Queensland Police Union discontent persists months after controversial pay deal
Discontent is growing within the Queensland police union as officers speak out against the union’s leadership, and some are leaving to take on the services of a copper-turned-lawyer who offers legal protection to a barrister.
The union has been in the spotlight since a vote to adopt a new enterprise collective bargaining agreement with the state government resulted in less than 2 per cent of the vote.
The deal gives police pay increases of 3 percent this year and 2.5 percent in each of the next two years and includes an $8,000 bonus for some officers.
Queensland Police Employees Union president Shane Prior has come under fire after initially trashing the pay offer before backing the agreement in principle.
QPUE Gold Coast branch secretary Billy Kazimierowicz said many members had lost faith in Prior, who was appointed to the position by the union executive after years as vice president.
“Members are disappointed with Prior, the ‘unelected’ chairman,” Kazimierowicz said.
Other senior police officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, also supported this view.
The union’s nine-strong executive elected Prior as president in August 2024 after former leader Ian Leavers resigned mid-term. Southeast region manager Andy Williams became vice president.
The next union presidential election will be held in 2027, but the opinion among police who spoke to this imprint was that Prior would lose if the vote was held today.
The EBA is still weighing in on the union, especially in light of recent industrial action by Queensland teachers that is on the verge of mediation.
Ahead of the EBA vote, the union sent a targeted text message to young civil servants demanding they support the deal, infuriating the older police officer who believed the move was fraudulent.
The union was forced to close comments on its Facebook page after members expressed disappointment at Prior’s acceptance of the in-principle agreement.
During the process, Prior publicly announced that police were not allowed to strike, and this was acknowledged by officers who spoke under this imprint.
Kazimierowicz said some members outside the EBA were disturbed by a union-paid ad campaign in February that called for domestic violence to become a standalone crime.
“Members said [Prior] Don’t spend union money on government issues that the government controls,” he told a meeting on the Gold Coast.
How the union supports its members who have internal disciplinary problems was also brought to the agenda by many civil servants.
Lawyer and former police officer Justin Sibley said he is proposing to work on an annual salary for police and other government employees.
“I identified the need for protection when I was on the front lines and realized that police were not adequately protected against workplace issues,” he said.
He said his firm has gained a significant number of clients since establishing the service, and “the majority of them are police officers.”
The cost is similar to union wages, and Sibley said more officers signed up after the last EBA, but he did not say exactly how many.
A senior official with more than 15 years of service said he left the union and accepted Sibley’s offer five years ago.
He said he was increasingly frustrated that the union was spending money on what he described as superficial issues and felt that the union could not provide the legal support he needed when dealing with disciplinary matters.
He said this is a common point of contention at his station.
“You hear talk of dissatisfaction with the union in the corridors. This was there before the EBA was agreed,” he said.
Prior and the Queensland Police Association have been contacted for comment.
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