VFBV

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 FOR MEMBERS - 23 AUGUST 2016

Yesterday, Monday 22 August, the Federal Government released its draft legislation, the Fair Work Amendment (Respect for Emergency Services Volunteers) Bill 2016 in accordance with its commitment made during the Federal Election (you can download a copy of the Bill below).

VFBV was able to provide valuable input to the development of the legislation, and we are very pleased that it has shaped up in a way that we believe meets our concerns and deals with the practical issues affecting volunteers.

The legislation will be a simple change to the Fair Work Act, making it objectionable for workplace agreements to restrict or limit the emergency service organisation’s ability to:

•          engage or deploy its volunteers;
•          provide support or equipment to those volunteers;
•          manage its relationship with, or work with, any recognised emergency management body in relation to those volunteers;
•          otherwise manage its operations in relation to those volunteers;

The legislation will also provide an ability for volunteers, through bodies such as VFBV, to make submissions to Fair Work Australia in respect of these issues if we have any concerns.

The amendments aim to fix an anomaly in Commonwealth law that affects CFA volunteers and the volunteers of other emergency service organisations covered by the Fair Work Act. The anomaly, which has been of concern over recent months, allows enterprise agreements for paid emergency service workers to override State emergency management laws such as the CFA Act.

For CFA volunteers, the anomaly means that if the proposed UFU agreement was adopted under current Commonwealth industrial law, it would effectively allow industrial interference into the organisation, operation and support of CFA volunteers, and CFA decision making affecting volunteers.

The Federal Government proposes to table the legislation next week, the first sitting week of the new Parliament.  We are hopeful that it will get support from all sides of politics in both Houses of Parliament, and volunteers from Victoria and other States will be working with MPs and Senators to explain the need for, and benefits of, the legislation and the importance of it to volunteers.

The legislation has no impact on pay negotiations, but does provide a mechanism to address the concerns that have been broadly discussed about the current EBA.

The votes of independents and smaller parties may be crucial in getting the legislation through the Senate, and there are some early signs of support.  Newly elected Senator Derryn Hinch has been on radio this morning, expressing his support, and South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has written to the Council of Australian Volunteer Fire Associations (CAVFA), expressing his support for moves to rectify the anomaly, so we are hopeful that this is a sign of support to come.

In the meantime, VFBV’s preparation for the Supreme Court action beginning on 22 September is under way, and one of the most important things Brigades can be doing is helping us promote the fundraising for this initiative, and encouraging people to support volunteers by visiting our website www.vfbv.com.au to make a donation, or fundraising through work with community groups, sausage sizzles and other local efforts.

Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews, the new Minister for Emergency Services James Merlino, the CFA Board and management, and the UFU Secretary Peter Marshall, have all made claims that they have no intention of the EBA negatively impacting on the role of volunteers, the provision of support to volunteers or CFA decision making.  As such, we would expect that they have no problem with the proposed Fair Work legislation, and therefore we expect their support also.

We disagree with their assessment as to whether the proposed EBA does or does not impact on volunteers, and as such we see the Fair Work Act legislative amendment as very sensible and very necessary protection for volunteers and the work we do.

VFBV has prepared this handy Fact Sheet that lists State grants and services for people impacted by bushfires.

The Fact Sheet is intended as an easy reference for Brigades and members helping to support any CFA members or community members who are in need of assistance.

If you are aware of a service or grant that is not included, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will add it.

The State and Federal Governments have announced additional assistance to local councils in areas affected by bushfires in December 2014 and January 2015.

The councils include; Ararat, Benalla, Hindmarsh, Horsham, Mildura, Moira, Southern Grampians, Strathbogie, Wangaratta, West Wimmera and Wodonga.

For details, see the State Government’s media release at http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/additional-disaster-assistance-for-victorian-bushfires

UPDATED 29 January 2015 - Now includes Concessional Loans for Primary Producers

The Victorian Government lists financial assistance, health and safety advice, and local recovery support for residents affected by the 2015 Victorian Bushfires at its Emergency Relief and Recovery Victoria website:

http://www.recovery.vic.gov.au/2015-victorian-bushfires

The site also includes phone numbers for Lifeline (13 11 14) and Nurse On Call (1300 60 60 24).

LABOR’S PRE-ELECTION COMMITMENTS

Taken from Labor media releases;

• $141.3 million to recruit an additional 350 CFA firefighters and 100 Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) firefighters over the next four years
• Legislation to give career and volunteer firefighters presumptive rights to compensation for cancer claims arising from their service
• A Parliamentary Inquiry into the pollution, contamination and unsafe practices at the training college at Fiskville to examine health effects on employees
• Ensure that the Fire Services Property Levy is used to support firefighters and improve emergency response
• Implement Emergency Medical Response at all integrated CFA stations
• Re-establish a CFA/MFB Board of Reference to resolve staffing and station needs
• Examine options for the establishment of a Career Firefighters Registration Board
• Honour all agreements
• Also train and equip firefighters with the latest technology to battle brown coal fires
• Expand support services for firefighters suffering Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• $18 million to purchase 50 new fire trucks… …to fund the new medium tankers in its first budget
• $1 million to install toilet and wash room facilities at up to 100 rural CFA stations, with grants of up to $25,000 to brigades (while contributions from brigades will be welcomed, they will not be mandatory)

By Andrew Ford, Chief Executive Officer

On behalf of the VFBV Board I would like to provide the first of a number of important communiques to follow up on the action taken by VFBV in the lead up to the recent Victorian election and concerns about the Labor Party policy announcements impacting on CFA.

Please rest assured that the VFBV Board did not contemplate nor take the recent actions without a great deal of reflection, agonising and analysis. The reality is that it was vitally important for VFBV to raise the concerns, motivated then and now by a firm belief and deep fear that the policy suite announced by Labor includes elements that could have disastrous consequences for CFA and therefore Victoria’s volunteer firefighting capacity.

Firstly may I take this opportunity on behalf of the VFBV Board to thank VFBV Delegates and volunteers across the State for your support and involvement in helping to communicate the VFBV Board’s concerns. The VFBV campaign was delivered very well given the short time frame, the message was put across well and received by those who needed to hear it most.

Sensitive issues such as this can often cause tension and/or be distorted by people with different views or agendas and I am very proud of the way VFBV Delegates and volunteers engaged in calm, constructive messaging; respected the rights of others to have a different viewpoint; and avoided twisting our concerns or targeting individuals.

Members need to be aware that the policy announcement triggering our concerns about surrendering the decision making powers of the CFA Chief Officer to external industrial interference and union-driven process was only made by Labor on 18 November. This meant that our timeframe for activating and explaining our concerns was very tight.

Whilst our campaign activation required short lead times, the concerns expressed by VFBV are not new. Only a few years ago VFBV collected 23,000 signatures petitioning the Legislative Assembly of Victoria to address volunteer concerns about similar industrial interference with CFA.

The recent Jones Inquiry and countless discussions and representations to Government over the past nine years or so provided a deep background to the concern expressed in the VFBV Board open letter.

The overwhelming response from both the general public and our membership has been extremely encouraging, and will provide a good platform for us to continue to pursue our concerns with the new Government, and a base of understanding to work towards fixing the concerns we have raised.

VFBV remains deeply concerned and our energy will now be put to working with our new Minister and MPs across all political parties to find solutions. I have already spoken to several MPs and Government staff about quickly starting a conversation to improve the understanding of the concerns VFBV has raised, and to find a way forward that not only avoids damage to Victoria’s vital volunteer capability, but sustains and strengthens it.

In the lead up to the election, the CFA Chief Officer and others were not able to comment nor discuss the implications of Labor’s CFA-related policy elements, however we do know that in recent years they have been equally troubled by the very same concerns raised by VFBV. VFBV spoke up because no one else could.

CFA have been seeking, over the last few years, to remove this industrial interference and overriding of the Chief Officer’s powers and to ensure the Chief Officer is in charge of determining CFA operational resource needs, volunteer brigade support needs etc. We are aware that CFA did not request the additional paid staff that Labor announced and we know the CFA Board and management are strongly committed to delivering the direction set down in the CFA Act, maintaining CFA as a volunteer based and fully integrated organisation.

VFBV will now focus on working with CFA and Emergency Management Victoria to ensure volunteers are positively and fully engaged in working within the new Government’s policy context to avoid damage to CFA volunteer capability and to educate MPs, key Government decision makers and the community about what is required for the long term success of CFA.

Now that the new Government has been sworn in, I will be seeking an opportunity to meet with our new Minister, The Honourable Jane Garrett, in the next few weeks. I will continue to pursue and explain the concerns raised by the VFBV Board and will be offering our support to finding a solution to our concerns.

It is important to remember that the VFBV campaign in the days leading up to the election was a campaign about a policy with which we have deep concern. In the same way that our strong campaign for presumptive legislation was highly critical of inaction by the previous Coalition Government but was not anti-Coalition, our recent assertive public campaign and our continued approach on this issue needs to remain focused on the concerns we have about this policy and the way it has been constructed, not party political.

I have said many times that these concerns are not about being anti-paid staff, and are not about being anti-union. CFA members, paid and volunteer alike, working together as one integrated team is vital for effective fire and emergency services to Victoria. Nothing in VFBV’s recent campaign was about detracting from the value of CFA paid firefighters and nothing was about criticising the union pursing the best possible pay and conditions for their members.

I urge all members to stay focussed on the real issues of concern and that is that VFBV believes there should not be external industrial interference with the CFA Chief Officer’s power to decide where and when and how he uses CFA firefighters. VFBV is very concerned about any policy or motivation that wittingly or unwittingly erodes Victoria’s volunteer firefighting capacity, and VFBV is strongly opposed to industrial agreements that override CFA decision making and unfairly impact on the rights and support of volunteers.

On a brighter note, other policy announcements made by Labor included additional CFA fleet funding, the introduction of presumptive cancer legislation for both career and volunteer firefighters, and additional funding for the fire station amenities program.

Some of the detail on these issues is still patchy and I will provide more as soon as I have it. With regard to fleet funding, I will be writing to the Minister to clarify whether the additional $18M is an annual base funding adjustment consistent with our advice about CFA’s annual base funding shortfall for fleet replacement, or whether it is a one-off, in which case our old problem has not been resolved.

I will also be following up to confirm that the intention is not to treat volunteers differently from career firefighters with regard to presumptive cancer legislation, as has been done in the Tasmanian legislation referred to in Labor’s announcements.

I can assure you VFBV will work hard to find the best way forward and in the meantime we will also stay focussed on the many other challenges and opportunities ahead for CFA.

Please pass on this thanks and update to your networks and stay tuned for some further advice in the coming weeks.

The upcoming bushfire season is traditionally a period of high visibility and a showcase of CFA professionalism and dedication. As in years past, VFBV will continue to represent your interests, so you can continue to do the vital work of protecting our communities in their time of need.

VFBV is actively supporting volunteers experiencing difficulty after the 2013/14 bushfires.

In response to enquiries about assistance for volunteers affected by these fires, we have compiled information about the support currently available from the State Government and other agencies.

See below to download a list of useful contacts and information on the assistance available from the State Government and other sources.