Many members have contacted WAPOU recently reporting that their local HR are not allowing them to acquit the TOIL they accrued at Hakea during the long-running meal breaks dispute. The issue is still the subject of a dispute between WAPOU and the Departme ...

The union supported the addition of new units at Casuarina Prison to help relieve a system that was bursting at the seams. The expansion came as remand numbers were set to increase with the resumption of courts and easing of COVID-19 restrictions. The uni ...

WAPOU welcomes the news that the Inspector of Custodial Services has found that Wandoo Rehabilitation Prison is showing great promise and achievement. Australia’s first Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Prison for women celebrated two years of operat ...

The outbreak of COVID-19 in Victoria has made its way into the state’s justice system and this should serve as a timely reminder not to become complacent about the threat posed by this virus. A prison officer in Victoria returned a positive test and ...

WAPOU is concerned the overtime restrictions from the Department of Justice will leave prisons understaffed and unsafe. These conditions perfectly match what we saw in the prelude to the Greenough Regional Prison riots in 2018 and last week’s incide ...

The latest edition of the WAPOU Member Newsletter has been sent out to member emails. Click here to view the latest edition. ...

Please find the Branch Reports to State Council for May & June 2020 below. May 2020 June 2020 ...

WAPOU welcomes the announcement of a safer entrance for female prisoners at Greenough Regional Prison by the State Government. The new female estate is under construction after the original was damaged in the horrific 2018 riot. Last year, WAPOU and membe ...

WAPOU welcomed tough new prison laws, which came into effect with the recent resumption of social visits. Visitors to WA jails who attempt to bring in contraband such as drugs will now face a $12,000 fine and 18 months' jail. This is a marked improvement ...

The WA Prison Officers’ Union is calling for the use of an invasive body scanner at Acacia Prison to be focused on prisoners, instead of staff and members of the public. The Nuctech MW1000A body inspection device in place at Acacia is the only one ...

This coming week we bid farewell to Industrial Officer Sophie Van Der Merwe. Sophie recently resigned from WAPOU and will shortly take up a new role in a government agency.Sophie has been with WAPOU for a little over six years during which time she has ti ...

Well done to Kath Carroll and those members from across the state participating in The Push-Up Challenge 2020.The Push-Up Challenge brings people together, strengthens personal fitness, relationships at home and at work, and importantly raises awareness o ...

This week I also spoke to The West Australian journalist Ben Harvey about the promising results from recent drug tests in prisons.The ban on visitors has seen widespread sobriety in the state’s prisons, with the vast majority of samples from a recen ...

WAPOU would like to remind members to take care when commenting on posts on our Facebook page, which is a public forum and can be viewed by anyone. To assist with this, we have compiled some examples of the sort of offensive or violent language that is no ...

This week we have seen a lot of media over a small incident regarding a prison officer.  I want to firstly make the point, the charge is over an unfounded allegation and this is what it should be treated as, as it goes through the court system.  ...