Craig Lapsley breaks his silence about resignation

VICTORIA’S former Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley has accused Deputy Premier James Merlino and his union mates of removing anyone who gets in their way.

VICTORIA’S former Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley has accused Deputy Premier James Merlino and his union mates of removing anyone who gets in their way.

Mr Lapsley said he and other emergency service leaders had learnt the cost of challenging Labor’s United Firefighters Union mates, especially when it came to supporting the Victorian and Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission’s report into harassment and bullying in the CFA and MFB.

It was Mr Lapsley and former Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett who initiated and supported the VEOHC report, which also examined UFU barriers to women entering the fire services.

“I wrote to VEOHRC supporting the report and that was FoI’d (a Freedom of Information request was lodged) by the UFU and since then I was a target,” Mr Lapsley said. In the end Ms Garrett resigned after refusing to force the CFA board into signing off an enterprise agreement, which granted the union unparalleled control of staffing, shifts and resources for an authority that was meant to service 53,000 volunteers.

Mr Lapsley also resigned, on August 7, after Mr Merlino stepped into the emergency services portfolio and launched an investigation into the commissioner, stating he had “not always conducted himself in accordance with the very high standards expected of him”.

Just what that behaviour was has never been revealed and The Weekly Times understands the accusations against Mr Lapsley were withdrawn after the former commissioner sought legal advice.

In the end Mr Lapsley said he resigned because the “tide was against him”, following a string of resignations from those who opposed the UFU’s bid to take control of the CFA, via its controversial enterprise agreement.

The CFA board, its chief executive Lucinda Nolan and chief officer Joe Buffone all resigned over the government’s demands to sign off on the UFU’s EBA.

Ultimately the Federal Coalition Government blocked the UFU’s bid by passing legislation banning any EBA that had an adverse impact on volunteers.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Mr Merlino then drafted their own Bill to transfer all CFA career staff into a new body called Fire Rescue Victoria, to which a new EBA could be applied. However, that bid was then blocked by the Coalition and cross-benchers in the Victorian Parliament’s Upper House.

The Department of Premier and Cabinet then sought to appease the UFU by developing a common-law deed as a back-up to any failure to deliver the EBA.

However the CFA and MFB boards have resisted signing deeds, based on concerns they would breach state legislation.

Mr Merlino said Mr Lapsley’s claims were “both false and misleading.”

“We have been very clear that we will not tolerate bullying in any workplace,” Mr Merlino said.

“As Mr Lapsley has himself said, he engaged in inappropriate workplace behaviour, behaviour that was abrasive and confronting and did not treat people with the respect they deserved.” “We are focused on EMV moving forward under the leadership of new commissioner Andrew Crisp and becoming a healthy workplace that is supportive of all staff members.”

Mr Lapsley had remained silent since his resignation in August, but this week agreed to release two emails that accuse the UFU of doing all it could to remove anyone who stood in the way of the EBA or supported the VEOHRC report.

“The UFU have taken a position that anyone in senior leadership positions should be removed if connected to the report or have openly and proactively supported the broader diversity and inclusive agenda for the Emergency services sector and the work of the VEOHRC,” Mr Lapsley said.

“The UFU has refused any change to rosters to achieve flexibility or workplace reform for firefighters and in particular reform to support more women in the fire service.”

Under the EBA the CFA had to gain UFU approval to create any part-time positions, as well as handing over a raft of control and management decisions.

After months of campaigning the UFU finally won an appeal against the VEOHRC report being released last month. But Mr Lapsley said the UFU’s motivation in blocking the release of the VEOHRC report was to:

STOP the MFB and CFA Enterprise Agreements from being modernised.

SUPPRESS any comments, observations or actual case studies of harsh, inappropriate and victimisation that the UFU has sponsored and driven that is contained in the report to ensure the truth cannot be published.

Mr Lapsley said the UFU’s actions were harmful to the fire services.

He said a WorkSafe investigation into claims UFU state secretary Peter Marshall bullied former MFB chief officer Peter Rau, who resigned for health reasons, had still not seen the light of day, more than 18 months after the probe began.

“The Secretary of the UFU has been investigated by WorkSafe and there is 25 reported breaches that have been with the OPP (Office of Public Prosecutions) for months with no action, awaiting a decision on (whether) charges to be laid against the UFU Secretary,” Mr Lapsley said.

UFU state secretary Peter Marshall failed to respond to requests for comment on Mr Lapsley’s comments.