24 March 2011
Mr MORRIS (Mornington) — It is always a pleasure to follow my honourable friend the member for Yuroke. As is often the case her version of events and views of the world and mine are somewhat different.
During her contribution she commented that the charter was a product of the opposition. In the course of checking a few facts this morning I happened to glance through a file and check some correspondence from the Mornington brigade from 2001.
Despite the claims of the member for Yuroke, the Country Fire Authority (CFA) charter was not a voluntary product of the former Bracks government, which had to be dragged kicking and screaming into adopting it. It was quite simply a face‑saving measure. It was about, ‘Keep them quiet and we will get on with it’. As we all know, from the time it was adopted and then re‑adopted in 2008 it has basically been ignored.
This debate and bill are a great step forward for one of the state’s most important institutions. It has been noted again and again in debates that have taken place because of the rather tragic circumstances of recent years that we are the bushfire capital of the world.
Those events — Black Saturday, the Gippsland fires and the alpine campaign fires on at least two occasions during the last decade — have put the CFA at the front of people’s minds. The CFA has been the subject of much debate in this house, but unfortunately the backbone, the 58 000‑plus volunteers who make the organisation work, has largely been left behind.
I will put that 58 000‑plus figure into perspective. It represents more than 97.5 per cent of the total capacity of the organisation. Clearly there is no way the state can sustain a fire service on anything other than a voluntary basis. We cannot afford it; it would not happen. Volunteers are clearly the lifeblood of the organisation. Despite the charter’s existence for 10 years‑plus it has in practice been largely ignored.
The fact is the former government talked the talk, but when it came to resourcing the volunteers the former government went missing. There were plenty of new stations, which were all welcomed.
My electorate has been the recipient of the former government’s largess in the case of a new Mornington station. The old one was getting to a desperate stage, and I was glad we got the new station. There were upgrades at the Moorooduc station, across the State there were new stations and vehicles, but if there was not a ribbon to cut or a set of keys to be handed over, the former government was not interested. People could just forget about it.
Fulsome praise has been extended to the volunteers by both sides — it has got to be said — and rightly so. Their efforts, over the last 10 years particularly, have been absolutely magnificent, but when it came to doing the right thing and resourcing the volunteers properly, that was an entirely different matter.
There was some correspondence sent to me in October last year from Mr Bruce Conboy, a state councillor from VFBV (Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria). I will pick out some points of the letter. There are many more, but time does not permit me to cover them all.
The correspondence is in the context of the EBA (enterprise bargaining agreement). He says training has become more difficult for volunteers as a result of the EBA because it was carried out during normal business hours. Volunteers, by their nature, are at work during normal business hours. Career staff have to be trained in first aid, but at Mr Conboy’s brigade in Mount Martha, but there is a limit to training of 15 volunteers.
That is a clear case of volunteers being treated as second best. Training at the south‑eastern training facility has become more difficult as a result of the EBA. Mr Conboy says PAD (practical area drill) operators are only permitted to work voluntarily two nights a week and up to two weekends in every eight weeks and that volunteers go to work every day, so how on earth he is going to get them trained?
As to brigade support officers, the intention was not to replace them when they resigned. They provide support services for the volunteer brigades. There is a replacement officer, but the role does not involve directly supporting volunteers. Once again, if you take away the support mechanisms you make it far more difficult for volunteer brigades to operate.
There are issues with daytime manning. There are also issues with the design differences between the integrated stations and the volunteer brigades. The integrated stations have engine bays fitted with extractor fans to remove the diesel exhaust fumes; the new volunteer stations get only wind‑operated systems. It is a clear health and safety issue.
The member for Yuroke mentioned boots. The fact is that volunteers do not receive boots of the same quality as those of the career firefighters. Even though, in my part of the world, they are expected to tackle structure fires in exactly the same way, they are not equipped in the same way.
I am fortunate to have four excellent brigades in the Mornington electorate, and together, they have an outstanding record of service to the community.
This year the Mount Eliza brigade is celebrating its 75th anniversary. The Mornington brigade, a now integrated brigade but with a very strong volunteer base — whose members work extremely well with the career firefighters — is doing a great job from its new facility. The Mount Martha brigade has charge of a highly fire prone area. We see the risk, and sadly we have had fires just about every summer, although thankfully not this last one. Moorooduc is the home of a level 3 incident control centre (ICC) and, as I said, was recently upgraded.
Three of those four units are composed entirely of volunteers in what is a largely urban area, in terms of population. It has about a 50‑50 urban‑rural split, but the population is probably 99 per cent urban. These units also contribute greatly to the statewide efforts on the big campaign fires — such as the Black Saturday and Gippsland fires and so on.
The charter we are talking about today will provide a framework for a legislative recognition of the role of the volunteers, the obligations of the CFA and the obligations of the government. The charter will recognise the commitment of the volunteers and provide the services and support they require. In particular — and this is most important — it provides that Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV):
represents volunteers in general and ensure there is meaningful consultation, allowing enough time for real involvement, with the elected representatives of volunteers on all matters which may impact on volunteers …
which clearly was not the case before. Despite the claims that the charter has been in operation for the last 10 years, it has been largely ignored.
The bill will recognise the CFA as a volunteer‑based organisation; recognise the volunteer charter as a statement of the commitment of the government, the CFA and the CFA volunteers; recognise that the charter requires the CFA to respect and promote the contribution of volunteers — because without them, as I said earlier, the organisation simply could not function; recognise that the charter requires the government to commit to consulting with the volunteers, as is the CFA; and requires the CFA, in performing its functions, to have regard to the commitment and principles set out in the charter.
It will also create a responsibility for the CFA to develop appropriate policies that maintain and strengthen the capacity of volunteers. That is an important point.
The bill keeps the Baillieu government’s commitment made last year to the CFA volunteers. It recognises that they are the lifeblood of the organisation and that without them we simply would not have an effective firefighting capacity statewide.
It provides for meaningful consultation on the issues that matter to them — recruitment, training, support, and resources, particularly a requirement for additional resources that might result from changed practices.
This is a serious step forward in the relations between volunteers, the CFA and the government, and I commend the bill to the house.
Legislative Assembly 24 March 2011
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