Metropolitan Fire Brigade chief Dan Stephens taking leave and unlikely to return to top job

Yet another Victorian fire services chief is set to be paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars, with MFB leader Dan Stephens not expected to return after going on leave indefinitely.

Taxpayers will be expected to cough up hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay out yet another fire services chief as the MFB’s leader walks away after only a year in the job.

Dan Stephens signed a long-term contract last year to move from the UK and take over as the MFB’s chief officer and chief executive, with the expectation that he would lead the new Fire Rescue Victoria agency.

But the Herald Sun can ­reveal Mr Stephens has gone on indefinite leave — and is not expected to return — after Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville refused to back him for the top job last week.

Mr Stephens was the top candidate to lead the MFB after an international search and is believed to be paid more than $300,000 a year.

MFB chief Dan Stephens is not expected to return from leave. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

But he has had months of difficulties dealing with United Firefighters Union secretary Peter Marshall.

Premier Daniel Andrews was this morning unable to say if Mr Stephens would return to work.

He said he “has a contract to do just that” and added: “If he has plans different to that, then that’d be for him to announce.”

Asked on the ABC if Mr Stephens’s decision to go on leave was related to any issues with the UFU, Mr Andrews said: “No, I would not think so at all.”

He said the government would go through “a proper process” to choose the new FRV chief, with the final choice needing to beat out other strong candidates.

Mr Marshall lashed out at Mr Andrews when the government ticked off Mr Stephens’s appointment last year, extraordinarily claiming he had a secret deal with the Premier and that hiring the “union-busting” chief had shattered the UFU’s relationship with the government.

Deputy Premier James Merlino praised Mr Stephens’s appointment at the time, but Ms Neville last week said the government would “go through a process” to choose the new FRV chief, and that she would like to see more women in senior roles.

Opposition emergency services spokesman Brad Battin said Mr Stephens was “an expert headhunted from overseas” who would now join “the long list of fire chief pushed out by Daniel Andrews and the UFU”.

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“Daniel Andrews has lost control of Victoria’s fire services, and instead of showing leadership he is once again bowing to union pressure,” he said.

MFB president Jasmine Doak confirmed Mr Stephens was currently on leave, and that deputy chief officer Greg Leach was the brigade’s acting chief office and chief executive.

“It remains business as usual for MFB as we continue to deliver an exceptional fire and rescue service to the Victorian community,” she said.

A government spokesman said: “With the successful passage of legislation to establish the new organisation Fire Rescue Victoria, a search will now begin to appoint Victoria’s first ever FRV Commissioner.”

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