The head of ambulance services at the troubled St John Ambulance NT, Andrew Thomas, has been appointed as the new executive director of Bushfires NT, while the ambulance contractor has said it has brought in former Australian Federal Police commissioner Reece Kershaw to help find its next chief executive officer.

In late November, St John CEO Andrew Tombs announced his resignation amid serious issues facing the organisation, which included an NT Police Major Crime squad investigation earlier this year into the 2021 death of a patient, on behalf of the coroner.

There were also unresolved allegations of St John’s treatment failures leading to deaths, exposed in a damning independent review last year that also found a “breakdown of trust” between emergency department staff and St John, which was followed by a massive vote of no-confidence by paramedics and patient transfer officers against the organisation’s executive.

In a statement to the NT Independent, St John director of strategy, brand and engagement Jeannette Button said Mr Kershaw had been engaged by the St John board to assist in the recruitment of a new CEO, with Mr Tombs finishing up on January 23.

Mr Kershaw ended a six-year stint as the AFP commissioner in October, after serving as the NT Police commissioner from 2015 to 2019.

St John NT board chair Peter Carew paid tribute to Mr Tombs in an internal statement for his “outstanding contribution” to the organisation.

“His leadership has strengthened the organisation and left a lasting, positive impact on staff, volunteers, and the community we serve,” Mr Carew wrote.

Mr Tombs said in a statement to the NT Independent that Mr Thomas, the executive in charge of paramedics and patient treatment, had been a valued executive member, was a dedicated leader, and has been integral in St John’s service provision to the community.

These tributes are in stark contrast to the nearly 90 per cent of St John paramedics and patient transfer officers who responded to a United Workers Union survey late last year stating they did not have confidence in St John’s executive team. More than 80 per cent also said they still had concerns about clinical procedures and patient safety.

The staff survey followed an NT Health commissioned independent review by Dr Craig Ellis which was published in June last year, raising serious concerns about St John’s clinical governance, suggesting that deficiencies in processes may have contributed to patient harm or even death.

Dr Ellis said it was impossible to establish the veracity of the claims that treatments caused death, but did not explain why. St John also did not explain why it would be impossible for him determine if there were deaths caused, considering the organisation said it fully cooperated with the review.

Dr Ellis found management used lawyers to intimidate and silenced staff from speaking out, adding that St John claimed lawyers needed to be involved in his review for the purpose of “protecting the St John brand”.

Mr Tombs has been in his role since January 2023, and Mr Thomas since November 2019. Together they hold the two most senior roles in St John overseeing patient treatment.

The day after the NT Independent exclusively reported the contents of the Ellis report, which was not provided to staff, Mr Tombs sent an email to staff stating the ambulance provider had no record of harm to patients from its treatment.

Dr Ellis recommended that the service immediately suspend three emergency, “high acuity, low occurrence” (HALO) procedures, until a chief medical officer was employed, among 16 recommendations in total.

Dr Ellis found that in late 2023, Mr Tombs scrapped the chief medical officer position held by Tom Quigley, with a “significant factor” in that decision being that Mr Quigley had identified failings within St John, and had made mild criticism of management.

The report stated Mr Tombs had been reassured by Mr Thomas that the role was not required, but Dr Ellis described it as a loss which had created an “unacceptably high risk” to patients and staff.

It was not until a year after the Dr Ellis recommendation that Mr Thomas sent an email to staff saying an oversight committee “recently” undertook a review of his recommendations concerning HALO procedures, and decided to temporarily suspended them immediately.

But he only referenced ending two of the procedures. A CMO had not been employed at the stage.

A week after Mr Thomas’s email, the NT Independent reported that NT Police Major Crime Squad investigated the death of a man who was treated by St John Ambulance in 2021, with whistleblowers alleging this included allegations the patient’s records were altered to cover up treatment failures, and that managers were involved in trying to cover up failures that contributed to the death.

Police said the matter had been referred back to the Coroner, while St John did not respond to a request for comment at the time of reporting. The Coroner also did not respond to a request for comment and a coronial report has not been made public.

Bushfires NT say ‘merit-based’ hiring process undertaken

NT Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Warton announced Mr Thomas’s appointment to the $240,000 executive director role at Bushfires NT in an internal communication last week.

Mr Warton has recently returned from a sabbatical in Antarctica which be began in February, after only seven months in the top job, and 10 months after the new agency was started.

The commissioner said there had been a merit-based selection process, and Mr Thomas would commence in the role in February.

“Andrew is a highly experienced emergency services leader with more than 37 years operational and executive experience across ambulance, fire and incident management roles in both government and non-government sectors,” Mr Warton said.

“Most recently, he served for six years as director of ambulance services at St John Ambulance Australia NT, leading major organisational change, strategic planning and risk management initiatives.

“He is widely respected for his collaborative leadership style, ability to motivate multidisciplinary teams, and professionalism under pressure. His experience will be a significant asset as we continue to strengthen bushfire management capability and support our volunteers and staff.”

St John investigated allegations from whistleblowers inside the organisation that on four occasions Mr Thomas was drinking alcohol while on call as an intensive care paramedic, and had also allegedly provided treatment after drinking, allegations which were passed on to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency for investigation.

The ambulance service decided to take no action against him following an investigation by the legal partner of St John’s lawyer Nicole Dunn.

The allegations were not proven and Mr Thomas did not respond to the NT Independent about the claims at the time.

The whistleblowers said they did not answer the questions put to them as part of the investigation, after their concerns about a potential conflict of interest were immediately dismissed as being “without foundation” – but with no explanation for that reasoning – and amid concerns that the investigation sought to expose their identities.

APHRA has never made a statement on the allegations.

When asked about his firefighting experience, Mr Warton said that from 1987 to 2001 Mr Thomas was a volunteer firefighter, senior firefighter, lieutenant, and instructor for road accident rescue, breathing apparatus and high angle rescue at the South Australian Country Fire Service Coromandel Valley Brigade.

A lieutenant operates under the brigade captain, and the Coromandel Valley Brigade is based in an Adelaide suburb on the edge of the Adelaide Hills.

Mr Warton said Mr Thomas had been involved in numerous incident management teams for significant fires across South Australia as an ambulance commander from 2008 to 2019, then served as an NT Fire and Rescue Service volunteer with the Virginia Bees Creek Volunteer Fire Brigade since 2022.

Mr Thomas also held senior roles with the SA Ambulance Service and the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Jacqui Forrest had been acting as executive director since February 2025.