Championships 
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Expressions of Interest are now open for Victorian Brigades wishing to compete at the 2017 Australasian Firefighter Championships.
The Championships will be held at Carterton, New Zealand, on 17 to 19 November 2017.
The Australasian Championships will comprise 10 events with 30 teams from Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Tasmania, the Northern Territory and New Zealand.
The closing date for EOIs is 1 March 2017 – send your Brigade name and contact details to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. call the VFBV office on 9886 1141 or write to J. Laing, VFBV, PO Box 453, Mt Waverley 3149.
Award for Kids' Emergency Volunteering Program
Written by Peter Beaton
A VFBV-supported project for secondary students has won the Education Award at this year’s Fire Awareness Awards, thanks to local CFA volunteers and the Maryborough Education Centre.
The Emergency Services Journey takes Year 9 students to their local brigade, Police and ambulance station to see how each service operates and learn practical skills.
What began as a Brigades in Schools program run by Maryborough Fire Brigade volunteers in 2004, has been developed into an innovative course at the Maryborough Education Centre by teacher and CFA volunteer Samantha Rothman.
There’s a camp in the Mallee, sessions at a surf life saving club, activities like open water swimming and fire brigade competition events, and the students achieve certificates in Life Saving skills and First Aid.
The Fire Awareness Award judges said the project goes beyond the basics in building resilience, with a range of partner organisations and reaching great numbers; over 40 students participate each year, and several have become CFA volunteers.
Principal David Sutton says the school is proud of the Emergency Services Journey program and students for doing so well, and particularly Samantha Rothman for her work in developing and championing the program.
Pictured are: VFBV’s Andrew Ford, Maryborough CFA Captain Darryl Wagstaff AFSM, teacher and CFA volunteer Samantha Rothman, and Maryborough Education Centre Principal David Sutton at the Fire Awareness Awards.
2017 VFBV Leadership Scholarships – Applications close
Written by Peter Beaton
VFBV’s Volunteer Leadership Program scholarships
Applications for 2017 have now closed, but volunteers considering applying for future courses are invited to download the information packs below.
The 2017 courses will be based in the Euroa (District 22) and Ararat (District 16) areas, starting in late March. Successful participants will achieve the nationally recognised Certificate IV in Leadership & Management. The locations have been chosen based on an effort to rotate the courses across the State, and their location on major highways to make travel to and from those areas as easy as possible for members from neighbouring Districts.
The VFBV Volunteer Leadership Program has already produced over 250 graduates and many are in leadership positions with their agencies, volunteer representative organisations or local communities. Graduates will achieve a nationally recognised Cert IV in Leadership & Management (BSB42015).
You can download the 2017 application pack for CFA volunteers here. Scholarships are also open to volunteers from Ambulance Victoria, Australian Volunteer Coast Guard, Life Saving Victoria, VICSES and St John. You can download a 2017 multi-agency application pack here.
The VFBV Leadership Scholarship course has been designed for volunteers, with a mix of lectures and interactive activities designed to suit the needs of adult students, as well as ample support using distance learning methods. The course involves 12 units, eight face to face days (six Saturdays and two Sundays) throughout the year, with course work and assignments spread throughout the year.
The course includes units on;
- leadership
- decision making
- planning
- safety and risk management
- team effectiveness
- making presentations
- managing projects, and
- engaging the community.
Any questions or queries can be directed to any of VFBV’s Support Officers. You can download the 2017 flyer here and a copy was posted to all Brigades as part of VFBV’s regular mail-out.
This is an exciting program and is well respected in the sector. Applications always exceed places available, so please encourage your members and keep in mind that your Brigade Captain’s endorsement is very powerful when assessing potential students.
Fiskville Inquiry Report - State Govt Response
Written by Peter Beaton
The State Government has responded to the Fiskville Inquiry’s final report, endorsing all of the recommendations, either fully or in part - download the State Government response here or download the Fiskville Inquiry Final Report here.
VFBV now hopes it will be the trigger for urgent Government and CFA action on replacing Fiskville’s vital training capacity, ensuring properly monitored water quality standards for all CFA training sites, and maintaining ongoing support to all of those affected by exposure at the Fiskville site.
The announcement follows years of work from VFBV since the issue was first raised in the media in December 2011. VFBV has consistently called for urgent remedial action at the site, independent, expert monitoring, ongoing support for everyone affected, and the urgent replacement of Fiskville’s lost training capacity.
The closure of the site came in 2015 after the surprising discovery that water quality problems were persisting in spite of the reassurances of WorkSafe, the EPA, technical experts and CFA.
The State Government’s response to the Fiskville Inquiry is not the end of the issue, but a cue for action to resolve the problems left in Fiskville’s wake.
Update: 29th January 2018
CFA is still accepting Tier 3 orders from Brigades, Groups and individual members, for digital scanners at cost price.
We have recently updated the Order Forms for Tier 3 orders to assist Brigades who wish to place orders;
Download the Brigade order form here
Download the Group order form here
Original Article: 20 December 2016
VFBV ADVOCATED PROGRAM - 10,000 SCANNERS DELIVERED – $3 MILLION IN SAVINGS TO BRIGADES –
CFA is still accepting Tier 3 orders from Brigades, Groups and individual members, for digital scanners at cost price.
The cost to volunteers has been significantly reduced due to the bulk orders placed during the Tier 1 and 2 subsidisation program.
Members can order units for $446.75 plus postage and handling, while stocks last.
The Digital Scanner subsidisation program advocated by VFBV and run in partnership with CFA has been an overwhelming success since it began in October 2015.
So far, 10,478 digital scanners have been ordered and shipped to Brigades and Groups across the state. The subsidy budget, and the savings to members, represents over $3 million.
More than 970 Brigades and 80 Groups have placed and received their Tier 1 & 2 orders, and Tier 3 is still under way.
Under the Tier 1 program, every Brigade was entitled to a minimum of eight units at the subsidised price. On average, Brigades ordered 3.5 units under Tier 1, and Groups took up one of their guaranteed minimum of two units. Under Tiers 1 and 2 members paid $150 for a scanner, with the subsidy budget paying the other $296.75
Supporting and Valuing our CFA Volunteers - MAKE A DONATION
Written by Peter Beaton
SEEKING PUBLIC DONATIONS - DONATE VIA MYCAUSE cheque or bank deposit
Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria has launched a crowdfunding campaign to give the public the chance to support the work we are doing to protect, advocate and represent CFA volunteers, including our Supreme Court action.
The campaign ‘Supporting and Valuing our CFA Volunteers’ is now live on Australian crowdfunding platform, mycause at www.mycause.com.au/cfa
To donate by cheque:
Cheques should be made out to:
VFBV – Valuing Volunteers Fund
And posted to:
VFBV
PO Box 453
Mt Waverley Vic. 3151
You can also donate via Direct Deposit to this account:
| Account Name: | Valuing Volunteers Fund |
| BSB: | 633000 (Bendigo Bank) |
| Account Number: | 157 728 221 |
As you know, VFBV is fighting to maintain CFA as a volunteer based and fully integrated fire and emergency service with employees fully integrated with volunteers to provide seamless public safety services to Victorians. This is what CFA is under our CFA Act.
The community volunteer nature of CFA is under attack from the industrial deal done by the Andrews Victorian Government and Peter Marshall of the United Firefighters Union. The deal negatively impacts on CFA as a volunteer based and fully integrated organisation, its operations and support for volunteers including consultation.
It is an attempt to change the nature of CFA by using an anomaly in the Commonwealth Workplace Relations Act which enables an EBA to override state legislation once the EBA is registered by the Commonwealth Fair Work Commission.
The Supreme Court trial on the lawfulness of the new CFA Board adopting the proposed CFA/UFU Enterprise Bargaining Agreement will begin on 22 September 2016 and should run for up to five days.
The CFA/United Firefighters Union Enterprise Bargaining Agreement, approved by the new government-appointed CFA Board, would see:
• The powers of the Chief Officer overridden;
• The union given power of veto on issues affecting volunteer based and fully integrated organisation, operations and support;
• Restrictions in the EBA on effective volunteer consultation rights under the CFA Volunteer Charter;
• Other clauses that are contrary to the CFA Act, and
• Volunteers treated as second class just because they are not paid.
Only Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria is left to defend CFA from the deal and its detrimental effect for CFA services to the Victorian public.
The Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett shared our volunteer concerns, refused to support the deal and resigned in June. The CFA Board that was opposing the deal was sacked by the Andrews Government. The CEO, Lucinda Nolan and Chief Officer, Joe Buffone subsequently resigned in protest over the deal. The current CFA Board and administration are failing to stand up for CFA volunteers and kow-towing to unlawful UFU demands.
The campaign, particularly through the courts, costs money. Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria does not intend to use government grant funds or individual brigade affiliation fees to pay for the campaign, so we are asking the community that we serve to support us. This funding will be used to pay for Supreme Court and other action to preserve and protect the powers of the CFA Act.
VFBV and volunteers have made it very clear that we are not against our paid colleagues and have no interest in interfering in their legitimate pay and conditions.
Our vision is for CFA to be a modern and contemporary emergency service where volunteers and paid staff work side by side as equals and respect one another.
Encouraging, maintaining and strengthening the capacity of volunteers is vitally important for Victoria, and we are calling on those who value the capacity, determination and service of the volunteers to please support our campaign in the Supreme Court on September 22 by donating to our campaign on mycause.
Members of the public can learn more and make a donation online here.
See the media release here.
