3 months ago
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Discontent is bubbling at Queensland’s police union as officers speak out against its leadership, and some leave to take up the services of a copper-turned-barrister offering legal protection on a retainer.
The union has been in the spotlight since a vote to accept a new enterprise bargaining agreement with the state government went down to the wire, passing by less than 2 per cent.
The deal gave police a 3 per cent pay bump this year, 2.5 per cent for each of the following two years, and came with an $8000 retention bonus for some officers.
Queensland Police Union president Shane Prior.Credit: Julius Dennis
Queensland Police Union of Employees president Shane Prior has been under fire after he initially rubbished the wage offer before supporting the in-principle deal.
QPUE Gold Coast branch secretary Billy Kazimierowicz said many members had lost faith in Prior, who was placed in the role by the union’s executive after serving years as vice president.
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“Members are disillusioned with Prior, the ‘non-elected’ president,” Kazimierowicz said.
Other senior police, who spoke on condition of anonymity, supported this view.
The union’s nine-person executive elected Prior as president in August 2024 after former leader Ian Leavers stepped down midterm. Andy Williams, the south-eastern region executive, became vice president.
The next election for union president is in 2027, but the sentiment among police who spoke to this masthead was that Prior would lose if a vote were held today.
The EBA still hangs over the union, particularly in light of recent industrial action taken by Queensland teachers, who are teetering on the edge of arbitration.
In the lead-up to the EBA vote, the union sent a targeted text message to young officers asking for their support of the agreement, infuriating older police, who believed the move was underhanded.
The union was forced to turn off comments on its Facebook page as members aired frustration over Prior’s acceptance of the in-principle deal.
During the process, Prior publicly noted police were not permitted to strike, something accepted by officers who spoke to this masthead.
Other than the EBA, Kazimierowicz said some members were irked by an advertising campaign paid for by the union in February that called for domestic violence to become a stand-alone crime.
“Members had told [Prior] at a meeting at the Gold Coast, do not spend union money on government issues that the government controls,” he said.
How the union has supported members with internal discipline issues has also been raised by multiple officers.
Barrister and former police officer Justin Sibley said he had offered to work on an annual retainer for police and other government workers.
Justin Sibley
“I identified the need for protection when I was on the front line and realised police were not protected sufficiently against workplace matters,” he said.
Since establishing the service, he said his firm had gained a significant number of clients, with “a large portion of those being police”.
The cost is similar to union fees, and Sibley said more police had signed up after the recent EBA, though he wouldn’t be drawn on exactly how many.
One senior officer with more than 15 years in the service said he left the union and took up Sibley’s offer five years ago.
He said he was increasingly frustrated with the union spending money on issues he described as superficial, and felt the union was unable to offer the legal support he needed when dealing with disciplinary matters.
He said it was a common point of contention at his station.
“You hear it talked about in the halls, the dissatisfaction about the union. Before the EBA was agreed on, it was still there,” he said.
Prior and the Queensland Police Union were contacted for comment.
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