Thousands of police have voted to accept a bumper pay deal, marking the end of an 18-month dispute over the hike.
Voting for Victoria Police’s enterprise bargaining agreement ballot closed on Feb. 28 with 76 percent of 16,200 voting members agreeing to the deal.
It includes a minimum 4.5 percent annual pay increase over the next four years with those on the frontline winning an additional 0.5 percent raise.
However, members will no longer be allowed to access a clause which enabled them to cash in up to 12 months accrued sick leave upon retirement.
Police Association chief executive Wayne Gatt said more still needs to be done to improve working conditions in the force.
“The finalisation of this industrial dispute is just the first step in a raft of improvements that desperately need to occur quickly to support our front line, so that it can continue to protect and support the community,” he said.
“Our attention must immediately shift to filling the gaping holes that exist in the front line, by refocusing on recruitment and retention.”
Opposition spokesman for police and corrections David Southwick said the long-awaited agreement is “too little too late.”
“The police have been exhausted. They’re overworked and they’re underpaid, and this government has neglected Victoria Police,” he said.
The Police Association and Victoria Police struck an in-principle deal in May on a nine-day fortnight and 16 percent pay rise across four years.
But it was knocked back by staff in July, leading hundreds of police to walk off the job for the first time in 25 years.
The Fair Work Commission was asked to intervene but declined, sending the force and union back to the negotiating table.
A tentative deal was reached in late January but had to be put to a staff vote for final approval.
It comes after Shane Patton was pushed out as chief commissioner on Feb. 16 following a union-led vote of no confidence by rank-and-file officers.
More than 12,600 of the 14,571 union members who voted—or 87 percent—did not feel Patton could lead or manage the force into the future.
Patton initially flagged his intention to remain but resigned two days later after the state government decided his position was untenable and appointed Rick Nugent as acting chief commissioner.
Deputy commissioner Neil Paterson followed him out the door after being told his contract would not be renewed.
In November, Paterson was referred to the state’s anti-corruption commission over an alleged road rage incident outside the city campus of private school Haileybury in July 2024.
