❓ The Minister for Police announces a $16 million redress scheme for medically retired police officers due to work-related illness or injury, led by former Commissioner Dr. Karl O'Callaghan. The scheme aims to acknowledge and provide some compensation for past injustices.
AnsweredQoN 789Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
POLICE —
MEDICALLY RETIRED OFFICERS — REDRESS SCHEME
789. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Police:
Can the minister update the house on
the McGowan Labor government's commitment to providing redress to Western
Australian police officers who have been medically retired due to work-related
illness or injury?
MEDICALLY RETIRED OFFICERS — REDRESS SCHEME
789. Mr D.R. MICHAEL to the Minister for Police:
Can the minister update the house on
the McGowan Labor government's commitment to providing redress to Western
Australian police officers who have been medically retired due to work-related
illness or injury?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Balcatta for
his question and for his support of community safety and policing initiatives.
I note that he is an excellent member of our Graffiti Taskforce.
On Saturday, I announced a police
redress scheme to recognise police officers who have been medically retired due
to work-related injury or illness. It is a groundbreaking scheme. It is the
first of its kind in Australia to acknowledge the conditions that former police
officers had at the point of their being medically retired. Some retire because
of physical injuries; others retire because of mental injuries such as post-traumatic
stress disorder. Those police officers, therefore, have had to be medically
retired under section 8 of the act, whereby the Commissioner of Police
effectively loses confidence in them being able to continue to do the stressful
job of policing.
This scheme signifies how much we
value the contribution that those police officers have made. It is certainly an
acknowledgment that their injuries were caused on the job. It is important that
the community provides them with some level of compensation for that—some
redress. This will not right all the wrongs, nor will it provide in any way
full compensation for everything that every one of them or their families have
endured. But this will be a significant acknowledgment of those officers and
the way that they were treated at the time, some of them having retired 10, 20
or more years ago.
To
head up the redress panel, we have former Commissioner of Police, Dr Karl O'Callaghan.
He will oversee a $16 million redress scheme. The panel will assess all the
applications. Joining Dr O'Callaghan on the panel is Ms Susan Barrera
and Ms Ljiljana Cvijic. Ms Barrera is a former director general of the
Department of Communities, where she oversaw the implementation of Redress WA.
She is also an experienced industrial relations practitioner. Ms Cvijic is a retired
senior sergeant. Many people here may remember when she was senior sergeant in
charge of Wanneroo Police Station. She has 40 years' distinguished
service with the Western Australia Police Force.
The scheme has been designed to be
as simple as possible and to not be overly legalistic. The maximum payout will
be $150 000. Dr Karl O'Callaghan will be meeting very shortly with the
Medically Retired Western Australian Police Officers Association and also with
the Western Australian Police Union of Workers. He will go through the scheme's
detail and talk to them about the processes involved.
I am very proud to be part of a Labor
government that committed to this. We were the only party that committed at the last election to provide some redress for
officers who had been medically retired and not treated as well as they should
have been in past years. I note that the government of the day not only did
nothing in eight and a half years, but also did not make a commitment at
the election even to fix the situation after the election. Even with the dire
budget circumstances that we inherited, largely courtesy of the Leader of the
Opposition, we have found the money and we will deliver this $16 million scheme
to provide some redress for medically retired police officers.
his question and for his support of community safety and policing initiatives.
I note that he is an excellent member of our Graffiti Taskforce.
On Saturday, I announced a police
redress scheme to recognise police officers who have been medically retired due
to work-related injury or illness. It is a groundbreaking scheme. It is the
first of its kind in Australia to acknowledge the conditions that former police
officers had at the point of their being medically retired. Some retire because
of physical injuries; others retire because of mental injuries such as post-traumatic
stress disorder. Those police officers, therefore, have had to be medically
retired under section 8 of the act, whereby the Commissioner of Police
effectively loses confidence in them being able to continue to do the stressful
job of policing.
This scheme signifies how much we
value the contribution that those police officers have made. It is certainly an
acknowledgment that their injuries were caused on the job. It is important that
the community provides them with some level of compensation for that—some
redress. This will not right all the wrongs, nor will it provide in any way
full compensation for everything that every one of them or their families have
endured. But this will be a significant acknowledgment of those officers and
the way that they were treated at the time, some of them having retired 10, 20
or more years ago.
To
head up the redress panel, we have former Commissioner of Police, Dr Karl O'Callaghan.
He will oversee a $16 million redress scheme. The panel will assess all the
applications. Joining Dr O'Callaghan on the panel is Ms Susan Barrera
and Ms Ljiljana Cvijic. Ms Barrera is a former director general of the
Department of Communities, where she oversaw the implementation of Redress WA.
She is also an experienced industrial relations practitioner. Ms Cvijic is a retired
senior sergeant. Many people here may remember when she was senior sergeant in
charge of Wanneroo Police Station. She has 40 years' distinguished
service with the Western Australia Police Force.
The scheme has been designed to be
as simple as possible and to not be overly legalistic. The maximum payout will
be $150 000. Dr Karl O'Callaghan will be meeting very shortly with the
Medically Retired Western Australian Police Officers Association and also with
the Western Australian Police Union of Workers. He will go through the scheme's
detail and talk to them about the processes involved.
I am very proud to be part of a Labor
government that committed to this. We were the only party that committed at the last election to provide some redress for
officers who had been medically retired and not treated as well as they should
have been in past years. I note that the government of the day not only did
nothing in eight and a half years, but also did not make a commitment at
the election even to fix the situation after the election. Even with the dire
budget circumstances that we inherited, largely courtesy of the Leader of the
Opposition, we have found the money and we will deliver this $16 million scheme
to provide some redress for medically retired police officers.
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