Drunk engineers, ‘shoddy maintenance’, humiliated patients: Westpac Rescue fights to save reputation

Health Minister Ryan Park has demanded Westpac Rescue begin an independent review into its operations with “utmost urgency” as the head of aviation safety for NSW Ambulance dismisses safety concerns raised by Westpac Rescue whistleblowers.

Troy Anforth, who oversees aviation safety for the NSW government at Westpac Rescue, told staff that statements about safety made in a months-long investigation by this masthead and 60 Minutes were “unaccountable and careless”.

A dozen whistleblowers have accused Westpac Rescue of “creating a culture of fear” that endangered the health and safety of its personnel, ignored sexual harassment, backdated training certificates, protected pilots and put patients at risk.

“I’ve not seen any evidence presented to date that would change my view of the fact that the system is safe,” Anforth told more than 100 staff. “The real danger now is that we get distracted, preoccupied.”

Anforth, a NSW Ambulance executive, said he was not making any judgments around cultural and behavioural aspects raised by the reporting, but said he had confidence in the safety of operations at Westpac Rescue because of “the close relationship we have in terms of oversight of this particular operator”.

Westpac Rescue and NSW Ambulance said a Civil Aviation Safety Authority surveillance audit in July verified the high safety standards within the service, with no safety alerts or safety findings in relation to its air operations.

NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner Cameron Edgar and commissioner Dominic Morgan. Credit: NSW Ambulance

Westpac Rescue, which operates missions in northern NSW, is distinct from Westpac Lifesaver, which runs operations in Sydney. Westpac Rescue is seeking a new contract with the NSW government worth up to $500 million over 10 years.

NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner Cameron Edgar told staff the allegations were being taken “incredibly seriously” by the organisation and that it had been “very confronting and difficult” for staff on Westpac Rescue bases.

“There are no secrets here,” he said. “We want people to feel comfortable to speak up.”

But multiple Westpac Rescue staff have had to sign non-disclosure agreements after raising allegations of bullying, intimidation and safety concerns going back a decade.

“It’s the culture we lived through for years. And in aviation, culture is safety,” said one former staff member.

“I can tell you 100 per cent, no staff, including me, will contribute to any investigation instigated or touchable by Westpac Rescue – it needs to be fully external.”

The former staff member has written to the minister demanding that non-disclosure agreements be dropped for any independent review.

“Many who raised legitimate safety or cultural concerns were bullied, sidelined and eventually forced out. When we left, we were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements just to receive our fair entitlements. Those agreements, funded entirely by taxpayers and donors, now prevent us from giving evidence to investigators, NSW Health or even SafeWork NSW,” he said.

“Think about that: a publicly funded contractor has used public money to buy silence on matters directly affecting public safety.”

Westpac Rescue chief executive Steven Underwood said the allegations had been “deeply concerning and distressing”. Underwood said the service had appointed industrial relations and employment law specialist Cilla Robinson to conduct the review, and that SafeWork NSW inspectors had visited its Broadmeadow base.

“I remain truly saddened that any person who has worked for our service, or any member of the community, feels that we have fallen short in our commitment to providing a safe, healthy and inclusive workplace,” he said.

Westpac Rescue and Park declined to comment on whether the gag orders would be lifted for the review.

But Park is ratcheting up the pressure on the organisation after meeting with NSW Ambulance chief executive Dominic Morgan and Westpac Rescue leaders last week.

Health Minister Ryan Park.Credit: Sam Mooy

“I’ve made it clear to them that progressing a comprehensive independent review of the allegations is of the utmost urgency,” he said.

“Northern NSW Helicopter Rescue Service have a responsibility to inform the community of when it is happening, how the review will be conducted and when it will be complete. I expect to be informed of this as soon as possible.”

Westpac bank – which spends more than $3 million in sponsorship each year but has no operational control over Westpac Rescue – has also demanded an independent investigation.

More whistleblowers have come forward detailing alleged safety breaches and “shoddy maintenance”, including a case of an intoxicated engineer being flown from Newcastle to Tamworth, a helicopter being started with its engine covers on, and another that was found with a loose fuel hose when it landed after maintenance workers were rushed to sign off on the helicopter so that an engineer could get to a conference.

The claims follow previous allegations including champagne parties being held in the hangar while paramedics and air crew were on duty to fly critical missions, a pilot pressuring a paramedic to hurry up with a patient suffering multiple organ failure so he could get home in time for the end of his shift, and backdated certificates for doctors to treat patients by going up to 70 metres down a wire off a helicopter.

Whistleblowers claim senior staff warned them against raising “red flags” to “keep this quiet” and “we’ll deal with this in-house”.

“There are lots of little holes in the Swiss cheese that have been lining up at that place for quite some time,” said another former employee.

“Nothing ever went any further. They certainly had no intention of acting, and I think it was to protect their golden boy reputation. I got the impression that most of the people were there just to collect a pay cheque or for the accolade of working for Westpac Rescue.”

Westpac Rescue has rejected claims that there are ongoing endemic safety or cultural issues within the organisation after its former training co-ordinator, Stacey Price, went public with her allegations of sexual harassment, threats and humiliation at the service.

Price, who left the service this year, said she became so concerned for her safety that she considered “wearing bodycams and microphones to work to protect myself”. Price claimed she was asked if she was a “pig on a spit” and was taunted with having a box rammed “into her c---ainer”

Rescue swimmer Ula Dalton said she was also “subject to their ruthless behaviour”.

“They’ve been carrying on like pork chops for way too long,” she said.

Westpac Rescue whistleblower Stacey Price.Credit: Steven Siewert

The former NSW police officer, champion lifesaver and rescue boat racer says she was blocked from becoming a rescue swimmer at the organisation in 2009 after passing all her aptitude and fitness tests.

“They said there’s just no way that they could accept a female,” she said. “They said they weren’t ready because they’d have to change too many things. I was used to that manly sort of environment, [but] I was gobsmacked.”

“[One of the guys who got the position] was severely traumatised from working there, and he left because of that male misogynist, bullying, disgusting behaviour.”

No female pilots have ever passed their training period at Westpac Rescue, including highly decorated former military pilot Susana Henderson, who won a Fair Work Commission case in 2023 after Westpac Rescue’s head of flight operations Robert Fisher “repeatedly campaigned to have her employment terminated”.

Westpac Rescue chief executive Steven Underwood.Credit: Westpac Rescue

Three of the most senior positions within the service are held by former British military officers. Fisher is a retired British Royal Navy flight commander, chief pilot Mike De Winton is a former British Royal Navy officer and Underwood is a former Royal Air Force pilot.

The service was previously run by former rugby league player Richard Jones, who was chief executive for 27 years. Jones remains in charge of community engagement at Westpac Rescue.

The law firm Westpac Rescue has used to expand its services and run negotiations with whistleblowers, Sparke Helmore, is also advising the NSW government on helicopter rescue contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

One former paramedic with experience working across Westpac Rescue’s three bases in northern NSW said the service was due for an “urgent reckoning”.

The paramedic, who requested anonymity fearing retaliation from the industry, said he saw hidden fridges stocked with wine, champagne and beer at all three bases, one of them housed in a specially designed cabinet to conceal it from regulators.

He alleged a Westpac Rescue engineer showed colleagues pornography, and an aircrew member called a State Emergency Service worker “a midget” to his face.

“And then there’s the pilot whose callous remark still echoes in my mind: ‘Hurry up and load this fat c---; we’re running out of time’,” he recalled.

The pilot had thought the patient was sedated unconscious, when in fact they were “fully conscious and aware, forced to endure the humiliation of being treated as nothing but a logistical problem”.

“We cannot afford to turn a blind eye to these issues any longer,” the former paramedic said. “The leadership must step up, take accountability and enforce a culture that values respect and integrity over complacency and complicity.”

The organisation, which celebrates itself with lavish gala balls and spends 40 per cent of the $17 million it raises in charity each year on events and fundraising, has long attracted Newcastle’s top business figures to its board.

But the volume of whistleblower complaints at Westpac Rescue became so great that, at one point, then-chairman John Davis allegedly said he was overwhelmed and “did not sign up for this”, according to notes taken by a staff member at a briefing. Davis disputed the comments as presented in the contemporaneous notes.

Davis allegedly said he became a volunteer director after he was told by the former chair, “cigar man” Cliff Marsh, that it would be easy – “just a meeting every couple of months”.

“That rings in his ears every day now.”

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