[Music]
[Applause]
when you think of firefighters who do
you picture barely white male perhaps
hot sexy mr. November on the
firefighters calendar well considering
that 95% of all urban firefighters in
Australia are white men it’s not
surprising and whilst I have the utmost
respect for the men in our fire service
this image that we have in our heads it
needs to change you see a homogeneous
workforce and this outdated calendar
stereotype are no longer relevant
in the modern fire service and they
actually limit our capabilities today I
want to tell you why your Fire and
Rescue Service needs to have a mix of
firefighters because of the range of
activities that we’re required to do to
keep you safe historically firefighters
only went to fires that was it the work
was hot heavy and dangerous like this
ferocious fire here at the Goldsboro
Mort wool store formerly just across the
road from where we sit today in 1935 it
burned for days and threatened to take
all of Sydney with it the jobs changed a
lot since then
buildings have fire protection systems
we know more about preventing fires and
we do more medical and rescue work than
ever before so what do we really do of
course we still put fires out but we do
so much more for example at a recent car
accident I attended in Bathurst I had to
crawl through the side window of a
crushed and overturned car to help
rescue a severely injured man his
teenage daughter had crashed and rolled
the car on that day while she was
learning to drive our most senior
firefighter who
incidentally looks like mr. November was
too big to fit through the side window
so myself and my two other crew members
used specialized rescue techniques to
release the man and slide him out
through the front windscreen to safety
as a woman and as the officer in charge
that day it was both appropriate and
acceptable for me to hug that distressed
teenage driver and reassure her that her
dad was going to be okay and in another
job an old man fell out of his bed and
laid for two days on the floor with a
broken hip until his family could
investigate when we arrived we sent our
smallest firefighter down through the
roof cavity she then reassured the old
man in Italian and was able to translate
between his family and the ambulance
crew this old man was saved that day
because of this firefighters small size
and her cultural competence and in a
bizarre job just recently a junior
firefighter had to hold and stabilize a
man’s inflamed penis while another
firefighter used pressurized cutting
tools with absolute surgical precision
to remove multiple stainless-steel rings
I know it sounds odd but it’s all part
in actual fact responding to fires and
other emergencies such this’s accounts
for only 7% of the work we do the other
93% is spent saving lives in prevention
preparedness and working alongside other
emergency services in order to be
effective in all of these situations we
must work in teams our fire trucks are
like giant red toolboxes where we select
the right combination of tools skills
knowledge and experience to solve
problems but just how versatile can our
teams be when less than 5% of our
firefighters are women and less than 2%
are from ethnically diverse backgrounds
and it would appear that the whole world
has the same problem a couple of years
ago I had the absolute privilege to
travel all around the world on a Winston
Churchill fellowship to research what
best practice in the fire service looked
like I traveled to Japan India England
and North America visiting all their
fire and rescue services I discovered
that recruitment strategies such as
quotas and girls fire camps we’re making
significant difference and that best
practice focused on preventing
emergencies and building community
resilience in Australia fire and
emergency services are recognising the
need to remain relevant in our rapidly
changing world we are actively
recruiting a diverse workforce and we’re
making sure that you all know who we are
and a range of things that we do we have
increased the numbers of women
indigenous and ethnically diverse people
in all of our emergency services not
only has this made us more versatile and
broadened our capabilities it’s also
really made a significant impact on the
culture in our fire stations and our
other workplaces slowly the
spreading that we are rescuers
protectors and educators we participate
in your cultural sporting religious and
events and in time you can expect us to
look even more like you change is slow
but we’re definitely heading in the
right direction and the best thing is
that you can help to stop thinking tall
sexy mr. November as your local
firefighter and start thinking captain
capability fit intellectually and
emotionally strong multi-skilled and
connected to you so the next time you
see a giant red toolbox go flying past
imagine a crew of men and women inside
that reflect your community with the
range of skillsets to solve all problems
and guarantee your safety thank you
[Applause] [Music]
[Applause]
when you think of firefighters who do
you picture barely white male perhaps
hot sexy mr. November on the
firefighters calendar well considering
that 95% of all urban firefighters in
Australia are white men it’s not
surprising and whilst I have the utmost
respect for the men in our fire service
this image that we have in our heads it
needs to change you see a homogeneous
workforce and this outdated calendar
stereotype are no longer relevant
in the modern fire service and they
actually limit our capabilities today I
want to tell you why your Fire and
Rescue Service needs to have a mix of
firefighters because of the range of
activities that we’re required to do to
keep you safe historically firefighters
only went to fires that was it the work
was hot heavy and dangerous like this
ferocious fire here at the Goldsboro
Mort wool store formerly just across the
road from where we sit today in 1935 it
burned for days and threatened to take
all of Sydney with it the jobs changed a
lot since then
buildings have fire protection systems
we know more about preventing fires and
we do more medical and rescue work than
ever before so what do we really do of
course we still put fires out but we do
so much more for example at a recent car
accident I attended in Bathurst I had to
crawl through the side window of a
crushed and overturned car to help
rescue a severely injured man his
teenage daughter had crashed and rolled
the car on that day while she was
learning to drive our most senior
firefighter who
incidentally looks like mr. November was
too big to fit through the side window
so myself and my two other crew members
used specialized rescue techniques to
release the man and slide him out
through the front windscreen to safety
as a woman and as the officer in charge
that day it was both appropriate and
acceptable for me to hug that distressed
teenage driver and reassure her that her
dad was going to be okay and in another
job an old man fell out of his bed and
laid for two days on the floor with a
broken hip until his family could
investigate when we arrived we sent our
smallest firefighter down through the
roof cavity she then reassured the old
man in Italian and was able to translate
between his family and the ambulance
crew this old man was saved that day
because of this firefighters small size
and her cultural competence and in a
bizarre job just recently a junior
firefighter had to hold and stabilize a
man’s inflamed penis while another
firefighter used pressurized cutting
tools with absolute surgical precision
to remove multiple stainless-steel rings
I know it sounds odd but it’s all part
in actual fact responding to fires and
other emergencies such this’s accounts
for only 7% of the work we do the other
93% is spent saving lives in prevention
preparedness and working alongside other
emergency services in order to be
effective in all of these situations we
must work in teams our fire trucks are
like giant red toolboxes where we select
the right combination of tools skills
knowledge and experience to solve
problems but just how versatile can our
teams be when less than 5% of our
firefighters are women and less than 2%
are from ethnically diverse backgrounds
and it would appear that the whole world
has the same problem a couple of years
ago I had the absolute privilege to
travel all around the world on a Winston
Churchill fellowship to research what
best practice in the fire service looked
like I traveled to Japan India England
and North America visiting all their
fire and rescue services I discovered
that recruitment strategies such as
quotas and girls fire camps we’re making
significant difference and that best
practice focused on preventing
emergencies and building community
resilience in Australia fire and
emergency services are recognising the
need to remain relevant in our rapidly
changing world we are actively
recruiting a diverse workforce and we’re
making sure that you all know who we are
and a range of things that we do we have
increased the numbers of women
indigenous and ethnically diverse people
in all of our emergency services not
only has this made us more versatile and
broadened our capabilities it’s also
really made a significant impact on the
culture in our fire stations and our
other workplaces slowly the
spreading that we are rescuers
protectors and educators we participate
in your cultural sporting religious and
events and in time you can expect us to
look even more like you change is slow
but we’re definitely heading in the
right direction and the best thing is
that you can help to stop thinking tall
sexy mr. November as your local
firefighter and start thinking captain
capability fit intellectually and
emotionally strong multi-skilled and
connected to you so the next time you
see a giant red toolbox go flying past
imagine a crew of men and women inside
that reflect your community with the
range of skillsets to solve all problems
and guarantee your safety thank you
[Applause] [Music]
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