SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission chief executive Malcolm Jackman goes part time, triggering major review of agency
THE agency that oversees South Australia’s fire and emergency services will face a major Government review after its boss was granted a request to work part-time.
THE agency that oversees South Australia’s fire and emergency services will face a major Government review after its boss was granted a request to work part-time.
SA Fire and Emergency Services Commission chief executive Malcolm Jackman has decided to drop down to three working days a week.
Emergency Services Minister Corey Wingard told The Advertiser that Mr Jackman’s six-month trial of part-time work had sparked the State Government’s decision to launch a wide-ranging review.
SAFECOM describes its role as working with the CFS, MFS and SES to co-ordinate responses to reports, plan for future disasters and support volunteers. It also handles some backroom functions for the three frontline forces.
Mr Wingard said Mr Jackman’s move to part-time raised critical questions about whether taxpayer cash was being used efficiently, what role SAFECOM should play in the future and whether more power and resources should just be directed straight to the frontline agencies themselves.
“We’re taking this opportunity to review the model that is being used,” Mr Wingard said. “That’s what we want to get right. We want to make sure that we have got a model that works for SA, that’s getting us the best bang for buck.”
Mr Wingard said it appeared there was “duplication and doubling up” in the current system that could be removed to free up more resources for the frontline.
“We want to go through again, with the review, and see where things are duplicated, where things are doubled up and which stuff needs to go back perhaps within the (frontline) agency itself,” he said.
He emphasised the process would be very different from an ill-fated emergency services review undertaken by Labor, which examined further centralisation of the forces.
Mr Wingard said his review could return significant power and autonomy to the three frontline agencies.
“The SES, CFS and MFS, they know their own business,” Mr Wingard said. “We want to make sure they are delivering on their business, and we think that’s what the review will be able to give us.
“What we want the review to see is what we can do to give more back to these agencies to deliver a better service.”
Terms of reference for the inquiry will be finalised after consultation with the affected agencies and volunteers. No firm timeline for the review has yet been determined.
The Government says there are other emergency management structures that help in the co-ordination of frontline operations, including a public safety directorate in the Attorney-General’s Department that helps handle radio networks and rescue helicopters.
A security and emergency management team is also in Premier Steven Marshall’s department to support him as chair of the Emergency Management Council during times of natural disaster.
There is also a state recovery office in the Department of Human Services that co-ordinates recovery arrangements and relief efforts. The Government cites findings from former police commissioner Gary Burns’s review into events surrounding the 2016 statewide blackout as evidence that SA’s emergency response structures could be improved.
In 2015, former Labor emergency services minister Tony Piccolo abandoned controversial plans to merge SA’s emergency services. At the time, Mr Piccolo conceded he had failed to convince thousands of volunteer firefighters of the case for reform, ditching plans for a new commissioner.
The backdown followed persistent pressure from volunteers, their associations, and the then-Liberal Opposition.
Mr Wingard said Mr Jackman would take a commensurate reduction in pay.