United Workers Union calls for fire service to be split from NT Police
The firefighters union has called for a divorce from the NT Police department, amid fresh pay stand-off delays with the government.
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The union wants to get the F out of Police, Fire and Emergency Services, calling for fireys to be run independently of police.
More than 976 days into the firefighter service’s protracted pay stand-off, United Workers Union NT secretary Erina Early has called for a radical rethink of the tri-service structure.
“It is time for NT Fire Rescue Service to be removed from the NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services tri-service,” Ms Early said.
“Police need to be stand alone agency.”
The Territory is the only jurisdiction in Australia where all three agencies — fire, police and emergency services — are run under the same banner.
Ms Early said the restructure would allow police to be appropriately resourced, while the fire service could operate with an independent budget focused on funding priorities.
“Our dedicated fireys (need to) have a budget which focuses on updated appliances, appropriate training, greater remuneration for fire fighters, enhanced rescue capabilities, attraction and retention for track stations and Alice Springs and more,” Ms Early said.
“The NTFRS has been in crisis for awhile now and only Band-Aid solutions are being thrown it.
“It is time for change.”
NT Police, Fire and Emergency Services declined to comment, however Minister Kate Worden said the government was “always open to discussions on how to improve our emergency services”.
Ms Worden said the latest budget had provided “the resources our firefighters have asked for”.
“We committed $5m to implement a firefighter roster relief factor and to recruit additional fire fighters,” she said.
However, in Estimates Ms Worden acknowledged while there was funding for 28 new fireys over the next financial year, it “might be difficult to recruit that number of firefighters within the period of time”.
On Tuesday angry union representatives said the government had used the fire service as a political pawn, ignoring calls for more resources and support in exchange for a pay freeze offer.
“They use us as a tool to get into government,” Darwin station officer David Lines said.
“They stood beside us saying the ‘CLP are evil for their wage policy’, and yet they brought a worse one.
“They dropped us like a hot rock.”
Mr Lines said negotiations over the EBA had dragged on for three years, meaning they could be returning to the table only months after signing off on the current deal.
“We try to be straight up about everything, but we’re being ignored and we’re being pushed aside,” he said.
“We haven’t had an offer. We don’t know what they’re willing to give us.”
“If we were as slow as these guys, people would die.”
Ms Early said a meeting with Public Employment Minister Paul Kirby was set for this week, however was pushed back three weeks “because he’s on the Show circuit”.
Mr Lines said morale was extremely low, made worse by the critical staffing levels.
“Those who take overtime regularly are burning out,” he said.
Mr Lines said there were only four permanently manned stations in the Territory, while Ms Early has warned the situation could get worse with 39 firefighters applying for interstate positions.
It comes a month after Estimates were told firefighters had logged up to 51,000 hours in overtime this financial year, worth $4.9m.
Chief Fire Officer Mark Spain also said there were up to four positions still vacant in Alice Springs, with Katherine, Yulara and Jabiru also missing one firefighter each.
Mr Spain revealed that Tennant Creek Fire Station was being run by fly-in-fly-out workers, with no full-time staff based in the Territory’s fifth largest town.
He said with two positions vacant the remote station was being staffed by flying in Darwin firefighters 988km south.
On Tuesday, Katherine station officer and former Tennant Creek firefighter, Daniel Kenna said rural stations had struggled with unacceptable staffing levels for a long time.
Mr Kenna said ideally there would be 15 people assigned to the stations outside Darwin and Alice Springs, but they currently struggled to even maintain six fireys.
“They want to see another person out at these track stations, but we can’t even get minimum manning,” he said.
Mr Kenna said the rural force was at the mercy of the rosters, and often rural firefighters were on their own had to be on call “24 hours a day, seven days a week”.
A statement from Paul Kirby’s office said the government had been negotiating “in good faith” with the fireys.
“Just like the firies we also want a quick and fair resolution,” a spokesman said.
“We understand the difficulties across a number of industries of filling roles, through workforce shortages, and have a number of active measures and initiatives to bring people to the Territory.”
He said the negotiations would be rescheduled as soon as possible.
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