Two police officers have rejoined the force in New Zealand after a recruitment campaign to bring former New Zealand cops working in Australia back home. Photo / Bevan Conley
Two police officers have rejoined the force in New Zealand after a recruitment campaign to bring former New Zealand cops working in Australia back home. Photo / Bevan Conley
Police are standing by a campaign to bring Kiwi cops in Australia home – as it can be revealed just two officers are back working in New Zealand so far.
More officers have applied but are yet to start work.
In response to an Official Information Act request by NewstalkZB, the New Zealand Police said the two officers had joined this year and were already back on the front line – as a result of the marketing campaign that ran from early October to late November 2025.
Police spent $35,277.88 all up on the recruitment campaign and associated costs.
A total of $6379.86 went towards agency fees, targeted social media ads, props and editing. The rest was spent at the end of the campaign on associated costs including flights, travel reimbursements and related merchandising.
Figures compiled by police in March show there were another 12 formal applications from Australian rejoins, not including the two who’ve already started working here.
Another three were said to be “seriously considering applying” and working with police’s rejoins team on the prospect.
Assistant Commissioner Jeanette Park said the Australia campaign was intended to gauge interest, and two further officers are due to start shortly, just a few months after the campaign.
Park added moving was a “big decision” and the process can take some time, but she expects more officers to make the move in coming months.
Park stood by the recruitment tactic: “A campaign that results in recruiting any experienced police officer is a win for us because they are worth their weight in gold. They have experience, enthusiasm and a commitment to keeping New Zealanders safe.”
She said officers are fantastic and the campaign has been “tremendous”.
In total, the ads reached 47,587 people, with 3670 clicking links to the website as a result.
Park said it costs roughly $40,000 to put a single recruit through the 20-week course at the Police College, but returning officers do not require this, as they’ve worked for police before.
The New Zealand Police released information to Newstalk ZB about the campaign to hire Kiwi cops from Australia.
The campaign originally targeted the Australian states of Western Australia, Northern Territories, and New South Wales – before being extended to the rest of Australia.
It also attracted nine formal applications, plus two more in the process of applying, from Australian cops. These officers had never worked for the New Zealand Police, but were noted as being interested in making the move to New Zealand “for the Kiwi lifestyle”.
“There was no target figure for this campaign as the intention was to gauge interest in returning to New Zealand,” the OIA response said.
Azaria Howell is a multimedia reporter working from Parliament’s press gallery. She joined NZME in 2022 and became a Newstalk ZB political reporter in late 2024, with a keen interest in public service agency reform and government spending.
