A pay freeze is an "insult" to police officers doing their job, according to Police Association of NSW president Tony King, who was in Dubbo on Thursday to meet with members.
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The association is calling for annual pay increases to be reinstated after the NSW government announced they would be frozen earlier this year.
Mr King said it was understood that a pay rise limited to 2.5 per cent would roll over from July 1 in tandem with their industrial award, which has now expired.
On Thursday he said the imposition of a pay freeze was an "insult" to members and it was why the association had begun their Worth More than Zero campaign.
"We caught up with some members last night [in Dubbo], and the morale seems pretty good, despite all this police just turn up and do their work and they continue to do so, but the sense of recognition really isn't there," he said.
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"The continuous flood of praise for the work that's being done by NSW Police are just empty words if they aren't being backed up with action."
Mr King said it wasn't a matter of receiving the 2.5 per cent increase, it was that NSW Police front-line work is being told they deserve zero.
He said all police wanted was the chance to sit at the table with the NSW government to reach a "fair deal".
"[The campaign] aims to create an awareness in the work that police are doing, and also to bring the government back to the table, to sit down and have a chat," he said.
"We're not asking for too much.
"Lets look at how we can negotiate a decent outcome for the men and women who are doing the work."
Mr King said in 2020 NSW police had been forced to shoulder a much higher workload, and an increase of 30 per cent, over the past nine months through the demands of work related to COVID-19.
"If you look at the day-to-day work as you've seen with the arrests that they've made recently, but on top of that there'd be COVID checks, health checks, they're sending police down to the boarder to lock the borders down, and that's on top of the work they're already doing," he said.
Mr King said they would be appearing before the Industrial Relations Commission next week and would be arguing that the economic arguments being used by the government don't hold up.
"Police in Queensland and Victoria have not been treated with such disregard," he said.
"If this coalition government truly wants economic stimulus it needs to front up and stick to its commitment on pay and conditions.
"Every dollar it takes out of the economy of regional NSW is a dollar that can't be put back into local spending.
"For police it robs them of essential financial security in a job where they are continually putting their safety on the line to protect the community."