Table of Contents
Summarised by Centrist
At least 144 New Zealand police officers have been lured to Australia in the past year, with almost one in three police resignations now linked to the move.
Chambers called the situation “frustrating” and said Australian police forces had been “quite aggressive” in targeting Kiwi officers.
“They’ve offered a lot more money,” he conceded.
Australian police made 268 vetting requests for New Zealand officers between January 2025 and March 2026.
A New Zealand constable with five years’ experience can earn up to about NZ$95,000. In the Northern Territory, packages can exceed NZ$160,000 with incentives and allowances.
Asked whether New Zealand could compete, Chambers stated: “Well, not at that level, no.”
Police Association president Steve Watt agreed, “There’s no way we can compete.” Watt said some Australian offers included “$20,000 incentives to move” and “upwards of $30,000 Australian uplift in pay”.
Watt further warned that the association’s latest member survey found more than half of officers are considering quitting.
He called it a “looming retention time bomb”.
“We’re in a cost-of-living crisis, and at the end of the day, the pay just simply isn’t keeping up with inflation or CPI,” Watt said.
“We’ve got members going to food banks and other support services simply in order to put food on the plate, and that’s really distressing.”
Chambers defended the force’s overall position, saying attrition was historically low and recruitment was strong.
“We’ve got the lowest attrition rate we’ve ever had. We’ve got record numbers joining,” he said.
But Watt warned that about 5000 police staff are aged 50 to 65, nearly half the constabulary workforce, creating another looming retention challenge as they are set to retire.
