POLICE — LAURIE
MORLEY — EX GRATIA PAYMENT
1342. Hon COLIN HOLT to the minister representing the
Minister for Police:
(1) Has the
government, the Attorney General or the Commissioner of Police received an ex gratia
payment request from retired police officer Laurie Morley?
(2) If so, what
is the status of the request and when can Mr Morley expect an answer from the
government?
(3) Given Mr Morley
lodged the request over 18 months ago, does the minister consider this to be an
appropriate time for Mr Morley to wait for an answer to his request?
Hon STEPHEN
DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable member for
some notice of the question. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Police.
(1)–(3) The
Western Australia Police Force advises that a submission has been received on
behalf of Mr Morley and the State Solicitor's Office is providing
advice on this matter. Mr Morley will receive a response as soon as possible
after that advice has been received and considered by the government.
Importantly, medically retired
police officers can access funding for medical expenses for a work-related injury or illness through the former police
officers medical benefits scheme. The McGowan government has supported and recognised medically retired police
officers through the $16.1 million Redress scheme, which provided
payments of up to $150 000 to former police officers medically retired due to a
work-related illness or injury, and reforms to the Police Act 1982 to create a new
standalone scheme to medically retire injured or ill police officers, which is
completely separate from the completely inappropriate section 8. Building on
these initiatives, the government has also committed to implement a police
compensation scheme for officers who can no longer serve due to a work-related
injury or illness.