The New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) is again seeking an independent inquiry into Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ), linking its concerns about funding use and governance to the agency’s levy‑funded operating model and statutory obligations. In a March 30, 2026, statement, NZPFU national secretary Wattie Watson said the union wants an inquiry to assess whether FENZ has managed its funding in a way that maintains “capacity and capability for reliable emergency response to the New Zealand public, now and in the future,” and whether it is meeting its duties under the Fire and Emergency Act 2017.
“We believe there have been serious failures in the management and governance of FENZ with a lack of accountability for failed projects that have wasted tens of millions of dollars,” Watson said. The NZPFU has launched a public petition and is asking for support for “a public independent inquiry.” According to the union, FENZ’s reported funding rose to about $838 million in 2025, compared with a Fire Service Commission budget of about $340 million before FENZ’s establishment in 2017 and a one‑off $300 million start‑up package. The NZPFU says firefighter numbers, both volunteer and career, have been largely steady while non‑operational and management roles have more than doubled, and that for eight years “not one new fire appliance had made it to career fire stations.” FENZ had not publicly commented on the latest inquiry call at the time of writing, although it has previously defended its resourcing, remuneration strategy, and organisational structure in earlier public statements.
In material issued with the petition, the NZPFU lists a range of operational issues it says an independent review should consider. It cites FENZ data that, in the union’s view, shows firefighter and communications centre dispatcher numbers are not sufficient to maintain minimum staffing around the clock. The union refers to what it describes as an “agreement in principle” to increase numbers of firefighters and 111 call‑centre dispatchers and says this has not been implemented. It alleges that FENZ is now “driving down staffing levels by reversing improvements to staffing levels that were made to prevent stations closing or trucks responding understaffed,” and that the agency is treating earlier increases as a pilot related to recovery times from long‑term injury and illness.
On fleet, the NZPFU characterises the condition of some fire appliances as “dire,” pointing to breakdowns and a lack of fit‑for‑purpose relief vehicles. It says those issues have at times affected the ability of crews to reach incidents or maintain full response once on scene. While acknowledging that “some new appliances are on their way,” the union says the volume “is nowhere near enough to address the old and failing fleet.”
Other points raised include a reduction in career recruit courses, reported limits on training access for some volunteer brigades, and what the union describes as ongoing understaffing at the country’s three 111 emergency centres. The NZPFU says it is “not usual for one or more of the three 111 emergency centres to be closed due to lack of staffing,” which, it says, transfers additional workload to remaining centres.
The union also alleges “huge waste in expenditure with no accountability,” referencing a shelved payroll system, a uniform project it says did not proceed as intended, restructures that reversed earlier changes, and complaint‑handling changes it says continue to cause difficulty. “We are fighting for your fire service. We are confident an independent inquiry is absolutely necessary to prevent the downgrading of New Zealand’s fire and emergency service,” Watson said.
The renewed inquiry call sits alongside an unresolved collective bargaining round between FENZ and the NZPFU and continuing industrial action. The parties’ 2021-24 collective agreement expired on June 30, 2024. Bargaining activity has taken place in various forms since 2019, including multiple rounds of Employment Relations Authority (ERA)‑facilitated discussions. In a March 17 update, Watson said the ERA had offered further facilitation on March 30 and 31. The union says it agreed to those dates on the understanding that FENZ would bring a revised settlement proposal, which chief executive Kerry Gregory had previously indicated was being prepared. According to the NZPFU, later correspondence from Gregory stated that FENZ expected the union to table a new proposal at the start of facilitation and that FENZ would not present a fresh offer first.
“The NZPFU accepted facilitation on the basis that FENZ would provide a new offer that CE Kerry Gregory had earlier told the Union it was being worked on. Kerry Gregory wrote to the union claiming FENZ is expecting NZPFU to table a new settlement proposal at the commencement of the facilitation,” Watson said. The union has told the ERA it will not participate in facilitation unless a revised FENZ offer is on the table. The NZPFU says it last lodged a comprehensive proposal on January 26, 2026, and that FENZ has not put forward a new proposal since 2025. The union continues to identify remuneration, staffing levels, work health and safety, and elements of FENZ’s structure and resourcing model as key unresolved issues.
The NZPFU’s inquiry campaign and the bargaining stalemate are unfolding within FENZ’s current funding settings, under which about 95% of operating income is derived from statutory levies on home, contents, and motor insurance policies, with the remainder from government and other sources. FENZ reports a workforce of about 14,900 paid and volunteer personnel, a fleet of roughly 1,300 appliances and close to 600 stations, responding to around 89,000 incidents a year.
Any external review of FENZ’s funding, governance and resourcing – and any subsequent changes to staffing, fleet investment, or remuneration – may influence future levy trajectories, cost structures, and expectations of emergency response. The outcome of both the NZPFU-FENZ bargaining process and the union’s call for an inquiry is likely to remain of interest to insurance professionals tracking the performance and sustainability of New Zealand’s levy‑funded fire and emergency system.
