One female firefighter fought for 11 years to have pornographic material removed from fire stations, with nothing done until 2012. But even then, the review by consultant Clive Haggar shows some firefighters did not take the “respect and equity” training that followed the case seriously, and fire stations still don’t have separate toilets and change rooms for women.

Mr Haggar was called in following a 2011 case in which a female firefighter discovered a “pen-camera recording device” in a toilet. His review has been released after a Freedom of Information request but much is blacked out, especially details of the cases.

His review shows that it took seven months before the camera incident was investigated, with senior officers unsure how to handle the case, poor communication between the fire service and the department, and a preference by the fire service to keep it ''in house''.

The offender had claimed the toilet camera was “a practical joke gone wrong”, but an attempt to sack him also went wrong, with apparent changes of mind on whether he should be sacked and an eventual Comcare claim.

Mr Haggar found that case was an outlier, and considered completely unacceptable by most firefighters, but not all. Some accepted the firefighter’s “joke” defence and were prepared to provide references for him.

In the second case, a female firefighter had complained for years about pornographic DVDs, magazines and other material, but until she went over the heads of supervisors in 2012 she had been told “that’s just boys being boys”, she should throw away material she found. After her 2012 complaint, unannounced inspections of fire stations began and all firefighters were put through “respect, equity and diversity training”.

But Mr Haggar pointed to continuing misunderstanding about why sexualised images of women should be banned, leading to ongoing arguments about whether some material was “technically pornographic”.

“The persistence of arguments by some firefighters that the materials at issue are 'not pornographic' or 'could be bought openly in a news agency' supported the suggestion that a small minority of firefighters still 'just don’t get it',” Mr Haggar said in his review.

The training had improved attitudes but had not been taken seriously by everyone. Some had seen it as an exercise in group punishment, and some had continued to bring the materials in question to the station.

“There is no doubt that some firefighters were prepared to push back against the message that was being delivered and in some cases their behaviour was unacceptable – deliberately provocative and even childish,” Mr Haggar said.

At one stage, the fire service had considered having the perpetrator in the camera-in-the-toilet case present the respect and equity training, a suggestion that might indicate a “lack of insight into the sensitivity of these issues”.

There are only seven female fire fighters in a force of 340, and Mr Haggar identified a culture of “fitting in” as a barrier, with little understanding of the benefits of diversity.

He also pointed to the lack of separate toilet and change rooms, and equipment, kit and uniforms not adapted for women.

He highlighted a culture of humour, with complainants being accused of not being able to take a joke and a strong reaction against “fun police”. While the fire service had taken steps to ban practical jokes, the key was for firefighters themselves to understand how humour could amount to workplace bullying.

And he said firefighters must be made to understand that “reclining” space was not their own space to personalise with posters, reading materials and videos that offended others.

Mr Haggar said the poor relationship between the fire service and Justice and Community Safety would “take a toll on future decision-making” unless it was addressed.

He recommended a code of conduct for firefighters, which they could help draw up, saying it was essential that firefighters understood the reasons behind the need to change attitudes to avoid resentment and deliberate subversion. But the recommendation was rejected by the fire service as unnecessary. Almost all of his other recommendations were accepted.