VIC:'Disturbing' leadership failures in Rees

AAP General News (Australia)
08-01-2010
VIC:'Disturbing' leadership failures in Rees

By Steve Lillebuen

MELBOURNE, Aug 1 AAP - Victoria's former fire chief Russell Rees used a "disturbing"

leadership style to deflect his responsibilities during Black Saturday, the final report
into the disaster says.

Mr Rees, who resigned as head of the Country Fire Authority (CFA) in June, failed to
oversee fire warnings, create state-wide fire plans and maintain contact with what the
report calls "poorly equipped" incident control centres.

During his three appearances before the commission, Mr Rees said he risked "losing
focus" if he had bothered calling his staff at the helm of the busy centres.

"He, therefore, remained operationally removed from the fires and as a result, was
not in a position to appreciate the deficiencies in the staffing and expertise of some
incident management teams," the report says.

But Mr Rees shares the blame for failing to act with the other emergency services leaders
in charge on February 7, 2009.

All leaders had a tendency to delegate their responsibilities to subordinates, which
the report called "ineffective".

"The commission observed a disturbing tendency among senior fire agency personnel -
including the chief officers - to consistently allocate responsibility further down the
chain of command," the report by the Bushfires Royal Commission concludes.

"Accountability must rest ultimately at the top of the chain of command."

Both Mr Rees and Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) fire chief Ewan
Waller had not directly controlled the response to the fires as they should have.

"The commission concludes that CFA Chief Officer Mr Rees and DSE (Department Sustainability
and Environment) Chief Fire Officer Mr Waller should have done more."

Mr Rees did not make any comment on the report and is believed to be in NSW, camping
with his family.

"The issues we are dealing with here are bigger than people," CFA chief executive Mick
Bourke told reporters on Saturday.

"Russell Rees was the chief officer, but he is no longer."

On Sunday, Premier John Brumby gave his full support for Mr Waller and other emergency
service heads criticised in the report, but appeared to stop short of endorsing Mr Rees.

"Russell has of course departed so Russell is a private citizen and he is no longer
a member of the CFA and any comments Russell might like to make, Russell could make."

AAP sbl/pmu

KEYWORD: TEAGUE REES (REPEAT)

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