Police Commissioner Jamie Chalker has bizarrely released small parts of a controversial speech he gave to firefighting recruits to select media outlets as part of a strategy to reject claims that he said firefighters “are all greedy” for claiming overtime and that he was “coming after” a senior fire officer who is also a union delegate.

The release of the partial recordings came three days after the NT Independent filed a Freedom of Information application for the video of the speech from April 20, as well as other recordings and internal emails referencing the speech between Mr Chalker and senior fire personnel.

The NT Independent first reported that the union representing firies had called for Mr Chalker to resign as chief executive of the NT Fire and Rescue Service or apologise for the alleged remarks.

The demands were made by United Workers NT secretary Erina Early, who also sent a letter that referred to Mr Chalker as an “institutional cancer that is slowly killing” the fire service and stated that firefighters no longer had trust in him.

Instead of answering the letter, Mr Chalker had his police media team release selected parts of his speech to certain media which were aired in part on Channel 9 and possibly ABC, with the NT News reporting the clips were incomplete and of poor audio quality.

It remains unclear why the entire recording was not released.

In the select excerpts, Mr Chalker is heard saying: “You will hear stories that firies make a significant amount of overtime. The fact of the matter is that is not always helpful”.

“Don’t ever make the mistake of backing in overtime as your baseline for any loans and financial arrangements you put yourself in,” he said.

However, the full recording of the speech was mysteriously not released.

The NT Police information management unit confirmed on Wednesday that the NT Independent’s application for the material was accepted and that “initial processing has commenced”.

The unit acknowledged the due date for the requested material is July 1.

Mr Chalker is also facing heat from rank-and-file police officers, with now six of 12 NT Police Association branches across the NT calling for a vote of no confidence in the commissioner.

He has not responded to questions. It is also unclear if he has officially denied making the alleged comments.