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Parliamentary Questions


Question Without Notice No. 1148 asked in the Legislative Council on 9 December 2021 by Hon Martin Aldridge

Parliament: 41 Session: 1

FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES — PLANT AND EQUIPMENT TECHNICIANS

1148. Hon MARTIN ALDRIDGE to the Leader of the House representing the Minister for Emergency Services:

I refer to the article in The West Australian of 9 December titled ''Bushfire season a worry as staff exit''.

(1) How many technicians by FTE are employed in the plant and equipment portfolio within the Department of Fire and Emergency Services?

(2) Of those identified in (1), how many technicians are presently available to be rostered?

(3) What measures has DFES put in place to address the shortage of technicians throughout the high-threat fire period?

(4) Is it still the state government's position that the best way to attract and retain staff is to simply pay them more?

Hon SUE ELLERY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.

(1) Twelve technicians are employed.

(2) Two are currently available to be rostered.

(3)–(4) DFES has engaged external contractors experienced in repairing DFES fleet to supplement the on-call roster to meet the increased workload during the high fire season; undertaken and continues to run a recruitment campaign; and assessed the schedule of the high–fire season fleet being relocated from the state's north to establish short-term replacement appliance availability.