The NT Government is facing backlash over its election promise to offer large retention payments to police officers, with critics accusing it of breaking the pledge. After tense negotiations, the government insists it's standing by the commitment, though key details remain unclear.
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00:00Valentine's Day in Darwin, but no love lost between police and the Territory Government
00:08over a perceived broken promise.
00:10There was immediate angst between our membership.
00:12We were contacted by, I'd hate to say, probably in excess of about 50 members.
00:17The Government's pre-election pledge to give cash retention bonuses to police, described
00:23yesterday as just a proposal.
00:25We put out a proposal prior to the election around some amounts of pay for per years of
00:31service remembering that this attrition, this bonus is designed to keep people in the force
00:36for longer.
00:37And so many drafts have been talked about.
00:40Labor quick to leap on the back pedal.
00:43Our police and their families deserve better here in the Northern Territory and they should
00:48be backed in by the Government.
00:50Behind the scenes, the police union says bonuses for police who'd worked for 20 years
00:56were set to be cut from a promised $20,000 down to $5,000.
01:01Telling its members in a statement last night, this will divide the membership and fail to
01:06recognise long-standing officers who have dedicated their careers to the police force
01:11and serving the NT community.
01:14We were concerned for our entire membership to make sure that the respect for them is
01:19there and to make sure that our hard working and dedicated frontline police officers are
01:23maintained and their election commitments, their election commitments paid by that party.
01:27The CLP denied it was walking back its promise and was deep in negotiations with the union
01:32for most of Friday, before re-promising they would stick to the original pledge.
01:38Police bonuses not the only public service pay packets on the Government's radar today,
01:43with the CLP locking in an annual 3% pay rise for all public sector workers.
01:49We've got great people, we've got a lot of public servants and we want to make sure that
01:53they know that their jobs are secure and that there will be no job cuts.
01:58A Government staring down billions of dollars debt, but spending millions more to try to
02:03keep people in the Territory.