Muller ToddTODD MULLER (National—Bay of Plenty): Thank you very much Mr Speaker. I'd like to talk this afternoon directly to the professional firefighters and voluntary firefighters who do a tremendous job on behalf of our communities across the country. This Government is completely letting you down. You have a senior team here down in Wellington—the Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) head office—that is a disgrace. And I am hearing every day from you how frustrated and angry you are that at your time of greatest need this Government has let you down.When FENZ was established five years ago the plan was to get the best out of rural the best out of volunteers and the best out of the professionals by supporting them strongly with what they need. What has happened instead is an incredible inflation in the revenue of FENZ all off the back of commercial property owners of residential property owners of vehicle insurance. Their revenue now is $661 million. No wonder the professional firefighters are so aggrieved that they cannot sit down with this Government and negotiate better terms—$661 million. That is $200 million more than what was assumed when the merger took place for this financial year—$200 million more all off the back of insurance levy payers of this country. The Government puts in $10 million and a little bit of CAPEX to refresh a few fire stations the rest of it is paid by New Zealanders.They have a complete disregard for the performance of this organisation. In 2015 the Fire Service of New Zealand spent $4.5 million on consultants and contractors. It is now $145 million over the last five years. That's your Government Labour Government. Five years $145 million of contractors. Has that found its way to the professional firefighters or to the volunteer firefighters? No it has not. And the culture of FENZ is a complete disgrace: vulnerable predominantly woman but not exclusively vulnerable harassed. We have sexual harassment and bullying. It is so bad that a retired judge did a review in 2018 and had 33 specific recommendations. FENZ has been so incompetent in actually progressing those recommendations another Queen's Service Order has been appointed in the last couple or three months to review the lack of performance of FENZ with respect to that outcome.They have set up a behaviour and conduct office. That's their big thing. So they've set the office up—240 complaints in the last two years. It is a complete disgrace. They have absolutely no ability to manage this organisation in a way that actually benefits the volunteers and the professional firefighters. The level of incompetence wherever you look is appalling. Last weekend for the first time I think I can ever recall fire stations had to close in Auckland because there simply wasn't enough staff to crew the appropriate appliances and actually be there to keep the fire station open. The Professional Firefighters Union and the volunteers had been calling for this. They could see this was going to happen—a convergence of COVID flu and a complete lack of investing in this sector.Hon Michael Wood: That's right comrade.TODD MULLER: And they laugh and mock over there. They said Oh ho ho good to hear you saying this comrade." Well when are you going to actually stand beside the people you purport to represent? You're full of hot air. You go up and you say all the right things at the right speeches and you do it all nicely but the people out there on the front line the people that are actually driving these fire trucks today you go and ask them what they think of this Government's performance. They would rate you zero out of 10 because it's just rhetoric. It's just spin; it's never delivery. And when they actually want someone to partner with they want a National Government who actually can listen to them who know how to take $661 million and get a result from it—not just spray it up against the wall not just have process from A to Z and somehow think that's progress. This Government is a disgrace and the people you purport to represent know that. And they can't wait till next November when finally they'll get a Government that can actually get stuff done."