Media release – TFS/SES, 6 May 2025
TFS-SES Culture Report released
The State Fire Commission has today released the EB&Co Report into workplace cultures in the Tasmania Fire Service and State Emergency Service.
Tasmanian Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner, Jeremy Smith, said that the independent review was established to listen to TFS and SES employees and volunteers, understand the impact of harmful workplace behaviours, and build inclusive and respectful workplaces for everyone.
“The TFS-SES Culture Review Report outlines the deep sense of pride and commitment of employees and volunteers to the TFS and SES and in serving the community, and strong bonds particularly in times of emergency response,” he said.
“We can build on these positive experiences and cultures.
“When our communities need help, we step up and work together. But that professionalism and support for each other does not always happen in our day-to-day activities and workplaces.”
Mr Smith said that the Report acknowledged that the culture is changing for the better, but TFS and SES has work to do to strengthen belonging and safety.
“People reported experiences where they have been excluded from opportunities, that they don’t feel valued and don’t always feel safe to admit mistakes or speak up when something isn’t right,” he said.
“The report also identifies cultural issues including barriers to inclusion, leadership accountability and lack of trust in the processes to report harmful behaviour.”
Concerningly, workplace harm was identified across the TFS and SES, with more than one in five (23%) of respondents experienced bullying in the past five years, while almost one in six (15%) respondents indicated they had experienced sexual harassment in the last five years.
“These behaviours are unacceptable,” Mr Smith said.
“To employees and volunteers who have been harmed by these behaviours – I am deeply sorry for the hurt you experienced.
“I am committed, along with the SFC and the TFS and SES Executive, to building safe and respectful workplaces.
“Today the Executive and I have signed a Statement of Commitment which is a declaration of our intent to act on the findings of the Report and hold ourselves to account as leaders.
“We will build on our progress – it will take time, but we are committed.
“We have taken the time to reflect on the report and consider how we deliver better workplaces.”
The report contains a Framework for Action to drive and sustain meaningful change, with 26 recommendations in the areas of leadership, workplace safety, cohesion and recognition, transparency, reporting, barriers to inclusion, training and policies and monitoring workforce trends. The framework is phased over the next two years and ongoing.
“The TFS-SES Executive owns the culture of our organisations and will lead the program of work ahead. That will be informed by what matters most to our people,” Mr Smith said.
By October 2025, we will deliver a Respect 360 Framework to inform implementation of the recommendations.
“I thank everyone who shared their experiences, personal stories and feedback with the EB&Co Reviewers. Your courage to speak up will help us make our organisations better places to work and volunteer.
“Finally, I’d like to thank the Report authors, EB&Co, for their work and the professional, respectful and inclusive way they engaged with our people to bring their insights and feedback together in this Report.”
The report can be found at https://www.fire.tas.gov.
Brief statement – Stephen McCallum, Industrial Organiser, United Firefighters Union of Australia Tasmania Branch
“Firefighters and their union will need some time to consider the review findings. It’s clear that there are significant concerns that will need to be addressed and monitored over an extended period of time.”
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Simon Warriner
May 7, 2025 at 20:28
Here are a few little details to illuminate this sorry little saga …
I raised this issue with our Premier back in 2019, referencing to a complaint my partner had made to Worksafe a couple of years previously. I suggested that he instigate a thorough investigation based on that complaint. I heard back via MHA Jaensch that “there was no stomach in the Gutwein government for an investigation of that nature.”
Worksafe’s investigator was keen to progress the matter but was not allowed by her manager to rearrange her schedule to meet with my partner. The complaint was dismissed by Worksafe without ever speaking to the complainant, or anyone named as a witness on her behalf.
The matters around the complaint had been in existence for 8 years prior to the complaint, and they were well known to Robyn Pearce, TFS HR Manager. The management of that workplace and the cause of its toxic nature is a case study in incompetence, and her role in it requires close scrutiny.
The toxic working environment was raised by me with now TFS commissioner Jeremy Smith one Saturday after the individual of concern had exhibited significant violence in the workplace such that I had very serious concerns for my partner’s safety in that workplace. We met off site to discuss the matter in the days after that Saturday phone call.
Jeremy Rockcliffe’s government has appointed Robyn Pearce to the role of head of Worksafe, the body to whom all TFS employees need to take their complaints about bullying. Matters of competence and conflict of interest need to be addressed around her appointment, especially where bullying complaints from TFS members are concerned.
I contend that the bullying of my partner was exacerbated by my lodging a scathing submission to the Dunalley Bushfire inquiry. It was rejected by Andrew McGuiness in his role as gatekeeper to that inquiry. That submission detailed a conversation overheard on my property by myself and one other that included the phrase “wait ’til it’s big enough to fight properly.” The parties to that conversation were two brigade chiefs, one of whom was also a member of the state fire commission, and the other acting as incident controller.
None of this was able to be submitted to this bullying inquiry. The consequence of my partner’s treatment have been life altering for her and our family.
There needs to be a judicial inquiry into the management of the TFS NW Region’s Clerical Office and its employees between the years 2005 and 2015, and the subsequent movements within the public service of all those involved.
The results of that inquiry must be made public and where malfeasance, misfeasance and breaches of law, regulation and individuals’ rights to natural justice have occurred, then those responsible must suffer consequences on a par with the injuries inflicted on their victims in the first instance, and they must suffer exemplary punitive damages sufficient to discourage repetition by others in the future. Without consequence this inquiry will be worth absolutely nothing.