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Speaker 1: FENS is proposing to cut more than one hundred jobs

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Speaker 1: nothing on the front line. They say it needs to

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Speaker 1: save seventy million dollars a year, ten percent of its

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Speaker 1: annual budget. Eight hundred million. Of this, the majority, vast majority,

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Speaker 1: comes from levies that we pay through insurance FLURF. That

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Speaker 1: Simon's is the PSA National secretary with me this morning

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Speaker 1: for good morning.

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Speaker 2: Good morning.

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Speaker 1: There's a difference between how many jobs they say are

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Speaker 1: on the line and how many. You say, what's the difference?

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Speaker 1: Why the difference?

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Speaker 2: So we've counted through their document. There are two hundred

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Speaker 2: and sixty page document. We've looked at the number of

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Speaker 2: roles we think are going and new roles being created.

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Speaker 2: We tried to check those numbers with FENDS, but they

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Speaker 2: wouldn't give us confirmation. But actually we say none of

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Speaker 2: these jobs should be going because by reducing these roles,

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Speaker 2: we will make New Zealanders less safe when it comes

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Speaker 2: to protecting us from natural hazards and fires and emergencies.

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Speaker 1: So they say a net one hundred and forty positions,

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Speaker 1: you're saying how many.

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Speaker 2: We say a net loss of one six y nine.

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Speaker 2: But regardless, New Zealand cannot afford to lose these specialists.

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Speaker 1: All right, So what jobs are we talking about? Not frontline?

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Speaker 2: Right, there are sorts of jobs that work on prevention,

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Speaker 2: operational response. We're seeing them get rid of wildfire specialists.

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Speaker 2: We're really concerned that the people that support the front line,

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Speaker 2: so the people that for example, do the administrative work

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Speaker 2: around volunteer firefighters, are being cut significantly. Some of those

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Speaker 2: people have been there for thirty years, They've learnt how

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Speaker 2: to do their job very very well, they do it

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Speaker 2: very efficiently. They've given a lot of service to New

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Speaker 2: Zealand and we're just throwing them on the scrap peek.

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Speaker 1: It's unreal how many wildfire specialists do we have and

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Speaker 1: how many would be we be reduced to.

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Speaker 2: This is the thing with this proposal. A lot of

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Speaker 2: the numbers are a lot of the roles going are

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Speaker 2: putting jobs into other roles. So lifted throughout the proposal

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Speaker 2: is other people will pick up this work. So there

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Speaker 2: will still definitely be a core of people left at FENS.

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Speaker 2: But actually ten percent reduction in a workforce is decimating

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Speaker 2: that works. The test of what decimating is it is

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Speaker 2: decimating this workforce.

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Speaker 1: Many of what what's the test of decimating. Sorry, ten

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Speaker 1: percent is considered decimating a workforce.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a military term and it is it is

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Speaker 2: what you can what you do to make something less effective,

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Speaker 2: and that is what they are doing. They are driving

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Speaker 2: down effectiveness.

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Speaker 1: Of size doesn't mean efficiency. Size doesn't mean you're doing

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Speaker 1: a good job. A good job is done when a

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Speaker 1: good job is done. So the question is the question

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Speaker 1: is are these jobs mission critical and FENS seems to

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Speaker 1: be saying they're not.

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Speaker 2: SENS has had this forced on them by the government

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Speaker 2: that is forcing these cuts. FENS doesn't think that it

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Speaker 2: can operate in this way in the Why.

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Speaker 1: Why is the government forcing these cuts when the vast

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Speaker 1: majority of their funding comes from us through levees?

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Speaker 2: Well, the government refused to let sends increase the levee

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Speaker 2: they are also requiring further cuts. It is a dereliction

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Speaker 2: of duty by Brook van Valden. Her job is to

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Speaker 2: make sure that Fire and Emergency in New Zealand can

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Speaker 2: keep New Zealand as safe from fires and natural disasters.

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Speaker 2: Her job is not to force these kind of cuts

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Speaker 2: that will make it less able to do its core functions.

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Speaker 1: All right, FLU appreciate your times wanting flu fit Simons

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Speaker 1: from the PS eight. For more from Early Edition with

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Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks at BE from

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Speaker 1: five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio