WATCH LIVE FROM 12.30PM

Today FENZ has its last chance to provide clear and correct information to the Parliamentary Governance and Administration Select Committee Inquiry into the state of FENZ’s fire fleet.

The Committee hearing can be watched live here.  The same link includes video of previous hearings including FENZ CE Kerry Gregory, Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler, Board Chair Rebecca Keoghan and DCE Corporate Services Darryl Purdy when they were unable to answer some basic questions about the fleet.

The Committee established the Inquiry after not being able to get accurate and full information from FENZ at other Committee meetings or through questions raised in the House.

FENZ spent approximately $100,000 on consultants to put together the information needed for the Inquiry which still did not answer all the issues put to them by the Committee. FENZ also staged mock hearings in preparation.  The Committee members have been vocal in their concerns over FENZ’s inability to fully answer questions accurately.

In June, at a Parliamentary scrutiny hearing, Minister Brooke van Velden was critical of FENZ and claimed she was shocked at the low level of monitoring undertaken by the Department of Internal Affairs.  The Minister said the issues with FENZ’s information impacted on the decision to set the fire service levy at 2.2%.

"The information that was provided for consultation on what that levy should be wasn't actually up to date, even by Fire and Emergency.

We went out and consulted on old information, which when questioned was updated and revised, which is how we went down from a 5.2% figure to a 2.2% figure, because the modelling was simply out of date based on the forecasts."

The NZPFU is seeking a full inquiry into FENZ as there needs to be an independent investigation with powers requiring FENZ to produce the necessary information on the expenditure of the revenue.  FENZ’s funding has more than doubled since its establishment in 2017 with career and volunteer firefighter numbers barely changing while management and support roles have more than doubled.

In unity,
Wattie Watson
National Secretary