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management budget would put PAT’s members at a disadvantage in upcoming enterprise bargaining discussions with Tasmania Police top brass.

“It’s our big concern, because how do you bargain with a state service that has been impacted by budget efficiencies?” Mr Tilley said.

Treasurer Minister Michael Ferguson . Picture: Stephanie Dalton

When asked whether the Tasmania Police Service budget would be protected from the razor gang come September, Mr Ferguson told the Mercury that the government “would always have the right-sized state service” to deliver the services Tasmanians required.

“We have grown our frontline workers and are improving the provision of services to the community – unlike what happened when Labor was in office and sacked a nurse a day and 108 police officers,” Mr Ferguson said.

A DPFEM spokesperson said there were 1488 members of the Tasmania Police Service as of May 30, with 168 trainee constables scheduled to join from this year’s six recruit courses.

The spokesperson said that 69 police officers resigned in 2022, 62 in 2023, while 38 have quit the force so far this year.

There were 102 members off work on workers compensation matters, the department said.