News

Emergency Services | September 24, 2015

Fire Services Review submissions being kept secret

The Andrews Labor Government should immediately release all non-confidential submissions made to the Fire Services Review to the public.

Member for Lowan Emma Kealy said despite the government promising to make the submissions available online, they are now being kept a secret until the review is complete.

“If there is nothing to hide, why not make these submissions public?” Ms Kealy said.

“This is yet another cause for concern when it comes to Labor’s Fire Services Review.

“Firstly, volunteer firefighters and communities were given just three weeks to write and lodge their submissions to the review.

“Such a short timeframe was offensive to our dedicated volunteers and led to concerns about how genuine the review is.

“Now, we’re seeing all non-confidential submissions being kept hidden from the public because they ‘only reflect part of the story’.

“It makes you wonder whether these submissions were at odds with the government’s pre-determined outcome.

“This has all fuelled concerns about the intent of this review, particularly that the Melbourne-based union could gain control of country firefighting operations.

“Before the election Daniel Andrews said governments must be ‘honest and transparent’. His government should release these submissions immediately,” she said.