News

SitRep 37/2025

November 7, 2025

NEW HEALTH SCREENING TO BEGIN IN NEW YEAR

Following Sitrep 33/2025, the FBEU can confirm that the Department has finally committed to begin the Health Screening Program on 2 February 2026. The screening will be conducted by your own Nominated Medical Practitioner and should represent the only process by which the Department assesses your fitness against the inherent requirements of your role.  All results, information and discussions between you and your doctor that form part of the process, including the cancer screening, will be strictly confidential.

As part of the health screen, members will have access to a voluntary comprehensive cancer screening.  The cancer screening will be subject to review in August 2026. The FBEU will be collecting feedback for the purposes of that review once the Health Screening Program begins.

Your Nominated Medical Practitioner may make referrals to further testing where they see fit, in addition to the basic cancer screening process. Those referrals will be based on medical information available to your doctor at the time of the screening. For this reason, we are encouraging members interested in getting the most out of the screening process to sign up to the PFAS Blood Testing Program we mentioned in Sitrep 36/2025 through the Department’s intranet ASAP so that it can be presented to your doctor during the screen.

 

NEW SYDNEY OUTER WEST SUB-BRANCH SECRETARY

Following the resignation of Sydney Outer West Sub-Branch Secretary, Bobby Callow, the State Committee of Management has moved to fill the casual vacancy in accordance with Rule 24 (1) and (2). FBEU Delegate and HSR Alan Atkin is the new Sydney Outer West Sub-Branch Secretary. The Committee welcomes Al to his new position and we trust our membership will offer him their full support as he embarks on his new responsibilities.

Importantly, we thank Bobby Callow for his long-standing service and dedication in the sub-branch, and wish him well for the future.

 

PRESUMPTIVE CANCER BILL

Per Sitrep 30/2025, the FBEU’s ‘Cover Our Fries’ campaign continues to resonate in the halls of NSW Parliament with urgency growing by the day. Thanks to the efforts of FBEU members, no Member of Parliament is unaware of this crucially important campaign.

This week, FBEU Officials coordinated meetings across the political spectrum to again advocate for a resolution to the matter. Our message was clear: Firefighter cancer is not a political football, it is a hard reality of our profession, and we expect nothing less than an urgent bipartisan response to improving protections for Firefighters across the State.

Members are encouraged to pay close attention to this matter over the coming weeks, and to once again jump on the campaign website and send the Minister and your local MP a message.

ALARM SIGNALLING EQUIPMENT (ASE) ISSUES

Members may recall from SitRep 36/2025 that some SO applicants had been flagged for alleged AI usage in their responses to targeted questions.

We can report that all those flagged have now been progressed to the next stage of the application process.

The use of AI detection software is good in theory, but in practice, we believe it has led to innocent members being flagged and prevented from progressing. The Department is considering usage in this round as a trial, and we have asked them to work with us and members on developing a policy and process for future targeted questions in recruitment or promotional processes.

In Unity,

Leighton Drury
State Secretary

Click here to download a printable version of this Sitrep.