NSW bill for sick police tops $115m

Ten times as many NSW police officers retire on medical grounds than their Victorian colleagues, gaining access to benefits costing taxpayers over $115 million this year.

The findings, in a report by the Auditor General, follow a review of the way the NSW Police manage injured workers.

Medical grounds are the most common reason for leaving the police force - ahead of resignation or retirement - and psychological injury is the third most common injury, the report has found.

The auditor General, Peter Achterstraat, has recommended an immediate review of the police force's Death and Disability scheme (which covers officers who joined after April 1999).

Since its inception in 2005, the number of officers leaving on medical grounds and making claims under the scheme has tripled.

The police should conduct an immediate review of the scheme and either reduce its benefits, increase officers' contributions or abolish the scheme, Mr Achterstraat recommended.

"The people of NSW are losing out because they are losing experienced, highly trained police officers who take a great deal of time to replace. The financial cost is one thing but more importantly, it's not always the best outcome for the police officer and the community," he said.

It was important to rehabilitate officers and get them back to work as soon as possible.

But, he said, the police forces's approach to managing officers since 2006 was appropriate, and workers compensation premiums for the current financial year had fallen.

Related:

Charge officers over falsified breath tests: PIC
Three police officers should be charged with perverting the course of justice after allegedly falsifying alcohol breath tests to help two well-connected suspects escape prosecution, the Police Integrity Commission recommends.

Record level of complaints against NSW police
The number of complaints against NSW police has grown to a record level of more than 1000, new data reveals.

Police on sexual act, report finds
A WOMAN escaped a drink-driving charge after two male police officers turned a blind eye to her breath test results when she agreed to perform a sexual act on one of them in the back of her car, the annual NSW Ombudsman report reveals.

Over 130 police have criminal convictions
New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione has defended his force, as new figures show 133 serving officers have criminal convictions.

New electoral boundaries reshape Qld

Queensland's electoral boundaries have been changed to cater for rapid population growth in the state's southeast, creating massive seats in the far north and west.

The Electoral Commission of Queensland on Wednesday announced the final details of the first redistribution of the state's 89 electorates since 1999.

It adds no additional seats, but changes most existing boundaries.

The coalition-held seats of Charters Towers, Cunningham, Darling Downs and Robina, Labor's Fitzroy, Kurwongbah and Mount Gravatt and One Nation's seat of Tablelands will be renamed and significantly redrawn.

The commission said the new seats would be named Dalrymple, Condamine, Buderim, Pine Rivers, Morayfield, Sunnybank, Mermaid Beach and Coomera.

In the commission's report, it says it took account of "communication and travel, physical features and existing boundaries" when preparing the boundaries.

It noted that improved communication meant electorates could be larger without adverse impacts on voters.

"Ways of communication now include widespread use of the internet, email and mobile phones, enabling electors to live further from their elected representative yet still find it relatively easy to seek assistance when required," it wrote.

The commission said it would have been preferable to keep discrete areas of the state together, but the voter population does not fall uniformly to allow this to happen.

"The end result of a careful process of adjustment is that there has been an increase in the number of electorates in the faster growing regions of the southeast, necessitating a reduction in other, less populous areas," the report says.

"All told, there have been many changes to existing boundaries in all regions to enable electoral districts to meld with their neighbouring electorates."

The commission received 852 objections and 58 comments.

The boundaries become final within 21 days.

A state election is expected by September next year.

Teacher jailed for sexual relationship with student

A former Melbourne teacher who got a student pregnant has been sentenced to six years in jail.

55 year old Stephen Morrow was found guilty of nine counts of sexual penetration of a person aged 16 or 17.

The offences relate to a relationship he had with a student while he was employed as a physics teacher at a Melbourne girl's school in 1999.

The court heard their relationship ended when the girl became pregnant to Morrow during her VCE year.

The teacher paid for a termination.

In sentencing, Judge Tom Wodak said Morrow took advantage of the girl's infatuation with him and rather than discourage it, he fostered it.

He said Morrow's not guilty plea showed a distinct lack of understanding of the wrongfullness of his actions.

Morrow will serve a minimum of four years.

Killer child rapist convicted again

A convicted paedophile, who is in jail for raping and killing a toddler after raping the boy's sister, has been sentenced to an extra 12 months' jail for assaulting another girl.

William Clare's new conviction relates to the repeated sexual assault of an 11-year-old girl in 1999 and 2000.

The Sydney man is serving a jail term for raping a three-year-old boy, who died after choking on his own vomit during the attack.

Clare tried to resuscitate him with live electric wires.

He pleaded guilty to the offences while serving a 16-year jail term for raping the toddler's six-year-old sister.

Clare had been babysitting the children at his home for several weeks before the boy's death.

Today, the judge said Clare's long history of child sex offences was an aggravating factor, but he had taken account of the long sentence the paedophile was already serving.

Clare will now be eligible for parole in 2032.