Yes Minister’s Sir Humphrey Appleby once advised his Minister that “nothing must be done for the first time” because “doing the ‘right thing’ once could create a dangerous precedent, obligating one to do it again.” Therefore, he argued it was best to do nothing at all, thereby avoiding setting any precedent.

In advice to Parliament’s Education and Workforce Select Committee in August regarding a petition calling for volunteer firefighters to receive the same coverage as employed firefighters, the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment and the Accident Compensation Corporation jointly argued that “Expanding work-related cover to volunteer firefighters would be complex to implement. Work related cover is only available for injuries that are caused by work. ACC would continue to need sufficient evidence that a work-related mental injury, disease or infection was caused by the work tasks carried out. This would be less clear cut than it is for paid employees.”

In other words, do nothing. The principle that experienced volunteer firefighters exposed to the same level of risk should receive the same level of ACC coverage as their employed counterparts if injured or exposed to the same carcinogenic risks while doing the same job is apparently too difficult to comprehend. Or that paid firefighters who are fully covered as employees would not be covered if they were working in a voluntary capacity. Therefore, best to do nothing. Advice straight out of Sir Humphrey’s textbook.

It is little wonder so many politicians consider the Yes Minister series was far more a documentary than a comedy. The tragedy is that the attitudes and bureaucratic behaviours it pilloried so savagely in the 1980s are still alive and well in the public service over 40 years and several public sector reform rounds later.

The joint MBIE/ACC advice picks up on Sir Humphrey’s ‘right thing’ warning. They advised the select committee that if the law was changed to broaden ACC coverage for volunteer firefighters, it would have to be extended to include other emergency service volunteer workers such as Surf Lifesaving New Zealand, Coastguard, Land Search and Rescue, St Johns and Wellington Free Ambulance. Well, yes that is obvious and has never been denied by the petition’s sponsors and the United Fire Brigades Association. But it is hardly a valid reason to continue to do nothing.

MBIE and ACC did however concede that the cost of extending coverage to volunteer firefighters would be only $244,533 annually, but then, lest that might persuade MPs to support the petition, quickly fell back on the tried and true ‘thin end of the wedge’ argument. Again, Sir Humphrey would have been very pleased that his advice was being followed.

The sad thing is that while Sir Humphrey’s observations were made in the world of fiction, there are real people suffering today because of the lack of ACC coverage that MBIE and ACC so staunchly defend. If these agencies were genuinely concerned about the categories of volunteers not properly covered by ACC at present, they would have proposed specific possible solutions to the select committee, not hidden behind the many “why not” reasons their official advice contained.

None of the reasons they proffered were insoluble. All could have been easily resolved with a little creative and constructive thinking. But meeting need by providing proper public service is clearly beyond the scope and moral capability of these two agencies and their leaders. Again, conduct the same as Sir Humphrey would have advised. By focusing on process over outcome, MBIE and ACC are seeking to prevent change and the implementation of just, beneficial and fair social policy, an outcome many would describe as bureaucratic failure.

MBIE and ACC concluded their advice to the select committee with the somewhat dismissive observation that “depending on the circumstances, volunteers can endeavour to seek damages through the courts, and prosecutions under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 may also be able to provide reparations.” They should be careful about what they wish for.

Any actions by volunteers for compensation through the courts would likely lead to substantial damages being awarded against the Crown, far more than the $244,533 annual cost of extending ACC coverage reported to the select committee.

But then, as Sir Humphrey once told his Minister, “The public doesn't know anything about wasting government money. We're the experts." By their bureaucratic lethargy on the volunteer firefighter coverage issue, MBIE and ACC seem keen to prove this point all over again.