By Anna Patty State Politics
THE Police Association warned it may ''escalate'' industrial action against proposed changes to death and disability protections, as the government passed an urgency motion yesterday allowing its bill to be debated within a fortnight.
More than 90 Police Association members passed a motion of no confidence in the Police Minister, Mike Gallacher, and the Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, at a meeting at the NSW Police Academy yesterday, angry at how the cuts might affect them.
The vice-president of the Police Association, Pat Gooley, said the association would continue to work to rule, issuing warnings instead of on-the-spot fines and planned ''to escalate actions'' at the end of the week.
This would include lobbying MPs and ''considering the removal of police officers seconded at the Police Academy, who would return to their home command''.
Accusing the government of a lack of consultation, Mr Gooley said: ''Instead of being honest and open about its plans, the government has treated police officers with contempt by planning a secret sting to rob officers of their vital workplace protections.''
Police officers who suffer psychological injuries will face the biggest cuts in compensation payouts despite comprising the largest proportion of those injured on the job, state government costings reveal.
Total payments for police with injuries such as post traumatic stress disorder or depression would be cut from $569,292 to $76,786, according to government costing scenarios.
The cuts in total payments to officers who suffer a physical injury, such as spinal damage, would be less severe - a drop from $1,398,701 over five years under the existing scheme to $974,743.
The proportion of officers compensated for a psychological injury has increased from 67 per cent in 2006-07 to 81 per cent this year.
A Greens MP and Justice spokesman, David Shoebridge, accused the O'Farrell government of making the greatest savings by attacking the benefits of the most vulnerable police officers.
He said the government policy was sending a message that ''psychological injuries are not 'real' injuries''.
Dr Tarra Shaw, a psychiatrist from the University of Sydney, said police were constantly exposed to traumatic situations.
''Repetitive exposure to severely stressful situations makes illnesses such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression much more likely to occur,'' she said. ''Police may have difficulties finding death and disability insurance in the private sector.''
A spokesman for the Police Minister, Mike Gallacher, said the existing death and disability scheme for police ''simply throws money at people'', giving them little incentive to return to work.
''Our commitment is to have a financially viable scheme that focuses on injury management,'' he said.