Minister says FENZ was 'breaching their own law in regards to levy collections'

The NZ Professional Fire Fighters union said a scathing report reinforces what its been saying for years.The Minister for FENZ Brooke van Velden said the organisation was "breaching their own law in regards to levy collections".The governance and administration committee is recommending the government looks at changing the organisation's board and whether it should be allowed to buy its own fire trucks.National Vice-President Martin Campbell said the union has been saying for years that FENZ has allowed the fleet get into a dilapidated state."The misrepresentation of senior FENZ leadership including the chief executive and deputy national commander to the parliamentary select committee didn't go unnoticed by that select committee and FENZ has been called out for intentionally deceiving the committee members."Campell said he hoped to see some changes at the board and senior leadership level."We would go further and say our lack of support is in fact the whole senior leadership team being led by that chief executive that has failed our people, it has failed New Zealanders for quite some time now."Van Velden said she was in the dark about Fire and Emergency spending nearly half a million dollars looking into the issue."It's completely unacceptable, and it points to a lack of accountability across the public service."It comes after van Velden said she no longer had confidence in the chief executive of the organisation, Kerry Gregory, following a "serious breach" of the no surprises clause.On Thursday, van Velden said she no longer had confidence in the chief executive of FENZ.RNZ / Mark PapaliiSpeaking to Morning Report, she said her job as the minister responsible for Fire and Emergency was "to hold them accountable"."How can I possibly do that if I'm being actively withheld information?"She said she became aware of the situation about two weeks ago - and only because the board chair said she needed to know.Van Velden said that was doing a disservice to the public service."It is important that every public agency that has taxpayer or levy payer money going into it is acting transparently and has accountability going to senior levels of officials."It is a clear breach of trust when the public service is not allowing that information to flow."Van Velden told Morning Report FENZ had been referred to the Serious Fraud Office, based on the board's suggestions.She said Fire and Emergency were acting "in breach of their own law" but couldn't go into further detail.But other concerns it raised for her were that it appeared the chief executive wasn't aware of the issue for quite some time."That's concerning in terms of internal culture."Secondly, once he was aware, he decided not to let minister responsible for FENZ know, she said."That's the thing that is, I think, despicable because there's constantly been issues within Fire and Emergency," she said.Issues included levy modelling, payroll, fleet procurement, and making savings in the back office."But at least I knew about those issues so that I could hold them accountable to the plans and processes to make them better going forward."This was active withholding of information."She said there were "clearly cultural issues at play" within the organisation, and it was for the board to make sure that they can restore her confidence.Van Velden also referenced asking DIA to do policy work on whether or not the cultural issues within Fire and Emergency was due to them being a crown entity "at arm's length from ministers", and whether or not there needed to be change to bring better government accountability.