Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) chief executive Kerry Gregory has resigned with immediate effect after Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden declared she had “no confidence” in his leadership.
FENZ board chair Raveen Jaduram confirmed the departure on October 23, 2026, saying Gregory cited the minister’s public statement and acknowledged it had become “untenable for him to remain in his role,” according to 1News.
Van Velden said Gregory “withheld information from me about a serious matter which has now been referred to the Serious Fraud Office.” She added that he had been aware of the issue for over a year and did not inform her, even after receiving external advice that FENZ should disclose it.
The minister also flagged wider leadership concerns. In parliamentary answers reported by the NZPFU on October 9, 2026, van Velden said: “I do however have concerns relating to the capability of other senior leaders within FENZ.”
For brokers, the leadership upheaval is secondary. The operational data behind it is what demands attention.
The Governance and Administration Committee’s September 2026 report found that 52% of Type 3 to Type 6 appliances were beyond their target replacement age as of May 1, 2026. That proportion stood at 23% in 2017.
Of 93 relief appliances, 60 were also past target age. No aerial appliances had been replaced since 2017.
The committee found that 30 MAN appliances purchased in 2019 remained out of operational service nearly seven years later, with testing recording 582 acceptance defects, 120 fit-out defects, and 146 readiness defects.
FENZ estimates it needs $510 million over 10 years to bring the fleet up to standard, but projects only $356 million will be available. That leaves a shortfall of approximately $154 million with no plan to close the gap.
The committee said FENZ’s reporting of a 99.72% appliance availability rate “appears intentionally misleading” because it did not capture appliances unable to leave the station.
Read more: Parliamentary committee loses confidence in FENZ ahead of election
FENZ’s own 2024/25 annual report shows career crews met the eight-minute response target at urban structure fires in 76.9% of cases, below the 80% benchmark. Volunteer crews hit their 11-minute standard 78% of the time, against an 85% target.
Fires were contained to the room of origin in 61.6% of cases, against an 80% target. That containment rate has fallen from 63.9% in 2020/21.
A house fire on Thomson Street in Caversham, Dunedin, on August 7, 2026, illustrated the gap. FENZ said career crews from the nearest station would have arrived in about one minute. During a strike, volunteer crews from surrounding areas took approximately eight minutes. By the time an assistant area commander arrived, the house was fully involved.
The NZPFU has staged more than 50 one-hour work stoppages since August 2025, according to the Porirua News. FENZ has asked the union to suspend action while members vote on a proposed pay settlement.
Read more: Firefighter strikes delay NZ fire response as property risk questions mount
Property and vehicle insurance levies supplied 95% of FENZ’s $838 million revenue in 2024/25, yet levy revenue came in $29.8 million below budget.
The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) has called for a shift away from the insurance-based levy, with ICNZ chief executive Kris Faafoi writing that “ICNZ believes the simplest and fairest option would be to fund FENZ through general taxation.” The government has already asked FENZ for $60 million in savings over three years, and a proposed levy increase was cut from 5.2% to 2.2% from July 2026, according to ICNZ.
Katherine Wilson, chief executive of the Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand (IBANZ), has said that “those who pay insurance premiums are unfairly burdened with funding them.”
James Knight, head of APAC risk advisory at Aon New Zealand, said brokers should move clients from “will I ever experience a wildfire?” to “am I prepared if one happens?”
With containment rates falling and response times slipping, brokers reviewing property and business interruption portfolios should be checking indemnity periods against realistic rebuild timelines, confirming sums insured reflect full reinstatement costs, and recording monitored alarms and sprinkler systems with insurers. Clients in regional centres where callbacks are the primary source of career coverage face particular exposure.
NZPFU national secretary Wattie Watson said the union “would welcome an opportunity to meet with the Board to discuss what now needs to be done to turn the organisation around.”
Darry Purdy is acting chief executive. Megan Stiffler remains national commander.
