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Speaker 1: As we know.

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Speaker 2: Aviation firefighters, well, we're unsure at this point in time

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Speaker 2: if they are going to be joining their counterparts, our

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Speaker 2: Darwin aviation firefighters, if they're going to be joining their

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Speaker 2: counterparts in a national strike that is going to be happening.

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Speaker 2: So joining us on the line to tell us a

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Speaker 2: little bit more about the situation is Aviation fire Commander

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Speaker 2: Trevor Rodgers. Good morning to you, Trevor.

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Speaker 1: Good morning Hewy.

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Speaker 2: You doing yeah really well, Thanks so much for your

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Speaker 2: time this morning. Trevor, tell us what are what are

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Speaker 2: the firefighters, the aviation firefighters planning to do in terms

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Speaker 2: of this strike.

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Speaker 1: Well, the intention is to have a strike across Australia

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Speaker 1: at all locations, all twenty seven locations between six am

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Speaker 1: and ten thirty am. That's Australian needs to standards to daylight,

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Speaker 1: saves time, a number of reasons why. Essentially, we consider

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Speaker 1: that the safety of the flying public has been compromised

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Speaker 1: as a result of some decisions, staffing decisions that they

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Speaker 1: made by senior management.

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Speaker 2: And so Trevor went, exactly, is that is that strike happening?

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Speaker 2: What date?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so next Friday, the ninth of December. So it's

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Speaker 1: Australian news and daylight saving time. So you guys, I

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Speaker 1: think might be half an hour behind yep, so it's

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Speaker 1: probably going to be five thirty to ninth thoot or

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Speaker 1: something like that. Don't quite mean in regards to exact

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Speaker 1: time timelines.

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Speaker 2: No, that's all right, we'll be able to find that out. Trevor.

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Speaker 2: Tell me, you know, are there how many of the

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Speaker 2: aviation firefighters are there in Darwin and are they going

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Speaker 2: to be going on this strike too?

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Speaker 1: Certainly if the strike goes head down, will be going

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Speaker 1: on strike. I don't know off hand the exact numbers

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Speaker 1: in dar On at the station itself. I do know

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Speaker 1: as a result of COVID that management saw it upon

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Speaker 1: themselves to reduce the staff numbers. Why about one hundred

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Speaker 1: across Australia, of which I do believe there was about

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Speaker 1: ten or twelve from Darwin that were given the option

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Speaker 1: of leaving and they took that up. Unfortunately, I suppose

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Speaker 1: for the fire service as such, they'd never had any

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Speaker 1: real contingency plans in place. They thought that the aviation

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Speaker 1: industry wouldn't be picking up till twenty four to twenty

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Speaker 1: five because of COVID. Of course, it's happened much sooner

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Speaker 1: and now they're basically caught with their pants and down

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Speaker 1: stratuity expression.

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Speaker 2: Excuse me, Is it just one day that we're expecting

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Speaker 2: this to happen or is there going to be further strikes?

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Speaker 1: Well, at the minute, it's all planned for next Friday

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Speaker 1: of the ninth to December. I can tell you that

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Speaker 1: there are some negotiations going on between now and then.

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Speaker 1: The government has asked all parties to get together to

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Speaker 1: try to sort it out prior to that. But at

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Speaker 1: the minute, that is the plan next Friday between six

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Speaker 1: and ten am. Depending on how the discussions go along,

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Speaker 1: whether or not any further the industrial action has taken.

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Speaker 1: I couldn't say for sure, Trevor.

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Speaker 2: How much disruption do you reckon it's going to cause

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Speaker 2: on that day?

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Speaker 1: Well, if you think about it, there's lots of flights

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Speaker 1: all over Australia at any given time between six and

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Speaker 1: ten am, a lot of international flights arriving and departing, etc.

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Speaker 1: It'll come down I suppose, to the carrier, the airline themselves,

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Speaker 1: airlines themselves as to whether or not they choose to

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Speaker 1: fly during that period of time. They may decide to

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Speaker 1: take the risk and fly through that period. However, we're

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Speaker 1: taking the safety of the flying public very seriously. We

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Speaker 1: wouldn't do this lightly. The fact that if the airlines

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Speaker 1: decide to fly as opposed to not. From a commercial

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Speaker 1: point of view, you can understand that from a safety

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Speaker 1: point of view, it doesn't make sense at all.

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Speaker 2: Trevor. Sorry, I've got a bit of a frog in

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Speaker 2: my throat, mate, just having a quiet choke while while

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Speaker 2: interviewing you now, so just excuse me. So obviously next

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Speaker 2: Friday this is happening. Is there any way that this

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Speaker 2: is avoidable, that this strike action could be avoidable?

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Speaker 1: Well, yes there is if, as I said, when the

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Speaker 1: party is getting together. In fact, I think there's another

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Speaker 1: meeting today. If the concerns of the union are met

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Speaker 1: through via the management, well then there's every chance that

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Speaker 1: the strike will be postpone, delayed, or canceled. It will

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Speaker 1: depend on the conversations between all parties, and it will

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Speaker 1: depend on whether or not management decide to consider that

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Speaker 1: the safety of the flying public as paramount and therefore

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Speaker 1: they put into place procedures whereby we don't get caught

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Speaker 1: with such a low number of staff. Ever again, and

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Speaker 1: that we can be relying on the numbers of staff

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Speaker 1: that should be available will always be available.

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Speaker 2: Well, Trevor Rodgers, Aviation Fire Commander, We really appreciate your

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Speaker 2: time this morning. Thanks very much for having a chat

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Speaker 2: with us. Thank you,