SpeechJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you Mr Speaker. Today I want to offer the Green Party's support publicly to our professional firefighters acknowledge they're in mediation today with Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and we hope that their bargaining gets resolved in that mediation so that they do not get forced into having to strike this Friday because our firefighters matter to us. They matter in terms of their safety and their wellbeing in their jobs. I really call on members of the public who may be watching this to stand up and show your support for the firefighters because they need us all behind them at the moment.I've been going around some of the stations over the last few weeks along with my colleagues. We've visited I think firefighters from 12 different stations across the country. It's been really disturbing to be honest the consistency of the concerns that they're raising—but the examples are different in every single place just showing a depth and extent of the problem that I've found personally quite mind-boggling. It's clear to me that even if—through this mediation and bargaining—everything gets resolved the problem is not going to be resolved. I do want to put that clearly on the record in the House of the need for there to be a review of Fire and Emergency New Zealand. Because what they're telling us is that there is a fundamental disconnect between the front-line fire workers who are going out and putting their bodies and their minds on the line every day to keep our communities safe and the head office.That's showing up in a range of ways: the fact that new trainings have been cancelled which has led to people working extraordinarily long hours—which I would argue is a health and safety issue in itself—that also around equipment and let me run through some of this. Some of the firefighters told me that over the last 15 years they could only remember one equipment roll-out that has gone well: their radios. So they spoke about wet weather gear that had pockets too small to take their radios; of new trucks that were ordered in that have had to be significantly altered to be functional—going around the Basin Reserve and the brakes actually coming on because the truck wasn't designed to be able to go at that speed around corners. That was such a poor decision. Helmets that don't match other gear so couldn't be worn with other gear; boots that are causing injuries and podiatrists have said should not be worn for extended periods or for climbing stairs; millions being wasted on clothing that was not fit for purpose or appropriate for them; and that there's an evident failure to update the fleet. In every station I saw trucks that are 20 to 30 years old. Now I'm very proud of my 1996 Corolla that I still drive but I don't expect our firefighters to be saving our lives and putting themselves on the line in equipment that old and dodgy and my Corolla seems more reliable than most of their fire trucks.The fact that we don't even have aerial appliances in some of our cities—we're hearing from the head office that they're saying Oh well actually sprinkler systems mean that it's not so important these days." But actually most people die in fires from smoke inhalation. Sprinklers are the interaction between the fire and creating the smoke which is what will kill people. It can take five minutes in all of their gear per floor to get up. So people's lives are—what I heard clearly—being put at risk because of the decision making that's happening in the head office. They've had hazmat responsibilities in the legislation since 2017 but they've only just started working on that as a plan. There's been performance notices put in place in terms of health and safety around asbestos because there isn't a policy and actually FENZ took no action as a result of that project information memorandum which is illegal. They are just not listening. Our firefighters are going out there and they're not getting the mental health support that they need. They haven't had adequate training for turning up to now the suicides and the drownings and the cardiac arrests. They've had basic first aid training on top of their fire service training. It's inadequate and it's wrong and it needs review."