It probably isn’t really power if you can’t abuse it.
But perhaps some of our over-powered administrators need to realise they have responsibilities as well.
A state parliamentary inquiry, the report of which was released last weekend, should provide an apparently much-needed kick in the backside for some of those in the new Queensland Fire Department, legislation for which appears to have been drafted for the benefit of anyone but us.
The inquiry found serious injustices and inadequacies in the way those in charge have treated the vital and hardworking volunteers on the front line in regional and rural Queensland.
That report uses words like “disappointing“ and quotes volunteer complaints, which it appears to accept, which include words like “disrespectful“.
There are only two words anyone should say to volunteers in the rural fire service. Those words are: “Thank you.“
– Arthur Gorrie
