VFBV

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) has welcomed the news that registration and responsibility problems with CFA Brigade Owned Vehicles (BOVs) have been resolved.

After contact with affected Brigades, initial research work and ongoing encouragement provided by the VFBV/CFA Joint Equipment and Infrastructure Committee, CFA has negotiated with the State Revenue Office and VicRoads to resolve the technical aspects of taking over responsibility for registration of BOVs.  Ownership of the vehicles will stay with the Brigades and they are able to retain their existing number plates.

When investigating moving BOVs to red plates, as was the original plan, VicRoads advised that CFA would have to transfer ownership of the vehicles to Corporate CFA, which would incur transfer fees, duty and all vehicles would require a roadworthy inspection before the new plates could be issued. It would also have resulted in the full Registration cost being applied, and not the discounted rate available to Brigades registering emergency vehicles, who currently only have to pay the TAC portion of the registration.

Following this advice, CFA & VFBV have been working through an alternative solution that would allow Brigades to add CFA as the Registered Operator of the vehicle, while retaining the ownership with the Brigade, an option typically employed by large transport fleets.  However CFA would still be required to negotiate with the State Revenue Office to keep the exemption that Brigades have on the registration cost and get permission from VicRoads to treat individual CFA Brigade ownership of the vehicles as permissible under the common registration process.

Over the past nine months, CFA has successfully negotiated with the State Revenue office and with VicRoads that results in a real win for Brigades.  Not only will Brigades be able to add CFA as the Registered Operator which removes the liability from the Brigade nominee to manage traffic infringements and registration issues, they retain ownership of the vehicle, are exempt from the transfer fees, and the first year’s registration during the transition to a common registration date will be picked up by CFA through the Volunteer Emergency Service Equipment Program.

Paperwork and transfer forms will shortly be on the way to Brigades, and VFBV Executive Officer Adam Barnett urges BMTs to get the transfer form back to CFA as soon as possible.

“This solution is a good thing for Brigades and shows the strength of the VFBV/CFA Joint Committee system, with the issue raised by volunteers, moved along by the Committee, and resolved by action at Government Departmental level by CFA,” Mr Barnett said.

“It offers improved support to volunteers and Brigades at the front line, resolves a long standing source of problems for BMT members and lets them concentrate on providing frontline emergency service to their communities,” he said.

He also paid tribute to CFA Fleet Services who have worked extremely hard negotiating with the State Revenue Office and VicRoads to reach this solution.

While CFA and VFBV have only been able to agree on CFA funding of BOV registrations for the first year, CFA has committed to working with VFBV over the next 12 months to investigate options to make this arrangement more permanent.  Brigades are increasingly reporting the inadequacy of their Brigade allowances, from which registration costs are normally paid, and VFBV will continue to pursue either an increase to Brigade allowances, or the reduction of costs incurred by Brigades.

The CFA Chief Officer has written to all OM’s and OO’s requesting they advise Brigades to revert to the old “Member Registration” forms until further notice.

VFBV raised its concerns with the new membership application forms that have been sent to Brigades over the last four weeks, and in particular the implied process new members were instructed to follow with regards to the completion of mandatory medical forms, which not only applied to new members – but also all transferring members, including junior members.

On the forms, members are requested to choose from a tick list of 20 medical conditions which are so broad, that it potentially meant most new members would have to pay for a medical professional to complete the two page form and sign a detailed declaration before CFA would accept lodgement of the new application forms. In an environment that is supposedly seeking to remove red tape, the new process was a major setback to volunteerism, and placed an unreasonable delay and cost back to community members wanting to join their local Brigade.

The Chief Officer has committed to engaging with VFBV over its concerns, and to conduct a review to address those concerns. Brigades are advised to revert to the existing member registration forms and process until further notice.