NO CONFIDENCE IN FRV EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
- Fireys and emergency services staff declare no confidence in Commissioner, key leaders
- 91 percent of firefighters and corporate members voted “no” to confidence ballot
- Union writes to Premier and Minister urging action on an FRV executive leadership that has lost the confidence of its workforce
18 June 2025 – More than nine in ten Victorian career firefighters and FRV support staff have lost confidence in Fire Rescue Victoria Commissioner Gavin Freeman and key members of his leadership team.
The results come from a secret ballot in which firefighters and United Firefighters Union members in corporate, technical and administrative roles were polled between Wednesday 4 June and Sunday 15 June.
In the poll of nearly 3000 firefighters and FRV emergency services workers, 90.85% of respondents voted “no” to the question, “Do you have confidence in Commissioner Gavin Freeman, Acting Deputy Secretary Tony Matthews and Acting Executive Director Tom McPherson leading and/or managing Fire Rescue Victoria?”
The poll conducted by the United Firefighters Union provided unique, non-shareable links to voters to ensure each person who received a link was only able to vote once.
The vote follows years of mismanagement and leadership failures at Fire Rescue Victoria, with serious and systemic impacts. They include:
- A fleet where nearly half the trucks are past their use-by date, with potentially life-threatening breakdowns putting firefighters and the public at daily risk
- A hostile industrial strategy where leaders reneged on promises to the workforce and spent millions on lawyers attacking key workplace conditions. Their reneging on matters that are critical to firefighters – such as firefighters having a say over the standard of their uniform, or having a say over their fatigue management – puts at risk the safety of Firefighters and the community
- The constant failure of critical IT systems used to alert, dispatch and track trucks and firefighters
- An 800 percent explosion in spending on consultants in three years
FRV Commissioner Gavin Freeman is the third emergency services leader to face such a vote in a year.
The workforces of Ambulance Victoria and Victoria Police passed no confidence motions in their own leadership in July 2024 and February 2025 respectively.
Following these votes the CEO of Ambulance Victoria and the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police resigned.
United Firefighters Union Secretary Peter Marshall said the vote followed years of serious, escalating and systemic failures of leadership in Fire Rescue Victoria.
“To keep Victorians safe, emergency service workers need leaders who understand and respect emergency responders and put public safety first.
“They have just said with absolute clarity that they do not have those leaders.
“Firefighters and emergency services workers in FRV have overwhelming voted that they have lost confidence in commissioner Gavin Freeman, acting deputy secretary Tony Matthews and acting executive director Tom McPherson.
“In an organisation like a fire brigade, which follows a quasi-military structure, this is not a step that anyone has taken lightly.
“It follows years of escalating systemic failures, broken promises and horrific mismanagement of a vital agency protecting public safety.
“Trucks past their use by date that break down every day. Critical systems failing every week.
“Consultants eating the place alive with an 800 percent increase on spending in three years.
“More than a million dollars on lawyers in a quarter attacking the conditions that protect firefighters and the public.
“An entire workforce on the same pay as they were on in 2021.Broken promise after broken promise, failure after failure.
“I have written to the Minister for Emergency Services and the Premier advising them of the outcome of this ballot and inviting them to strongly consider the composition and direction of FRV leadership.”
ENDS
CONTACT – Lachlan 0447 682 027, Gabriella 0466 435 468