Fire and Emergency chief executive Kerry Gregory. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has apologised unreservedly to a former volunteer firefighter for failing to properly investigate a series of complaints.
It is nearly 10 years since Sarah Hullah made her first complaint to FENZ about sexual harassment. A scathing 111 page independent report by Simon Mount KC, issued yesterday, details a list of 33 failings by FENZ in handling her initial complaint and several after that.
These include failure to comply with its own processes, conflicts of interest, and unreasonable delays, and a failure to learn from at least two previous, highly critical external reviews, including one by Judge Coral Shaw. The exact nature of her initial and subsequent complaints are redacted, but the report repeatedly references a culture of bullying and harassment.It finds that FENZ treated Ms Hullah as a "risk" to be managed, rather than a person with legitimate concerns. FENZ Chief Executive & National Commander Kerry Gregory says "I apologise publicly and unreservedly to Ms Hullah for the failure to properly investigate".
He says bullying, harassment, and victimisation have no place in Fire and Emergency, and FENZ takes all allegations of any such behaviour very seriously.
