Yesterday saw the release of the Walker Review of the ESA Management. The report is very damning of the ESA executive and reflects the concerns the staff in each of the emergency services have been highlighting in the media since 2017. The Shadow Minister for Emergency Services, Mr James Milligan, is calling on the Government to make the implementation of the Report recommendations a priority, but under the auspices of another Minister.

“The report is a shocking read. It highlights a number of serious concerns in the management of the ESA, matters that should have been addressed years ago. This current report eerily echoes an internal staff report from 2017 – which found that the services were a ‘toxic workplace’ because of the upper echelons of the ESA!

“The 2017 report, similar to Walker report, discovered a culture of blame, a lack of direction, and people on the ground who have a level of hopelessness with no trust in their managers. It begs the question, why has nothing been done since then? Why did it need another review for something to happen? Why has the Minister not addressed this – he has been the Minister for Emergency Services since 2016.

“I have heard over and over again from staff on the ground of the many issues confronting them, of the toxic work environment, and it is sad to see that confirmed here – but good to have it out in the open. Maybe now something can be done about it.

“The key issue here that the Agency has been without a clear direction is particularly damning and again, the fault for that lies with the Minister for Emergency Services – but it is not a surprising finding considering the mess that we have seen with the rostering system, the staffing issues, the high rates of people leaving the services in the ACT, the second highest in Australia!

“As to the management practices uncovered in the report, why on earth was there no organisational chart for example? Why a lack of role clarity – surely position descriptions would have been in place? And even more concerning the lack of performance agreements for all staff. There is a lack of accountability all around.

“I note the recommendation for executive coaching. I am of course supportive of having that type of support for the leadership. But it begs the question – why were people not employed who already knew how to fill these roles appropriately – was this another case of jobs for the boys?

“But I am also concerned about the further cost to the people of Canberra. We have just seen the ComCen debacle getting cancelled at a cost of $6.6 million, and last year, the cost of more than $8 million in the CIT for executive coaching. What will this entail? It would be good to get that detail from the Minister.

“I look forward to seeing the implementation of the recommendations of the report and it was good to see the government agreed to all the recommendations. Though of course, agreeing and implementing are two separate things with this government. The success will depend largely on who is put on the oversight committee.

“But it would be good for Mr Barr to step in and appoint a different Minister to have oversight of the implementation. I call on the government to take this matter seriously and hand this off to another area of the Government to oversee the process”, Mr Milligan said.