National Headquarters
Fire and Emergency New Zealand
National Headquarters
Spark Central, Level 7
42-52 Wil is Street
Wel ington Central
Wel ington 6011
Phone +64 4 496 3600
8 May 2026
Ref: 21116
Mark Grayson
[FYI request #33514 email]
Tēnā koe Mark
We refer to your request of 10 March 2026 to Fire and Emergency New Zealand requesting
information relating to industrial action. Your request has been considered under the Official
Information Act 1982 (OIA), and we copy and respond to each aspect of your request below.
•
Please provide updated information for the below, as at 11 March 2026:
1. Total expenditure by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) of advertisement across
social media platforms, radio networks, television, bil boards and any other broadcasting
means;
The total expenditure committed to by Fire and Emergency and related to the paid public
information and risk reduction campaign with respect to industrial action by the New Zealand
Professional Firefighter’s Union as of 11 March was $1,112,882.
2. As of 16 January 2026, the total expenditure Fire and Emergency has paid in regard to the
paid public information campaign about the New Zealand Professional Firefighters’ Union
(NZPFU) industrial action is $868,639.72. Please provide a weekly breakdown of this figure.
Please see the table below, showing the weekly breakdown up to 16 January 2026:
Date
Actual costs
Friday 17 October
$158,799
Friday 31 October
$7,050
Friday 7 November
$40,804
Friday 14 November
$50,223
Friday 21 November
$69,154
Friday 28 November
$69,956
Date
Actual costs
Friday 5 December
$69,956
Friday 12 December
$67,116
Friday 19 December
$67,116
Friday 26 December
$67,116
Friday 2 January
$67,116
Friday 9 January
$67,116
Friday 16 January
$67,116
Total
$868,639
3. Please provide the current salary of a Firefighter.
Upon successful graduation of the initial 12-week course, trainee firefighters graduate to
firefighter and are posted to a station. The base salary range for a firefighter is $60,500 to
$67,200. The base salary for a qualified firefighter is currently $72,600 to $79,300. For senior
firefighter it is $80,700 to $87,300. Base salaries for Officers ranges from $91,800 - $113,600
You may be interested to know that Fire and Emergency made an offer to the New Zealand
Professional Firefighters Union that included a 6.2% increase over three years. This would have
taken the average senior firefighter remuneration from a range of approximately $80,700-$87,300
to $85,800-$92,900 at the end of the period, excluding overtime and al owances which currently
adds an average of $38,800 to annual remuneration. We believe this represents a fair and
sustainable increase for our people.
4. Please provide the current salary of the Chief Executive Officer.
The Chief Executive’s current base salary is $441,379.00. This figure excludes superannuation,
additional annual leave and KiwiSaver contributions.
5. Please provide all phone messages (such as SMS, Messenger or Whatsapp) and emails
between 01 October 2025 and 11 March 2026, relating to the industrial action, strikes,
incidents during the strikes, or mention "NZPFU" or "Union", to or from the fol owing
persons:
•
Chief Executive Officer Kerry Gregory
•
Deputy National Commander Megan Stiffler
•
National Manager Communications Engagement
•
Minister Brooke van Velden
In line with our obligations under section 18B of the OIA, we wrote to you on 24 March 2026 to
seek refinement of this aspect of your request. We proposed limiting this question to
communications between 1 January 2026 to 11 March 2026. We also proposed limiting the
correspondence in scope to information relating specifically to industrial action.
To date we have not received a reply to our invitation to refine this aspect of your request.
Attempting to col ate the requested information would be a significant administrative task to
undertake and would impact on our ability to carry out our core functions. In accordance with the
OIA, we have also considered whether affixing a charge would enable your request to be
answered. However, given the scale of this portion of your request, we do not consider that this
would be reasonable. For this reason, we are refusing this aspect of your request under section
18(f) of the OIA, as the information requested cannot be made available without substantial
collation or research.
6. Please provide all phone messages (such as SMS, Messenger or Whatsapp) and emails
relating to the pay deductions for NZPFU members who are striking, between the
aforementioned persons. This should include any attachments. This should be between 1
January 2026 and 11 March 2026.
Please find attached, as
Appendix One to this response, copies of the requested information.
Some information has been withheld under the following sections of the OIA:
• 9(2)(a), to protect the privacy of natural persons
• 9(2)(h), to maintain legal professional privilege; and
• 9(2)(j), to enable a Minister of the Crown or any public service agency or organisation
holding the information to carry on, without prejudice or disadvantage, negotiations
(including commercial and industrial negotiations).
In making this decision, we have considered the public interest considerations in section 9(1) of
the OIA. Some information that is embedded within our release to you is outside the scope of your
request and does not relate to the requested information. Where this has occurred, it wil be
redacted and labelled as
out of scope in the attached PDF.
7. Please provide a total number on how many text messages were sent to employees
personal cel phones by FENZ, advising them to read their emails or the portal story, on 09
March 2026.
On 9 March 1,998 text messages were sent.
8. Please provide the total cost of sending these texts
The total cost was $199.80.
9. Do FENZ employees use their personal phones for work-related purposes?
Yes, some employees use their personal phones for work related purposes. However, this is done
as a choice of the employee and is not required by Fire and Emergency. If an employee is required
to be contactable outside of work hours, they are provided with a cel phone.
10. Please provide a total number on how many emails were received by "NHQ HR" relating to
the release of this notice to FENZ employees, specifically between 09 March 2026 and 11
March 2026.
We can advise that 75 emails were received by National Headquarters HR between 9 and 11
March 2026 relating to the release of the notice.
11. Fol owing the withdrawal of strike action by the NZPFU, has FENZ issued any updated
statements, amendments, withdrawal or apologies to their employees? If no, does FENZ
intend on issuing something to their employees?
On 13 March 2026, Fire and Emergency provided an update to all employees regarding the
withdrawal of strike action. Please find the update attached as
Appendix Two to this response.
12. What immediate action did FENZ take fol owing the withdrawal of strike action?
Fire and Emergency’s Workplace Relations teams informed the relevant internal personnel and
external stakeholders that the strike action had been withdrawn. This included informing the
payroll team to ensure they did not proceed with the 10% deduction to the base salary of those
who participated in the proposed partial strike action.
The Chief Executive also wrote to the Secretary of the New Zealand Professional Firefighter’s
Union and confirmed that Fire and Emergency's notice regarding pay deductions dated 9 March
2026 was formally withdrawn. The communication included confirmation that Fire and Emergency
intended to exercise lawful right to not pay employees for any period when they withheld their
labour in full commencing 26 March. We also informed the Office of the Minister of Internal
Affairs and the Chair of the Board of Fire and Emergency.
13. Do the FENZ values apply to all employees, including the Executive Leadership Team?
Yes, Fire and Emergency’s values apply to all personnel, regardless of role. This includes
volunteers, employees, contractors, suppliers and Board members.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision.
Information about how to make a complaint is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
freephone 0800 802 602.
We trust that the information being provided is of assistance. If you require further information,
please email [FENZ request email]
Nāku noa, nā
Aidan Saunders
Manager, Information Requests
