Volunteer firefighter Paul Parker ‘wasn’t dismissed’ over PM tirade: NSW RFS

An RFS volunteer who gained attention after an expletive-laden rant directed at the PM reveals he supports One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

A Rural Fire Service volunteer who gained attention after an expletive-laden rant directed at Prime Minister Scott Morrison during the bushfire crisis has revealed he supports One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.

“There’s only one person that cares about this country and that’s Pauline Hanson,” Mr Parker told Nine News.

“Come and see us in Nelligen Pauline. Mate, you’re unreal, you care about the country. The rest of them don’t.”

For all of those who are taking up the memorable catch cry of RFS volunteer Paul Parker. Here is a bit more context from an interview he did with @9NewsAUS. There is only one politician in Australia he doesn’t think should “get f-ed”. Guess who? #auspol pic.twitter.com/2yJQT83uSd

— Chris Uhlmann (@CUhlmann) February 17, 2020

Earlier, the NSW Rural Fire Service denied Mr Parker was sacked after directing foul language at Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a viral video filmed during the bushfire crisis.

Appearing on The Project with his wife Tanya on Sunday night, volunteer from the Nelligen area Paul Parker said he was stood down by the NSW RFS for his “allegations and foul language” against Mr Morrison.

In a video filmed in early January, Mr Parker accused the Prime Minister of inadequately supporting volunteer firefighters.

“Are you from the media? Tell the Prime Minister to go and get f..ked from Nelligen. We really enjoy doing this s..t, f..khead,” he said.

His comments landed him a never-ending tab at his local pub.

When asked on The Project if he had been taken off duties for exhaustion, Mr Parker said he was convinced he had been sacked over his comments.

“The message I got was … we were about to send the police to go look for you. And then there were further comments with gestures and arm movements saying that I’m finished. It’s all over,” he said.

“Another captain from another brigade within Batemans Bay came out and I asked him the question, I said: ‘What’s going on?’ He said: ‘You’re finished because of your allegations and foul language against the PM of the country while representing the RFS’. I didn’t know you could get sacked from a volunteer organisation but apparently you can.”

His assertion sparked an outpouring of support online, with the hashtags #IStandWithFiremanPaul and #IStandWithPaulParker trending on Twitter.

However, in a post on Twitter on Monday morning, the RFS denied Parker had been sacked.

“We can confirm Paul remains a member of the NSW RFS and has not been dismissed,” the post said.

RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told Ten Daily he wasn’t aware of why Parker thought he’d been let go.

“That doesn’t mean there haven’t been conversations locally with his volunteer peers,” Fitzsimmons said, adding firefighters had been left “very tired, very emotionally drained” by “a confronting fire season”.

Fitzsimmons said the RFS was trying to contact Parker on Monday to speak to him further.

Ben Shepherd, media representative for the RFS, told The Australian the service continues to offer support services “because we know this has been an incredibly difficult season, not just on Paul, but all our members across the state”. 

“We want to ensure we offer them the level of support they need and deserve,” Mr Shepherd said.

On The Project, Mr Parker said he was “not a political person at all”, but explained Mr Morrison’s comments over whether or not the firefighters should be paid had “fired (him) up”.

“And his direct comment that we enjoy doing the job. Well, as I said, ScoMo, we don’t enjoy doing this s..t. It p...ed me off. ScoMo, when are you going to start fessing up and doing what you say you’re doing in parliament?” Mr Parker said.

“Nothing ever comes out of parliament that’s any good. Come and have a look at what the people have really gone through. And people are seriously affected and it’s going to take years for people to get over (the bushfires), if they get over it at all.”

On Monday morning, Mr Morrison sought to clarify his comments.

“I understand Paul was feeling incredibly exhausted, and incredibly drained by those events and he was working his tail off defending his community,” the PM told a press conference.

“The other thing is, I’ve seen it said what he was responding to. I never said that firefighters enjoyed doing this. What I said, and this was misreported at the time, was firefighters would be out there defending their communities, they want to be out there defending their communities when their communities were at risk.”