Page 3168 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 24 September 2014
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the Assembly that the government is committed to ensuring that ACT Fire & Rescue reflects the broader community it serves, and it is the case at the moment that there are only seven women in a workforce of 348. There have been allegations of inappropriate behaviour in Fire & Rescue by a small number of Fire & Rescue personnel.
My directorate engaged an external provider to undertake an independent review into the adequacy of responses to two human resource matters involving women in Fire & Rescue. These two human resource matters were subsequently reported in the media.
Mr Smyth’s motion, in the same way it has attempted to do with the ACT Ambulance Service, suggests that the culture of our emergency services and those working within it condone inappropriate behaviour by allegedly allowing bullying, sexist and misogynist behaviour. The government rejects those claims absolutely. Both the ESA Commissioner and I have rejected the suggestion of a culture of bullying and misogyny in ACT Fire & Rescue.
I am advised that ACT firefighters understand inappropriate material and behaviour is not acceptable in fire stations and workplaces, and I have never suggested that the workforce as a whole are either bullies or misogynists, because they are not. They are hard-working, good people and unfortunately a small number within their ranks have been engaged in unacceptable behaviour.
Finally I turn to the issue of claims about integration, because this is just a myth, a complete myth. I must reiterate on the public record, as I have before: the government is committed to maintaining responsive front-line services, and there is no integration of the four services being considered by government, as has been suggested by Mr Smyth. There is no suggestion of integration of the four services. Any claim to the contrary is simply mischief-making on the part of the Liberal opposition.
The government has a strong record in the delivery of better emergency services, better emergency services response capability, more people on the ground, more ambulance officers, more firefighters, better training facilities, better vehicles, better response capability, better policy and procedures, better capital infrastructure. That is our commitment to the community. We have delivered and we have an emergency services agency that is nothing like what existed a decade ago, nothing like when we came to office, nothing like 2003 and all the terrible events of that terrible day. It is a professional, capable, well-trained, well-resourced organisation and will meet the needs of our community well into the future. (Time expired.)
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (5.40): This is clearly a very important topic, the provision of emergency services in the ACT, particularly the ACT Ambulance Service, which we know has come under considerable question in recent years in terms of increasing utilisation of its services but also of course other areas of the Emergency Services Agency and its component parts that Mr Smyth has spoken of in his motion. I think what we see here today, the way I read Mr Smyth’s motion, is that he has a series of concerns. He has sought answers for those and he particularly seeks the minister to address those issues and provide information on them.
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