NSW Coalition has privatised $53 billion of our assets
Mobility and Transfer Policy – update #3
Further to SITREP 17, the State Committee has backed a Senior Officer’s Sub-Branch recommendation to block the proposed mass transfer of Duty Commanders within the GSA. Accordingly, Duty Commander members who are given notice of involuntary transfer are hereby instructed to continue to report for their rostered hours of work at their current station and on their current platoon until advised otherwise by the State Secretary.
For the correspondence from the Department to the Union click here.
For the correspondence from the Union to the Department click here
FESL leaflet now available – update #1
Another week of horror stories on radio, in print and television (including this evening) about the Berejiklian’s Fire and Emergency Services (FESL) rip off has caused the Premier and Treasurer to officially hit the panic button, with both signalling a review of their new tax before it has even started.
Radio 2GB’s Ben Fordham announced on Wednesday that “The Liberal Party … met today and my sources tell me that MPs were left in no doubt the State Government is going to have to fix the system … The Premier contacted me off air, assuring me that she will go over these cases and that the situation would not be ignored … The Premier and the Treasurer are working frantically behind the scenes.”
That same afternoon Commissioner Baxter issued an email notice to all FRNSW employees about the Union’s FESL leaflet that was released last week with SITREP 19. Mr Baxter’s email states that the FBEU leaflet “is not endorsed or supported by FRNSW in any way,” and concludes with the observation that “employees are not authorised to distribute the FBEU leaflet and must conduct themselves in accordance with the requirements of the ‘Public Comment & Social Media Policy’.”
The Union agrees with both sentences which are simple statements of fact which, on careful reading, do not prevent or order against the issuing of our leaflets. The Union does, however, take issue with Mr Baxter’s separate assertion that “The policy prohibits employees making public comment that brings Fire & Rescue NSW or the Government into disrepute or is critical of the policy of either,”. That was not a quote from the FRNSW policy in question, which in fact says nothing of the sort.
The Union will pursue this further with the Department next week. In the interim, members remain free to distribute our leaflet, and should contact a State Committee official immediately if warned or ordered otherwise. The irony of firefighters being threatened by the NSW Government for telling the truth about a levy that the NSW Government plainly lied about to the people of NSW should not be lost on anyone, including our new Commissioner.
NSW Coalition has privatised $53 billion of our assets
Research by the NSW Parliamentary Library has revealed that the O’Farrell, Baird and Berejiklian Governments have privatised $53 billion of public services and assets in just 6 years since 2011.
