Between bites of biscuit at a flash Whakatāne motel, police officers are weighing up a tempting offer from across the ditch: housing benefits, seven weeks of leave, and an $86,000 starting salary.
The Northern Territory’s (NT) police recruitment roadshow has rolled into town, armed with promises for Kiwi officers willing to trade the Bay of Plenty for Darwin’s tropical heat.
Over November, the Australian state’s police force has set up multiple recruitment sessions across the country, promising perks for experienced officers and new recruits.
Housing grants and re-location packages are a big part of the offer, while the job comes with a house if you become a remote cop. NT police superintendent Katie Hatzimalis said they were keen to attract experienced Kiwi officers.
“For experienced police, they’re already doing that role over here, so we just want to take those people over, train them in our different legislations and systems. We know they can already do the job, they’ve already got the qualities that we’re looking for,” she said.
“For people that are joining just straight as constables, who haven’t had any policing experience, we want people that have good life experience — they have empathy, they’ve got great communication skills.”
The base salary for newly qualified constables in the NT starts at around $86,000, compared to $74,000 for police graduates in New Zealand. Further up the ranks, an officer with 10 years of experience can earn a base salary of around $103,000.
Acting senior sergeant Jason Thackery is a former police officer in Wairoa who moved to Darwin nine years ago. He’s now back to share his experiences with potential recruits.
Thackery said learning and understanding Māori culture in Aotearoa had proved valuable when working with the state’s large Aboriginal communities.
He said: “We learn the Māori language in the schools, I did in the primary schools when I was here. My wife is Māori herself, is fluent in the reo, and I find that going over there, we sort of have a cultural understanding of the indigenous people over there.”
The recruitment effort has drawn attention from Police Minister Mark Mitchell, who described the Australian presence as “cheeky” but said it wasn’t new.
“In a perfect world, I prefer not to have the Australians here recruiting our police officers. But the reality is, they’ve been here for decades doing this. It’s symptomatic of the fact that they’re under a lot of pressure themselves in terms of their own numbers,” he said.
“We lose some, most stay. I’m certainly not critical of any police officers that choose to go to Australia, because they’ve already provided us outstanding public service.”
Down on Whakatāne’s main street, locals seem somewhat less convinced by the Australian state’s charms. When asked about trading the Bay of Plenty for the outback, one local’s response was swift: “No, because I just don’t like snakes.”
The recruitment team has taken that fear into account.
“As a Kiwi, snakes were something new to me, because we don’t have them here, but you just become snake-wise,” Thackery reassured.
The NT recruitment team is holding sessions in Auckland, Whakatāne, Taupō and Wellington throughout early November.
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air