Goudie Sandra: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
Goudie Sandra: Debate on Crown Entities Public Organisations and State Enterprises — In Committee 
[Volume:647;Page:15987] 
SANDRA GOUDIE (National—Coromandel) 
: 
 I rise to speak to the financial review of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission. A number of very serious matters were raised during the review not the least of which was the concern around the fire appliance fleet replacement. When this concern was raised in questions to the Fire Service Commission it responded that the responsibility for the detailed programme resided with the Chief Executive of the Fire Service but that the commission approved the capital budget annually at the high level. The commission was cognisant of the problems associated with the capital budget and had confidence in the chief executive that he had sound replacement programmes in place. 
Essentially the Fire Service Commission was saying that it had absolute confidence in the Chief Executive of the Fire Service and that it was passing the responsibility on to him. One could be forgiven for thinking that in actual fact the commission was abdicating that responsibility. That is a concern for a number of reasons the first being the operational risks identified in one of the Fire Service Commission’s quarterly reports. One operational risk is that the fire appliance fleet replacement programme does not meet Fire Service needs. The impact of that is seen in the increased operating costs as older vehicles are maintained for a longer period than planned and in the increased risk of accidents through the use of appliances in excess of 25 years old. The Fire Service is also unable to take advantage of improvements to vehicle technology and safety. Those are some of the operational risks that were identified in a quarterly report of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission. 
Other matters were raised in another audit report. One concern was that the reporting that took place to the audit committee in respect of financial and operational audits was confusing in that it was difficult to ascertain the following: whether the issues identified were significant; the implications to the New Zealand Fire Service of the issues being raised; management’s response to the issues that had been raised; and whether the issues that had been raised previously had been followed up actioned or cleared. When one reads that one has to ask whether the New Zealand Fire Service Commission actually knows what is going on. Real concerns have been raised about how it is following up on some of the concerns and risks that have been brought to its attention. 
The concerns around the aged fire appliance fleet have consistently been brought to the attention of the New Zealand Fire Service Commission. It was noted with some concern that there were no new fire appliances in 2002 2003 and 2004. 
Hon Trevor Mallard 
: What about Roger Estall? 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: If the member is actually concerned about the New Zealand Fire Service fire appliance fleet replacement then he should listen up. The Minister might like to answer the questions asked of the New Zealand Fire Service by the United Fire Brigades Association. They go back to 2005. The association’s newsletter stated that there was growing concern over the ageing of the New Zealand Fire Service fleet. One fire service representative asked how the 20 fire appliances delivered so far could meet fleet replacement requirements when there were 148 appliances over 25 years of age out of a fleet of 800 vehicles and when at least 40 new appliances per year were needed to meet the 20-year age limit requirement. How is that happening? In short it is not. 
In July 2006 Paul McGill obviously responding a year later to the United Fire Brigades Association was quoted on the front page of one of the association’s newsletters—it took up most of the newsletter. He was required to respond to the growing number of questions asked and concerns expressed by the association. One of the questions he was asked was how many new appliances would be delivered to brigades over the next 12 months—this was in 2006. The answer was 32. The next question was whether this number was sufficient. The answer was that the New Zealand Fire Service had around 800 appliances and they were expected to remain in service for 25 years on average. To sustain that number about 32 new appliances were needed per year but for a number of years no new appliances were put into service. Paul McGill who is a director of operations and training and responsible for new appliances agreed that the Fire Service needed more than 32 new appliances per year. But is that happening? No it is not happening. According to Fire Service reports since 2004 there have been 16 type 4s three type 5s 13 type 3s and 31 type 2s plus three imports and one light response vehicle delivered. They have been delivered over 4½ years which equates to about 14 new appliances per year—half of what is needed to replace the ageing Fire Service fleet. 
That is a huge concern to United Fire Brigades Association personnel and has been raised time and time again. But the firefighters are not talking about it too loudly for very good reason. So what is being done? The Fire Service Commission is saying that fleet replacement is the responsibility of the Chief Executive of the Fire Service and that it is comfortable with his plans yet his plans are not meeting the necessary replacement quota to ensure that the service catches up with an ageing fleet. We have to wonder what the commission is doing—is it doing anything much? I am sure the Minister will take a call but when we think about it we realise he has not been doing anything either. After a Fire Service review two discussion documents and years of angst what has he done? He has done nothing. That is pretty obvious. 
In actual fact when I asked under the Official Information Act what fiscal analysis had been undertaken of the proposed funding for the New Zealand Fire Service he could not give me any information—because there was none. In my view that is a huge oversight on the part of the Minister. When I put questions to him about the concerns over the current fire appliance fleet his replies always started with “I am informed by the New Zealand Fire Service Commission”. I wonder just how deeply he has looked into the concerns expressed by many many New Zealand fire volunteers and personnel and whether he is comfortable with the fact that the Fire Service is in no way able to meet the ageing fleet replacement requirements. In 2006 there were only 10 new appliances. Perhaps the Minister might like to take a call about that. 
What has been happening to some of these new fire appliances? I will tell members what has happened to some of these new fire appliances. The Sockburn series 5 is yet to see a flame and the Christchurch 211 was broken yet again. The Bronto HEM was broken as well. The Timaru Bronto was broken for 3 months and the Invercargill Bronto had a cracked chassis. This is not to mention the demonstration in Blenheim using a new fire appliance whose tank had not been sealed so that the water leaked and left no water with which to do the demonstration. 
Phil Heatley 
: You’re kidding! 
SANDRA GOUDIE 
: No I am not that is true. The commission was asked whether it was satisfied that the fire appliance purchases were reversing an ageing trend. The commission did not actually say no but it admitted that there would be a catch-up phase. Well one wonders just how long that catch-up phase will take when there were no new appliances bought in 2002 2003 and 2004. The commission is woefully behind in making the vehicle fleet replacements necessary to keep up with the required level of aged fleet replacement and to keep the age of the fleet much lower. My understanding is that the oldest vehicle was bought in 1973 and is in Christchurch. 
I am sure the Fire Service Commission will be looking a little more closely at the issue although it has been under quite a lot of pressure in terms of Official Information Act requests and members’ questions to the Minister. Perhaps now the Minister in the chair the Hon Rick Barker will start to take a bit of an interest in his portfolio and what is happening about fire appliance fleet replacement. Maybe he will do something in terms of his responsibility as a Minister because to date we have seen nothing.