News

CODE RED – Media Room

September 8, 2025

CODE RED – Media Room

Several months ago, the Department “found” $265,374.86 left over in its properties budget and decided, rather than fund improvements to frontline fire stations, to convert operational space in Sydney Communications into a “media room”.

This funding could have put male & female amenities in fire stations, or added an extra room onto the new Goonellabah Fire Station to make it resilient to more frequent and severe flood events, or to fund PFAS remediation at the new Lithgow Fire Station, or future-proof the new Cessnock Fire Station with reclines, or any other kind of improvement to any of the hundreds of fire stations around the state.

Worse still, the Media team led a hostile takeover and occupation of this room without consultation with our members or their Union, and despite the FBEU placing the matter in dispute, the Director of Media refused to adhere to the ‘status quo’ provision of the Award and pushed ahead with the works.

The Union has now taken the Department to the Industrial Court seeking a civil penalty of up to $30,000 for breaches of the Permanent Firefighting Award, as well as an order requiring compliance with the Award. That matter will play out in the coming months.

In the meantime, to address the raft of concerns from our Comms Operators, whose consoles are on the other side of a window in the Media Room, which is meant to be filmed by media crews, the following instructions are to be adhered to by all members:

 

1. Members are advised that they should not be performing any work in the “media room” and are hereby banned from being directed to perform work in the “media room”.
2. Sydney Communications staff are to place a row of FBEU flags, corflutes or other FBEU-branded material on the Comms side of the window, to make sure their privacy and sensitive incident related information, is being protected from video cameras and unvetted visitors.

 

These instructions will remain in place until otherwise advised by the State Secretary.

In Unity,

Leighton Drury
State Secretary

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