The Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service does not have a toxic culture, an internal review has found, despite 20 per cent of employees experiencing or witnessing sexual harassment, racist material being presented at fundraising events and hostile behaviour from colleagues impacting patient care.
The redacted summary of the review by King & Wood Mallesons, which included interviews with 100 current and former employees, but not staff who had signed non-disclosure agreements, found that Westpac Rescue maintained high standards and was a “positive and respectful workplace”.
The review was commissioned by Westpac Rescue after this masthead and 60 Minutes revealed that a dozen whistleblowers had accused the service of “creating a culture of fear” that endangered the health and safety of its personnel, ignored sexual harassment, backdated training certificates, put patients at risk and silenced dissent through the use of non-disclosure agreements.
The future of Westpac Rescue’s $500 million contract hangs in the balance. The service is under increasing scrutiny from a NSW parliamentary inquiry and NSW Ambulance. Both have requested the full unredacted 207-page report. The Westpac Rescue board received the full report in June, but only a 33-page summary was released on Tuesday.
Westpac Rescue, which runs medical evacuation operations in northern NSW from Newcastle to the Queensland border, is distinct from Westpac Lifesaver, which flies missions around Sydney.
In her findings, King & Wood Mallesons partner Cilla Robinson said the most significant issue was not widespread unlawful conduct.
“Rather, they are systemic issues that, left unaddressed, may allow pockets of unlawful conduct to persist and may erode employee confidence in the service’s capacity to respond,” she said.
“On balance, the review gives the service an overall ‘pass mark’.”
The review found 20 per cent of respondents reported they had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment, including 11 in the past 12 months.
It also found that sexist and racist material was present at fundraising events and that certain staff were perceived as “untouchables” due to their tenure or personal relationships within the service.
Westpac Rescue raised $17 million from fundraising and events in 2023-24, including lavish Cirque du Soleil-style balls and golf days.
The review found senior male employees would drink while female employees would “work the floor” at fundraising events, and guest speakers at corporate events and golf days would deliver material that included racist and sexist jokes.
“Multiple interviewees described conduct that, if accurate, would be considered conduct that contributes to a hostile workplace environment for women,” the summary said.
“With respect to bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment, there is sufficient data to indicate that such conduct has occurred within the service over the past five years.”
Stacey Price, Westpac Rescue’s former training co-ordinator, said the review did not reflect her personal experience or concerns shared by other current and former employees, including some who were unable to speak publicly.
“Meaningful accountability requires transparency, appropriate examination of individual complaints and evidence that identified issues are being addressed,” she said.
Price claims she was sexually harassed while working at Westpac Rescue, including being asked if “she was a pig on a spit” or if she “preferred to ‘take it rough’ by having a box ‘rammed into her c---ainer’ ”.
The review recommended that Westpac Rescue “draw a line in the sand” and “correct any perception that ‘low level’ sexual harassment, sex-based harassment and bullying is condoned or tolerated within the service”.
It also found that while Westpac Rescue’s safety record was “exemplary”, five respondents reported that hostile or undermining behaviour from colleagues or leaders at the service had hurt patient safety or care.
Price said she became so concerned for her safety after raising concerns about safety training compliance at the service that she considered wearing bodycams and microphones at work to protect herself.
The relationship between different parts of the operation deteriorated to the point where NSW Ambulance paramedics were allegedly told they could not touch Westpac Rescue equipment.
In 2019, an engineer allegedly breached company policy by towing a helicopter over a manhole on his own. The manhole collapsed, leaving the $20 million flying ambulance stuck in a pit. In another incident, the winch hook, used to lower aircrew and paramedics down to patients, was allegedly torn off by a ballistic cutter inside the hangar after a training exercise went wrong.
The review was divided into current conduct and “historical conduct”, defined as five years before the start of the review in October last year.
“Given the limited historical information available to us, it is not possible to fully assess the adequacy of historical systems,” the summary said.
Westpac Rescue’s chair John Fenwick said the review found serious instances in which the service let people down.
“Those experiences are unacceptable, and I am sorry,” he said. “There has already been significant renewal across the organisation, including changes in personnel, as well as broader changes to governance and people practices.
“At its core, the review has found an organisation that is on a journey. It is not an organisation with a pervasive ‘toxic’ culture.”
The board said it would adopt all the review’s recommendations, including refreshing sexual harassment training, running employee engagement surveys, updating its psychosocial risk assessments and improving “its already strong supports for employees”.
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