The Queensland government will offer police a bigger pay rise if they agree to work more weekends.
Police have been offered a 2.5 per cent pay rise a year for the next three years, but their union said it was below inflation forecasts and below the 4.5 per cent pay rise given to other public servants.
The government said it was working to budgetary constraints, but Treasurer Andrew Fraser said the government was prepared to discuss police working more weekend shifts in exchange for a bigger pay increase.
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Government and union officials are meeting on Friday morning to discuss the possibility.
At the moment, police can only work around 56 Friday and Saturday nights in a year, Mr Fraser told ABC Radio.
Under those rules, there was a "smorgasbord" of police available to work weeknights, but restrictions on how many could work Friday and Saturday nights, he said.
He said safety would be improved on weekends if there was flexibility around that rule.
"That's something that we think is a win/win situation," he said.
"If police are willing to work in those shifts then we can negotiate on (that)."
Opposition treasury spokesman Tim Nicholls said he did not want to see police shortchanged.
"At the moment it seems that the government is trying to get a police force on the cheap and that's not the way to do it," he said.
The Queensland Police Union and Police Minister Neil Roberts were unavailable for comment on Friday morning.
