FIREFIGHTERS are using taxpayer-funded computers to view pornography and gamble online while working, a leaked email has revealed.
And one veteran officer, sacked for viewing porn, is fighting his dismissal on the grounds that his behaviour was an "accepted culture".
The Metropolitan Fire Service sacked senior firefighter Shane McInerney after an investigation found he had used computers for his own "vouyeristic, sexual interests" over a two-year period. He is challenging the ruling in the District Court in a bid to clear his name and to get his job back.
His battle comes as the extent of the unauthorised behaviour has been revealed in an email, sighted by the Sunday Mail, which was sent to all MFS stations last November.
District Officer Kevin Eckermann wrote to firefighters saying many personnel were using the internet for "well over 10 hours per month".
"Gentlemen. Following the latest issue of monthly internet usage, it appears that many Fire Fighters are accessing in-appropriate sites," he wrote in the November 10 email, addressed to station officers and to Command District Officers.
"These sites are varied with the following catorgay (sic) being used many times, Gambling, Games, Communications, Chat, Business Services, Entertainment, Vehicles, Real Estate, Sports, Financial and even XXX sites.
"Could you please make all crews aware of Policy 43 Internet usage and ensure they adhere to it."
Under the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005, a firefighter must not use property for an unauthorised purpose "without proper excuse".
Mr McInerney was sacked on August 3, 2007, after an investigation by the MFS Disciplinary Committee found he had viewed more than 400 "vile and degrading" pictures on a computer at the Port Adelaide Fire Station between August 13, 2003, and November 15, 2005.
Among the images, discovered in hidden folders, were graphic sexual acts, dismembered and mutilated bodies and even one of a naked young child milking a goat, the court documents show.
In its 142-page ruling the committee, headed by Magistrate Bill Morris, said the firefighter of 18 years' experience had used the equipment merely for "personal, sexually, salacious entertainment" and to satisfy his own "vouyeristic, sexual interests".
"To use the computer systems in this way for mere personal pleasure and purient sexual interest is serious misconduct and must have serious consequences," it said.
"Some of these images were vile and degrading, some might be described as child pornography. It is incomprehensible that an employee would not know that this conduct was unacceptable."
The disciplinary committee also said his motive for viewing mutilated bodies "could have been" as a consequence of an "unwholesome personal fascination, or obsession".
"We consider that in the public interest, the employee's motives in viewing such images should be a matter of grave concern," it said.
Three colleagues were also reprimanded during the investigation.
In his defence, Mr McInerney's solicitor, Anthony Kerin, had asked the committee to take into account his client's record and years of service.
The committee heard that Mr McInerney had rescued numerous people from burning buildings and had volunteered to assist in devastating bushfires in New South Wales in 1994 and 2001.
Mr McInerney would not speak publicly about the case but he had told the committee that viewing pornography was "accepted".
"It was something that everyone, everyone does, and I guarantee I've seen a hell of a lot worse on other people's emails," he said during cross-examination.
He confirmed he may have accessed images of dismembered corpses but only to "harden himself up" to the possibility of viewing human remains.
MFS senior public affairs officer Nicole Ely said the organisation had a "zero tolerance" towards the use of inappropriate sites. "All staff internet usage is monitored, making us confident our workforce does not misuse the internet," she said. "There have not been any such disciplinary or dismissal cases in the past 12 months."
