ACT ESA Commissioner Georgeina Whelan steps down amid calls for cultural change within agency
- alicesmithcnb
- Jul 20, 2023
- 1 min read
ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA) commissioner Georgeina Whelan has resigned from her position. In a statement confirming her resignation she described the role as a "career highlight". She addressed staff directly and highlighted several disasters that had occurred during her tenure.
"We have had our share of challenges along the way, the 2019-20 Black Summer, COVID-19, super cell storms and international and interstate deployments.
The shift at the helm follows an independent review into the agency, that manages the ACT's firefighting, ambulance and emergency response services.
The review made 18 recommendations and called for a "cultural shift" in the organisation.
It detailed examples of bullying, blaming and the withholding of information and undermining of decisions by executive management.
Paramedics had passed two no-confidence motions in Ms Whelan in the past year, including as recently as six weeks ago at a Transport Workers Union (TWU) ACT meeting.
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