Media Release | 8 May 2026
Hon. Rob Horstman MLC
Shadow Minister for Emergency Services
Shadow Minister for Emergency Services, Rob Horstman MLC, says the Cook Labor Government is blaming industrial action from firefighters for missing key emergency services targets in the State Budget, rather than taking responsibility for its own failures.
“Hidden in the budget footnotes is a disgraceful swipe at hardworking professional firefighters from a government gaslighting the people who they should be thanking,” Mr Horstman said.
The 2026/27 State Budget not only confirms the Government has missed key emergency services performance targets before, during and after emergencies — it also shows it is trying to blame WA firefighters fighting for better conditions and proper resourcing.
“The Government has pinned the blame for their own shortcomings on the people who dedicate their life to protecting West Australians.
“The comment cited industrial action by the United Professional Firefighters Union as the reason for failing to meet structure fire reports completed within the prescribed time,” he said.
Mr Horstman said the comment fails to acknowledge that firefighters are being asked to work 24-hour shifts to ensure their stations are staffed, putting the community’s safety before their own.
“Falling short of targets is not the failure of professional firefighters, but the failure of a Government refusing to improve their conditions and provide adequate staff and resourcing.
“Meanwhile, the Government has given up on some reporting metrics, admitting Levy 1 and Levy 2 incidents response timeframes reports have not been completed since August 2025.
“If the Government is genuinely concerned about industrial action impacting service delivery and reporting they should approach firefighters in good faith and deliver the conditions and resourcing required – not point fingers,” Mr Horstman said.
United Professional Firefighters Union of Western Australia Secretary, John Marsh said the footnote not only deflected blame but misled the public.
“Contrary to the government’s budget report, there has been no industrial action impacting the completion of fire reports for anything other than Direct Brigade Alarm incident reports.
“The footnote is completely inaccurate and there are no current plans to ban incident reporting.
“It’s clear the government has no genuine concern about the dire situation the fire and rescue service finds itself in.
“The footnotes are flippant and dismissive in nature whilst reported information does not account for the blowouts seen in overtime and failure to keep trucks on the road,” Mr Marsh said.
ENDS
