Industrial action by police across the border will ratchet up another notch this weekend, with NSW police officers voting to withdraw assistance from their colleagues in the ACT except when lives are at risk.
It's the next phase in industrial action which began on June 30, when NSW Police cut operational ties with Commonwealth agencies such as the Australian Federal Police, Border Force, Attorney-General's and ASIO.
However, while the earlier action appeared to have little effect, this latest development is significant.
"We are working through the implications of this decision," an ACT Policing spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.
"Our priority remains the safety of the Canberra community."
Six weeks ago, the federal police largely were dismissive of any industrial fallout and described it as "having no major impact".
"At all levels, the advice [from NSW Police area commands] has been there will be minimal to no impact to AFP operations and activity," a federal police spokesperson said at that time.
But this latest industrial development now specifically targets the working relationship between NSW and the ACT's community police, and won't be as easy to dismiss.
"We have gone out of our way to keep assisting ACT Policing because we see them as just the same as us; hard-working men and women that go out every night and risk their life to protect their community," NSW Police Association secretary Pat Gooley said.
"But something's got to give.
"Our members will still provide assistance where it involves the safety or welfare of a person, but outside of that, we have to withdraw our assistance."
From this weekend, NSW Police will not:
- Serve any document or process on behalf of any Commonwealth agency - that most frequently being ACT Policing;
- Assist in cross-border operations, surge operations or public order operations;
- Charge any federal police prisoners;
- Exchange information with any agency, save for the risk of immediate harm; and
- Will be far stricter in the application of previous industrial guidelines.
For landlocked ACT, cross-border cooperation with NSW Police is essential and depends heavily on significant "goodwill" between the two forces. In the ACT, "special" constables are sworn in so they can cross the border, conduct investigations and make arrests.
That won't change, but without the cooperation of NSW Police, it gets that much harder.
Criminals and, in particular, organised crime gangs, care nothing for borders; they moving in and out of the jurisdictions to suit their drug-trafficking or property crime needs. When those who commit crimes in the ACT flee across the border, NSW won't provide operational support.
NSW is escalating the industrial action in an effort to convince the federal government to address a long-running issue whereby mandatory death and disability insurance premiums are counted as contributions to police officers' superannuation, even though that money is paid directly to the insurance company.
The association says this has a disproportionate effect on female police officers and police officers with children, in particular single mothers.
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