Page 2762 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 12 August 2015
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do not have an answer to what you have raised. I have never attacked the staff or the volunteers—I have been in the field with them, I know what they do—but I will attack toxic culture and I will attack sexism and bullying wherever I find it. It is a shame that the minister does not do that.
She claims that people are telling her that I am using them as a political football. It is interesting that they come and talk to me and that they give me copies of the letters that they send to you, minister, and that you failed to respond to—the lack of courtesy is noted—because they have had enough.
If you look at the amendment, it is the same old amendment—an amendment that will be supported by Mr Rattenbury to keep the government where the government is. So let us understand exactly what that is. But there is another document that I have not quoted from and that I will quote from now. I refer to “Signal 7”, the United Firefighters Union of Australia ACT Branch, dated 14 July 2015. It is their newsletter. I will read the first paragraph:
Attached is the open letter to Minister Joy Burch imploring her to refocus emergency services on frontline emergency response, not empire-building. While ACT Fire & Rescue is severely understaffed, fire stations are in a state of decay and non-reflective of the facilities required to accommodate a multi-gender, respectful and decent work environment, non-frontline resources across the ESA continue to swell and operational responsibility migrates from Chief Officers to the Commissioner. Sadly, here in the ACT we only have to look back 12 years to see the results of similar disastrous practices.
Let us marry up the statement from the UFU with the amendment to the motion. Let us go to (1)(b). With respect to (1)(a), everybody wants nation-leading emergency services. Paragraph (1)(b) reads:
the significant changes put in place as a result of the recommendations of both the Coronial Inquiry and the Inquiry into the Operational Response … including the creation of the ESA led by a commissioner;
How disingenuous; how dishonest is that? Those reports said it should be an authority, not an agency. We do not have an authority. So to put that in and somehow claim that you have done it is disingenuous in the extreme. Paragraph (1)(c) reads:
the increase to ESA’s budget of $15.62 million over the next four years;
What did the UFU say?
… non-frontline resources across the ESA continue to swell …
There you go: the money has gone in; it has gone to non-frontline resources. Paragraph (1)(d) reads:
the amendments to the Emergencies Act 2004, which strengthen the coordination of operational services during emergencies;
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