Opposition leader Matthew Guy to consider judicial review after leaked CFA report on bullying

OPPOSITION leader Matthew Guy says it’s time to consider a judicial review into the Country Fire Authority after a report revealed widespread bullying and sexual harassment.

Matthew Guy to consider judicial review of CFA following report on workplace bullying. Picture: Hamish Blair

• Damning CFA sex abuse and bullying probe

OPPOSITION leader Matthew Guy has called on the government to “get serious” about the culture of bullying and sexual harassment in the Country Fire Authority and said the time has come to consider a judicial review into fire services.

It follows the leak of a secret report into the CFA which revealed widespread sexual harassment and bullying of women, who feared they would be punished for reporting abuse.

Mr Guy said he would consider a review which will have the ability to subpoena and to take evidence under oath in order to “get to the bottom” of operational issues and allegations of workplace harassment.

“The time has come for us to be a little more deliberate about how we’re going to investigate the issues in our fire services,” Mr Guy said.

Mr Guy said he and his party would consider introducing such a review if successful at next year’s election.

“It’s clearly not a healthy place to work, it is one where women don’t feel safe … it’s not a healthy situation,” he said.

But Emergency Services Minister James Merlino said another review was unnecessary as the issues within in the CFA were already well known.

“We already know what the problem is,” Mr Merlino said.

“We’ve had 10 reviews over the last 10 years all pointing to a need for change in our fire services,” Mr Merlino said.

“We don’t need another review, we need to get on with our fire services reforms and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he said.

The leaked report revealed almost 50 per cent of non-operational respondents had reported issues and investigators unearthed some women in the agency were treated so badly they considered suicide.

The report — which was compiled based on interviews with 500 CFA members — highlighted the actions of the United Firefighter Union as a concern, saying it encouraged a culture of “no transparency or accountability”.

The internal report was written by Professor Caroline Taylor and Angela Seach after former chief executive Lucinda Nolan commissioned the report shortly before she quit in June 2016.