Volunteer firefighters stepped up, as they always do. They ran towards danger while most of us watched the smoke from a distance. Businesses were disrupted, workers were shaken, and a community was left dealing with the aftermath. No one disputes that part.
ACT MP Brooke van Velden took to X to thank the volunteers, acknowledge the impact on the community, then pivoted to a familiar political refrain. Enough is enough, she said. The Professional Firefighters Union needs to stop gambling with people’s lives and safety and stop these strikes.
ACT MP Brooke van Velden took to X to thank the volunteers, acknowledge the impact on the community, then pivoted to a familiar political refrain. Enough is enough, she said. The Professional Firefighters Union needs to stop gambling with people’s lives and safety and stop these strikes.
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And this is where it veers into nonsense.
I am an ACT voter. I make no secret of that. But this tweet was a bit whākn’ bullshit.
Firefighters are not striking for the hell of it. They are not doing it because they enjoy headlines or want to inconvenience communities. They are asking for fair pay for a job that quite literally involves running into burning buildings, attending fatal crashes, responding to medical emergencies and dealing with trauma most people would last about five minutes handling.
Calling that “gambling with lives” is a cheap shot.
If the government can find tens of millions of dollars, year after year, to send overseas to Ukraine, it can find the money to pay firefighters properly here at home. That is not an extreme position. That is not radical unionism. That is basic prioritisation.
The people saving lives in Pakuranga yesterday are not asking for luxury. They are not asking for outrageous salaries or gold-plated conditions. They are asking to be paid fairly for skilled, dangerous, essential work. The kind of work politicians love to praise in a crisis and forget about when it comes time to sign the cheque.
If FENZ failed to plan for strike contingencies, that is a management failure. If response times suffered, that is on the organisation responsible for ensuring cover, not on workers exercising the few levers they have left after years of underpayment and being ignored.
Thank the volunteers. Support the affected businesses and workers. Absolutely.
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But spare us the moral grandstanding about firefighters “gambling with lives” when the real gamble is a system that underpays essential services while happily burning money elsewhere.
They are not asking for much. They are asking for fair pay. And in humble opinion, they deserve it.
Matua Kahurangi is just a bloke sharing thoughts on New Zealand and the world beyond. No fluff, just honest takes. He blogs on https://matuakahurangi.com/ where this article was sourced
7 comments:
I think the volunteer firemen are also wanting to be covered by ACC when they do their work. I find this the most egregious when you see the health issues the can suffer from putting out fires etc.
Firefighters need qualifications and are exposed to horrific things.
NZ politicians have no need for any formal qualifications (remember alameien kopu anyone.)
The pay difference/the perks/the super/travel etc etc.......
Role Approximate Base Salary (NZD)
Trainee Firefighter (during 12-week course) ~$56,400 per annum
Firefighter (after graduation) ~$60,500 per annum
Qualified Firefighter ~$72,600 per annum
Senior Firefighter ~$80,600 - $80,682 per annum
Station Officer ~$91,800 - $93,500 per annum (starting range)
Senior Station Officer ~$108,524 - $113,600 per annum (range)
All power to the firefighters!!!!
How about the millions in koha dispensed each year for 'spiritual guidance' to the lucky few. Maybe we could use some of that for paying our first responders.
How is John Tamahere able to award himself an excess of $300k BONUS from taxpayer funds, when our police and firefighters base salaries are so abysmal.
Totally agree with you, Matua. The firefighters are not paid over the top by any means. This government can find hundreds of millions to give away to activist Maori-greed but cannot find funds to properly compensate firefighters for the risks they take and the lives they save. I too support ACT but this comment by BvB is an absolute insult to the firefighters and she would do well to withdraw it before it explodes in her face.
As mentioned above, Volunteer Firefighters are not covered by ACC. Why not ? They are far more useful than all of those Wellington beaucrats who sit of their fat arses and create more and more regulations that lead to government taking more and more of peoples' hard-earned cash. After all, all firefighters do risk their lives while saving others in the same way as the professional firefighter do.
And to take this a step further, the government should fully fund St John Ambulance.
As usual, this government, National being the culprit, are all arse about face. I don't want the leftist parties to win any election this year but I want to see ACT lead the Coalition of the centre-right.
Brooke’s nickname around parliament is BrookeGPT
When one looks at the personal qualities of our firefighters compared to the personal qualities of a lot of our MP's (especially all the Green and all of TPM) then look at the respective pay packets, this country is really A about Face. Can you imagine Bussy Doyle as a firefighter??
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