The Minister for Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden has
publicly declared she has no confidence in FENZ CE Kerry
Gregory.
The Minister also raised with the Board her
“concerns relating to the capability of other senior
leaders within FENZ”.
The Minister’s declaration
of no confidence in Kerry Gregory came as she publicly
exposed that a matter relating to the administration of the
Levy had been referred to the Serious Fraud Office. The
Minister has written to the FENZ Board detailing her lack of
confidence in Mr Gregory, but to date it appears the Board
has not acted.
Mr Gregory was out of the country at
the time, having represented FENZ at an international fire
conference and then taking annual leave. It is understood he
is back in New Zealand but is reported to be on pre-arranged
annual leave, expected to work next week.
Yesterday,
the Board Chair Raveen Jaduram sent an email to FENZ
personnel stating that Mr Gregory’s annual leave had been
extended until Monday 19 October: “The Board and I
continue to engage with Kerry following the Minister’s
letter expressing her lack of confidence in the Chief
Executive.”
But there has been no word on holding
other FENZ senior leadership to account, even though the
Minister has expressed her concerns directly to the
Board.
We have yet to see the letter from the Minister
(OIA requests have been made), but the Minister has publicly
declared her concerns when asked about specific members of
the FENZ Executive Leadership Team.
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Parliamentary
records show Green MP Mike Davidson asked the Minister if
she had confidence in FENZ’s Deputy Chief Executive
Operational Response (Megan Stiffler), Deputy Chief
Executive People (Janine Hearn), Deputy Chief Executive
Corporate Services (Darryl Purdy), Deputy Chief Executive
Prevention (Stephen Hunt), and the Acting Deputy Chief
Executive Asset and Programme Delivery of Fire and Emergency
New Zealand (Jim Stuart-Black).
The Minister’s
response was: “My lack of confidence relates to the Chief
Executive of FENZ. I do however have concerns relating to
the capability of other senior leaders within FENZ and have
raised this with the Board Chair.”
Mr Purdy is
acting CE and Megan Stiffler is acting National Commander in
Kerry Gregory’s absence. As Head of Corporate Services, Mr
Purdy is akin to a CFO and the NZPFU would expect him to
have at least knowledge of the issue referred to the Serious
Fraud Office.
Kerry Gregory, Darryl Purdy, Megan
Stiffler, and Jim Stuart-Black all appeared before the
select committee, some a number of times, and the resulting
Parliamentary Report was not only scathing of the failure to
properly manage fleet maintenance and procurement, but also
of the failure of FENZ to provide timely and accurate
information to the Committee. The Committee did not believe
some of the evidence provided and went as far as indicating
FENZ had been deliberately misleading. The Committee was
aghast that FENZ had spent approximately $375,000 on
consultants and lawyers to lobby and put their case to the
committee.
Their conduct would not meet any standard
required or imposed on FENZ employees and volunteers – yet
there does not seem to be any process in place to hold them
accountable for that behaviour in that inquiry.
Green
MP Mike Davidson pursued more detail on the issue that had
resulted in the Minister declaring she had no confidence in
Kerry Gregory.
The key points from the Minister’s
answers to the questions about the Serious Fraud Office
matter are:
- Chief Executive Kerry Gregory was
formally advised of the issue on 2 September 2025. Chief
Executive recalls he verbally advised the previous Board
Chair Rebecca Keoghan. (The NZPFU notes that Kerry Gregory
had been CE since 2022, so the question remains whether he
knew, or should have known, earlier. There is also the
question of who else in the ELT knew or ought to have known,
including the DCE Corporate Services Darryl
Purdy). - 4 May 2026 – Chief Executive receives
consolidated report from external lawyers (date it was
received is unclear). - 26 June 2026 – The FENZ
Board considers the matter and directs further legal advice
be sought. - The current Board Chair Raveen Jaduram
was informally advised on 3 July 2026 and fully briefed on
30 July 2026 as part of his first Board meeting. - 30
July 2026 – The FENZ Board reconsiders the matter and
directs that there be a referral to the Serious Fraud
Office. - 10 August 2026 – The matter was referred
to the Serious Fraud Office. Note: neither the Department of
Internal Affairs nor the Minister had been advised prior to
the referral. - 14 August 2026 – The Chief Executive
briefs the Board Chair on external legal advice and the
SFO. - 2 September 2026 – The Chief Executive and
Board Chair brief the Secretary for Internal
Affairs. - 4 September 2026 – The Minister of
Internal Affairs is advised through a briefing note from the
Chief Executive.
The matter referred to the
Serious Fraud Office occurred prior to early 2021, and the
Minister was advised the earliest estimated date is
2011.
“I am advised that an internal investigation
was conducted between April 2022 and May 2026. Given the
matter is now being considered by the Serious Fraud Office,
I am unable to comment further.”
Kerry Gregory was
appointed CE in April 2022. Prior to that, he was part of
the Senior Leadership Team, was National Commander, and held
other senior management roles. The question remains as to
what he knew about the issue and the investigation that
commenced in April 2022, and who else in FENZ
knew?
When asked if the matter involved one
individual, multiple individuals, or an organisational unit
within Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Minister
responded she could not comment further with the matter
referred to the Serious Fraud Office.
When asked
whether any former employee of Fire and Emergency New
Zealand was a subject of the Serious Fraud Office’s
consideration of the matter that relates to an incident with
Fire and Emergency’s administration of the levy scheme,
the Minister responded she could not comment further with
the matter referred to the Serious Fraud Office.
There
needs to be a complete clean-out of the Board and the Senior
Leadership Team.
How can the public, the staff, and
the volunteers have any confidence that they are competent,
diligent, and undertake their duties to the required
standard when senior leadership have been found to be at the
least misleading? They have failed to properly manage the
funding to ensure there is a reliable and fit-for-purpose
fleet, which puts the safety of firefighters and the
community they are responding to at an unnecessarily greater
risk.
Members of Parliament across the political
spectrum have been scathing in their commentary about the
Board and senior leaders of FENZ.
The Minister
described the serious fraud matter as a “serious breach”
and stated that FENZ was “breaching their own law in
regards to levy collections”, which she said was
“despicable”.
