The 2017 VFBV Welfare and Efficiency Survey is now open for registrations.  The 2017 survey will officially open on September 1 and run until October 16.   The survey continues to be an important and reliable method to capture the views of volunteers and track what has been achieved and is improving, as well as addressing areas that are the cause of dissatisfaction for volunteers.

Register here to receive a direct link to the survey when it opens

The VFBV Volunteer Welfare & Efficiency Survey is an annual snapshot of volunteer opinion, which includes 33 questions on issues chosen by volunteers. Last year a record number of CFA volunteers completed the survey and over 7,000 volunteers nationally took part through our interstate surveys. Your comments are confidential, but the results go straight to the decision makers. 

2016 VFBV Volunteer Welfare and Efficiency Survey – Results

The full report can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

The 2016 survey had 3,066 respondents, a statistically valid sample size providing a credible view on the opinions of the CFA volunteering population. 

The high number of survey responses against the number CFA volunteers represents a very robust sample of the views of CFA volunteers and can be treated as a ‘statistically significant’ response.

Overall Satisfaction

The 2016 survey showed a significant decline in volunteer satisfaction, which based on the comments received, was substantially linked to the Victorian State Government’s attitude to CFA volunteer concerns about the lack of consultation on matters which could affect them.  In 2015, 80% of volunteers indicated they were satisfied with their role as a CFA volunteer, and this has dropped to 76% in 2016.  In 2015 59% of respondents indicated they were satisfied with the way volunteers are treated by CFA and this declined in 2016 with only 49% of volunteers indicating satisfaction for this area.

Volunteers are more satisfied with activities and relationships at brigade level, which is a positive outcome as some of the statements within this area are rated with the higher importance scores.

Theme and statement results

The themes relating to organisational support: Respect and Professionalism; My Role as a Volunteer, Cooperation across CFA; Support from CFA; and, Training by CFA, all experienced a decline in satisfaction from the previous year.   Recruitment and Retention and People Management-My Brigade results remain similar to previous years, and continue to be the better performing themes in the survey.

Whilst consultation at State level continues to be the worst performing area of those surveyed, volunteer consultation at brigade level performs well, being one of the strongest performing areas.   

Training continues to receive some of the worst performance scores, particularly in the area of “CFA provides enough training opportunities in formats, at times and at locations that make it easy for me to participate.”  This is supported by a significant number of additional comments relating to issues with training.   Another area of concern in 2016 was the results for “CFA’s workforce arrangements allow the paid staff and volunteers to work cooperative as an integrated team.”  The gap between importance and performance, which is an indication of whether volunteer expectations are being met, for this statement increased from 2.8 to 3.1 between 2015 and 2016.

Acceptance of diversity was again highlighted as extremely important, and also identified as something volunteers believe is done well.    Volunteers also viewed very favourably their welcoming environment and good morale at a brigade level.  

It also is apparent that despite the lower satisfaction levels, particularly with treatment by CFA, volunteers do still feel the time they devote to CFA is productive and worthwhile.

There is not a lot of difference in the results between different genders, but an obvious trend identified from previous years, that of declining satisfaction with length of service, continues to be evident in the 2016 results.

Reasons for Volunteering

2016 results show a distinct shift in the reasons for volunteering.  “To help protect the community I live in” has always been one of the primary motivations for volunteering, and in 2016 58% selected this option, an increase from 51% in 2015.  Most of this movement came from a decline in the option “A sense of fulfilment in supporting my community in a meaningful way” which changed from 41% in 2015 to 34% in 2016.

Volunteer Welfare and Efficiency Survey 2016 – other fire and emergency management agencies

In 2016, volunteers with fire services from around the country also participated in the same welfare and efficiency survey, as did many other volunteer emergency management organisations in Victoria.   Overall, including CFA participants, over 7,000 volunteers took part in the survey, which is a significant results when compared to other large surveys.

The results for CFA have been able to be compared with these other agency results for the first time.  Overall, CFA volunteers were far less satisfied than their peers in other volunteer fire and emergency management agencies.

Full survey results can be read in the report available here.

The results for Victorian Emergency Management agencies can be found here

Results for the fire services nationally will be available on the CAVFA website shortly.

NOTE TO MEMBERS – 08 August 2017
FIRE SERVICES BILL SELECT COMMITTEE – INTERIM REPORT

This afternoon, the Fire Services Bill Select Committee tabled its interim report on its inquiry into the fire services bill. The interim report does not make any recommendations or findings, but rather sets out the consultation process undertaken by the Select Committee and includes a consolidated volume of all Transcripts from its public hearings.

The Committee’s interim report notes that the final report will be presented in mid-August.

It is VFBV’s understanding that the Bill is therefore unlikely to be debated in Parliament this week, and is likely to be held over for the following sitting week, which begins on Tuesday 22nd August.

In speaking to the interim report, speakers from all sides of the political spectrum acknowledged the Committee was grappling with the huge number of public submissions (over 1,800) in the very short time the Committee has been sitting, and the enormous workload involved in working through the evidence submitted to the Committee.

The sentiment expressed by those speaking to the interim report was that given the workload of the Committee, and the fact that evidence from questions on notice were still being received, the Committee has opted for a small extension to ensure all submissions and evidence is given appropriate time to be considered and deliberated on.

VFBV supports the sentiment that the reforms proposed by the Bill require thorough and robust analysis and consideration, and therefore supports the Committee’s decision to postpone its final report for when it has had time to properly consider the evidence presented to it.

INTERIM REPORT

The interim report noted that considerable evidence relevant to the Bill and related matters had been provided, including:

1. the case for a fire service restructure
2. linkage of ‘presumptive rights’ legislative provisions with fire services restructure legislative provisions
3. proposed amendments to the metropolitan fire district
4. changing demands on volunteers
5. recruitment, retention and supporting volunteers
6. the need to improve interoperability between fire services, such as equipment, training and processes
7. impact of industrial relations disputes on morale in the fire services
8. government consultation on the reforms in the proposed Bill
9. whether the proposed reforms will impact on surge capacity
10. secondment arrangements proposed in the Bill
11. impact on integrated brigades
12. importance of response times.

It was noted the committee will consider these issues in preparing its final report which they intend to table in mid-August.

OTHER ISSUES RAISED BY VFBV

Whilst not listed in the interim report, VFBV is hopeful – based on the evidence submitted to the Committee, that the final report may also touch on other important issues that we feel have been raised with the Committee by volunteers such as;

1. the flexibility and adaptability of the current CFA model and the effect of its elimination under the proposed Bill;
2. the reduced flexibility proposed by the Bill for CFA to support future service delivery gaps
3. effects of organisational and structural change on local community engagement and social capital;
4. balancing the importance of prevention/community engagement with suppression
5. the lack of proper impact and cost analysis including ongoing effects on the fire service property levy;
6. the continuing role of volunteer brigades that find themselves located inside the FRV district whether co-located within FRV fire stations or, because of further boundary change under the proposed Bill as stand-alone volunteer brigades
7. the dilution of the powers of the CFA Chief Officer over his/her workforce and brigades

In a nutshell, VFBV’s position is that the legislation is so flawed from a conceptual level through to its negative practical effect “in the field” it should be rejected. The proposed legislation does not provide any demonstrable community safety outcome, and seeks to simply change badges on the side of fire trucks to further an industrial agenda. The proposed legislation eliminates the existing flexibility contained in the current CFA Act and seeks to remove the ability for CFA to appoint paid operational staff to supplement and support volunteers in a fully integrated manner.

In our view, there is no regime of amendments that could correct its faults. We are not opposed to change but it must be based in factual analysis, be the subject of proper consultation throughout the community, be cost effective to the Victorian tax payer, provide for demonstrable and measurable improvements in public safety and be an effective balance between prevention, community engagement and activation, response and recovery.

VFBV welcomes any reforms that improve the way Victorian Fire Services work but these reforms need to be developed collaboratively, openly and most importantly – transparently.

We ask that members continue to lobby and inform their local MPs, particularly Upper House (Legislative Council) MPs who are expected to debate and vote on the Bill later this month.

The Interim Report can be downloaded from the Select Committee's webpage at; https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/fireservicesbill/inquiries/article/3782 

Future of CFA rests with Upper House
By Andrew Ford, VFBV Chief Executive Officer

Well, it has been another tense and busy month for the emergency sector and, particularly for CFA, given the implications of the Victorian Government’s proposed restructure of the fire services. The Upper House Select Committee continued with the Inquiry into this legislation with many volunteers, VFBV delegates and other key players providing evidence and submissions to the Inquiry.

I would like to thank all of you who took the time to make submissions to the Inquiry and those that attended Inquiry Hearings. We all know the Inquiry timeframe was worryingly short and, as a result, many key witnesses, both volunteers and others who could have provided significant insights, were not afforded the opportunity to present to the Inquiry Committee.

Nonetheless the Inquiry did get to hear some very strong messages from volunteers and the number of submissions to the Inquiry was so large, the Committee has still not finished working through them all and is yet to publish hundreds of submissions to the Committee website.

There has been a lot of concern from volunteers about the slow publication of their submissions despite many other submissions being published many weeks ago. I have been assured that this is simply due to a workload challenge within the Committee and there has not been a selective delay on the publishing of any submissions. There have already been hundreds of volunteer submissions published to the website and I understand there is at least this many again yet to be published.

The vast majority of volunteers have expressed consistent and very strong messages of concern regarding the proposed legislation, particularly around the lack of transparency; the lack of consultation; the flawed EBA driven motivation driving the proposed change; the lack of certainty and detail; the lack of proper impact and cost analysis; the impacts on CFA culture, capability and volunteer capacity; the stripping out of all key CFA middle support/ management operational staff and erosion of CFA Chief Officer’s autonomy and authority; future impacts on the Fire Services Levy; the flow on effect as many more CFA volunteer brigade areas beyond the first round of 35 integrated brigades are excised out of CFA; and the fundamentally flawed destruction of a world renowned CFA integrated service model just because of an over reaching EBA agenda.

VFBV’s position is that the legislation should be rejected. Further VFBV position is that the legislation is so fundamentally flawed, merely making amendments cannot fix the problems inherent in the legislation. It will be concerning if superficial amendments get spun as supposedly fixing the fundamentally flawed legislation.

The discussion of this proposed legislation has been very frustrating for many people and there have been some disappointing criticisms thrown about in attempts to justify the reforms. There has been unfortunate misrepresentation of the facts around lack of consultation with volunteers. The UFU and some Government MPs have focused on criticising CFA volunteer brigade response times and response capacity and are using this as one of their key pushes for the proposed changes.

Alarmingly the Emergency Services Commissioner, without any substantiation, has claimed to the Committee that Victoria’s fire services are the worst in Australia, despite singing our praises only a year or so ago and despite having a direct role and legislated responsibility along with the agencies to ensure they are operating well. And the Government has been quite clear that the change is strongly motivated by their desire to find a way to push ahead with their over-reaching EBA deal with the UFU.

Others are using the flawed line that because people are sick of reviews this is a reason to just accept this proposed restructure and hope for the best despite their apprehension.

Many people, including VFBV, have confirmed that they are willing to be involved in and help drive change where it is needed but proper change, driven by proper analysis, driven without political or industrial agendas and done in an open, collaborative and transparent way that brings people along on the journey. But be clear, these people and VFBV are also saying that the changes that need to be made do not require legislation, nor restructure of the fire services, nor dismantling of the CFA model.

The proposed legislation is not the answer to addressing cultural improvements required in the fire services. And sadly the UFU Supreme Court action is now going to mean the important Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission report on their review into the fire services will be suppressed until after the Victorian Parliament considers the fire service legislation next week. There is nothing in the proposed legislation and restructure that adds additional flexibility to what exists today in CFA to fix service gaps. There is nothing in the proposed legislation or proposed fire services restructure that adds additional resource capability or additional flexibility to what already exists in CFA today to fix service gaps, or address changing service demands.

There is nothing in the proposed legislation that provides any solution to the industrial challenges confronting CFA and MFB operational and resource decision making.

There is nothing in the proposed legislation or fire services restructure that provides anything additional to what exists today in terms of driving or enabling interoperability across the fire services and emergency sector – in fact the proposed changes further fragment the fire services.

And there has been a sad lack of focus throughout the discussions by those seeking to drive the reform on solutions that will prevent fires and mitigate risks. What the fire services should be focusing on is building community capacity and willingness to share responsibility for their own safety; actively drive incident reduction; empower local service capacity; or as the Victorian Auditor General’s report stated that the fire services need to shift our collective focus to achieving and measuring community safety outcomes rather than being preoccupied with just a narrow fire truck response time focus.

There is plenty of improvement that would be good to pursue, and a structured pursuit of improvement is very different from just ‘another review’. But I repeat, the proposed legislation is not the solution and the proposed legislation is not required – instead let’s set it aside, reset the clock and focus our energy on working together calmly, collaboratively and in the best interests of the whole Victorian community.

As Jack Rush QC reminded the Committee, “the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission heard from three leading world experts on organisational change and structure of emergency services: Professor Leonard from Harvard University, Professor T’Hart from ANU and Major General Molan, formerly Chief of allied operations in Iraq.

All three warned of the dangers of radical change to organisations. An analogy was given on corporate takeover. Over half of them fail in terms of value creation and many end up exacerbating rather than erasing tribal entities.

Incremental change they said, often produces far better results than radical change. Molan’s evidence was that radical change more often failed.”

Jack Rush advised the committee, based on his extensive analysis and work associated with the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission that splitting up the CFA “will reduce effectiveness, it will create inefficiency and in the end, it will impact on emergency response.”

He advised the Committee that dismembering the CFA to achieve some sort of industrial outcome cannot be and should not be dressed up as being in the interests of emergency services or proper a firefighting outcome.

We go into the next month, wondering about the decision to be handed down by the Select Committee and more importantly the vote of MPs in the Upper House. They will decide the fate of CFA and this decision will impact on Victoria for decades to come.

Please stay active, both in terms of your engagement with this unpleasant debate and in your work as volunteers. No doubt we are all tired of this but being tired should never be a reason to roll over to something that is patently wrong.

Thank you for your active support to date. Keep it up and please keep your voices very active within volunteer networks and to your local community, MPs and anyone else who can help us influence the right out-come for our communities and the Victorian public.

2017 Survey: Register Now

This year’s 2017 VFBV Volunteer Welfare & Efficiency Survey will open in early September. CFA volunteers can pre-register online now at www.vfbv.com.au/cfa or visit the VFBV website to find the link. All pre-registered volunteers will get emailed a link as soon as the survey is launched.

The VFBV Volunteer Welfare & Efficiency Survey is an annual snapshot of volunteer opinion, which includes 33 questions on issues chosen by volunteers. Last year a record number of CFA volunteers completed the survey and over 7,000 volunteers nationally took part through our interstate surveys. Your comments are confidential, but the results go straight to the decision makers. There’s more information at our website or talk to your VFBV State Councillor for more information.

Exit Survey

CFA has acknowledged that there is little data available around why volunteers leave CFA.

The Joint VFBV/CFA Volunteerism Committee discussed ways to improve responses to the current CFA exit surveys, which currently has a very low response rate. CFA has agreed to investigate the use of FIRS call takers as a pilot - utilising time between taking calls to conduct EXIT surveys on those who have resigned their membership.

VFBV supports and commends any initiative that will assist CFA understand the reasons volunteers are leaving the service and how retention strategies may make a difference. We will update members on progress and results as they come to hand.

Invitation to Apply: Board Members of Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV)

VFBV Board vacancies for a 2-year term until 1 October 2019

Due to some confusion about the number of positions being sought and gaps in communication in some areas, the closing date for applications for the FOUR VFBV Board vacancies arising this year, has been extended until 21 August 2017.

To be clear there are FOUR positions to be filled, and two of the outgoing VFBV Board members are retiring from the Board and will not be seeking further appointment.

Applications must be lodged with VFBV by Monday 21 August 2017.

VFBV advances the interests of all Victorian fire brigade volunteers and advocates on their behalf to CFA and other key stakeholders. The VFBV Board drives policy development based on volunteer input and is involved in management of issues of central importance to all CFA volunteers. Vacancies for Four Board Members will arise when the terms of Mick Nunweek, Jill Parker, Samantha Rothman and Hans van Hamond expire on 1 October 2017.

The term of appointment will be for two years and applications are invited from interested volunteers to be considered for these vacancies.

The role of a VFBV Board Member involves contributing to VFBV direction, policy determination and monitoring the performance and governance of the Association. Also actively contributing to policy discussion at Board Meetings, networking with others about policies and issues management, and not only making decisions but being prepared to actively advocate for the benefit of all CFA volunteers and ultimately the Victorian community.

A Board Member Role Statement including the key selection criteria is available from the VFBV office or website www.vfbv.com.au/index.php/about/vfbv/vfbvboard

This is an honorary position; no honorarium is paid.

If you are motivated by the prospect of making a difference for CFA volunteers, then send your written application addressing the key selection criteria in the role statement, plus an outline of your CFA activity including the names of two referees.

Applications must be lodged with VFBV by Monday 21 August 2017

To:          VFBV, P O Box 453, Mt Waverley 3149

Tel:         9886 1141; Fax: 9886 1618

Email:      This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Position Vacant: VFBV Support Officer (West)

VFBV is seeking to appoint a VFBV Support Officer to work in regional Victoria with VFBV District Councils, Brigades and volunteers to facilitate consultation, issues resolution and volunteer engagement. The position is a State role, with emphasis and focus on providing support throughout CFA’s West Region (Districts 15, 16 and 17). This is an existing position, with the incumbent leaving the role.

In addition to relevant skills, candidates will need to understand CFA and volunteerism, be good listeners, and be able to navigate through complex issues resolution, be self-starters and have a passion to improve arrangements that benefit the welfare and efficiency of CFA volunteers.

Extensive regional Victorian work travel is envisaged and flexible work base locations will be considered for this position, with the priority focus in the West region covering CFA Districts 15, 16 and 17. Applicants living outside the west, but within a reasonable distance (neighbouring districts) will also be considered.

Flexible working arrangements, to cater for extensive evening and weekend work, will be tailored to match the needs of our volunteer membership base.

This is a full-time position giving the right candidate an opportunity to really put their stamp on the VFBV of the future.

All applications must include both a current resume and a cover letter addressing the key selection criteria outlined in the position description.

A copy of the Position Description can be found on our website www.vfbv.com.au

Any questions or queries re the application process should be directed to Cathie Smith at the VFBV Office on (03) 9886 1141 or via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Applications close on 4 September

VFBV is seeking to appoint a VFBV Support Officer to work in regional Victoria with VFBV District Councils, Brigades and volunteers to facilitate consultation, issues resolution and volunteer engagement. This position is a State role, with emphasis and focus on providing support throughout CFA’s West Region (Districts 15, 16 and 17). This is an existing position, with the incumbent vacating the role.

In addition to relevant skills, candidates will need to understand CFA and volunteerism, be good listeners and be able to navigate through complex issues resolution, be self-starters and have a passion to improve arrangements that benefit the welfare and efficiency of CFA volunteers.

Extensive regional Victorian work travel is envisaged and flexible work base locations will be considered for the position, with the priority focus to assign a support officer in the CFA West Region covering Districts (15,16,17). Applicants living outside the west, but within a reasonable distance (neighbouring districts) will also be considered.

Flexible working arrangements, to cater for extensive evening and weekend work, will be tailored to match the needs of our volunteer membership base.

This is a full time position giving the right candidate an opportunity to really put his/her stamp on the VFBV of the future.

All applications must include both a current resume and a cover letter addressing the key selection criteria outlined in the attached position description.

Send applications to the CEO, VFBV, PO Box 453, Mt. Waverley, Vic. 3149 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Applications close Monday 4th September, 2017.

For further information contact Cathie Smith on 03 9886 1141

Download the Position Description from here. 

On Friday 7th July 2017, VFBV appeared before a public hearing of the Victorian Legislative Council Fire Services Bill Select Committee to table the VFBV submission and answer questions from the Committee members. Appearing on behalf of VFBV was;

• State President, Nev Jones AFSM
• Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Ford
• Executive Officer, Adam Barnett

A full transcript of this hearing will be made available as soon as it is available and publicly released on Hansard.

You can download the full VFBV submission from here.

Below is a copy of the submissions cover letter, and summary.

7 July 2017

Assistant Clerk Committees
Department of the Legislative Council
Fire Services Bill Select Committee
Parliament House, Spring Street
EAST MELBOURNE VIC 3002

Dear Committee,

This letter and the attached detail is the VFBV submission to the Select Committee established to examine the Fire Services Bill.

VFBV wishes to thank the Select Committee for the opportunity to provide comment regarding the proposed Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation and Fire Services Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2017 (referred to in VFBV submission as ‘proposed legislation’).

The following submission is provided in good faith and in response to the Select Committee’s invitation for comment on the proposed legislation.  The timeframes for submission on this important matter have been extremely tight, and I am hopeful that the committee will accept supplementary information if required.

In making this submission we have reflected on the many previous reviews of recent years and the recurring concerns of volunteers that they are being heard but not listened to.  In the lead up to this proposed legislation those concerns were amplified because there was not even an opportunity to be heard.  There was no consultation prior to the tabling of the proposed legislation in Parliament despite Government’s claims to the contrary.

Now, less than 4 weeks on, volunteers still feel that despite a series of field briefings to tell them what the proposed legislation is - there has still not been real or genuine effort nor process to take on board what they have said, listen to nor consider their concerns and treat them with the respect they deserve.

Just because volunteers are not paid, and just because their good will is likely to see them continuing to help people in need these are by no means reasons to disrespect, disempower or denigrate their views and input. 

I am very sad to say that many volunteers do think that their views have been too readily dismissed and ignored.  There are also many who feel the effect of unfair reactive castigation and sometimes vilification just for having their say.  This behaviour is not reasonable and should stop, and the way to stop it is by example - led from the top.

We are hopeful that the tensions associated with this review can become a lesson to everyone about how not to do things. 

Apart from the consideration of the proposals covered in the proposed legislation, it would be good if we can put this bad process to some good use and use it as a catalyst to rethink behaviours and lead, by personal example, a better way of behaving in the future.

VFBV and individuals within VFBV have felt the effect of MPs, abusing the privilege of parliament to spread known mistruths about us, about what we have said and what we stand for.  This is totally inappropriate and is not the way to treat anyone.  I ask the committee to contemplate an important question – if people can be so brazen as to defame someone in the public eye and under the protection of parliament, what threat and retribution is happening behind the scenes to people, at the ground level and even those expert officials who need to be able to speak independently, who dare to speak in any way that contradicts the directions driven from the secret places that developed this legislation. 

We are not alone in this and, sadly, have observed other key players in the sector being treated with similar disdain simply for having the integrity to speak up.

The issue of fair process and mischief is not covered in the attached submission as it falls outside the terms of reference, but it does warrant serious independent investigation and I state this formally in the hope that this can happen before this legislation is decided on. 

It is important to note that the Government’s commitment to provide additional funding and support to CFA is not enshrined nor delivered through the proposed legislation and does not need to be. These welcome initiatives can therefore be delivered regardless of the outcome of the propose legislation. VFBV welcomes and appreciates these initiatives however we do not believe these critically deserved offers of core support and funding should somehow be tied to the dismantling of CFA and the proposed legislation that has real potential to destroy the very thing the funding is designed to support.

The need for increased funding of CFA’s core capital works, fleet replacement, firefighting equipment, volunteer support and training has been extensively covered by previous VFBV submissions and has been well and truly established by previous reviews as recently as the Department of Treasury base funding review conduced only a few years ago.

VFBV looks forward to assisting the Select Committee in any way required.
Yours Sincerely

Andrew Ford
Chief Executive Officer

SUMMARY

VFBV wishes to thank the Select Committee for the opportunity to provide comment regarding the proposed Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation and Fire Services Legislation Amendment (Reform) Bill 2017 (referred to in VFBV submission as ‘proposed legislation’).

The first comment to be made is that VFBV is very disappointed that the proposed legislation combines the two totally separate issues of firefighter cancer presumptive rights compensation and the proposed restructuring of Victoria’s fire services.  VFBV feels strongly that it is morally wrong and offensive to combine an issue so important as firefighter cancer protection with the proposed fire services restructure.

VFBV submits that the proposed Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the proposed legislation should be separated into a different Bill and be subject to separate consultation.  

Nevertheless, while the proposed legislation ties the firefighter’s presumptive rights aspects to the proposed restructure of Victoria’s fire service, consideration of the proposed restructuring of Victoria’s fire services also demands comment on the Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the proposed legislation.

Presumptive rights compensation

In respect to Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the legislation, VFBV is very strongly of the view that there should be equality in the treatment of volunteer and career firefighters.  The proposed Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation legislation does not treat volunteers and paid staff equally.  It sets up a complex, and ambiguous legal battle for volunteers and a much simpler process for paid firefighters.  The proposed Victorian presumptive rights legislation is not the same as the QLD model.  To sell the proposed Victorian presumptive rights legislation as being the same as the simple and equitable model now in place in QLD is misleading.  Legal advice obtained by VFBV from QC Jack Rush[1] confirms VFBV concerns and observation provided to VFBV by lawyers[2] directly experienced in the operation and intent of the QLD model also points to a fundamental difference and less desirable proposal being put forward for Victorian volunteers.   

Proposed restructure - flawed motivation

In regard to the proposed restructure of Victoria’s fire services aspects of the proposed legislation, the pre-eminent consideration in determining a structure for fire and emergency public safety should be to have a sustainable, efficient and cost effective system for planning, prevention, response to and recovery from fire and other emergencies.   VFBV submits that the policy rationale driving the proposed restructure of Victoria’s fire services has not been driven by this consideration. 

Instead the change has been motivated by a Government and United Fire Fighters union agenda to find a way for a problematic and overreaching operational staff EBA to avoid recently amended provisions in the Fair Work Act[1] (referred to in VFBV submission as the ‘FWA volunteer support amendment’), amendments that simply seek to recognise and respect the role and contribution of CFA volunteers. 

Not only is this motivation flawed, the claim of an impossible barrier to finalising future EBA’s is simply not true.  This claim that the FWA volunteer support amendment now means that any CFA EBA containing matters relating to training, equipment, rostering cannot be finalised is an untested and unsubstantiated claim and in VFBV’s view it misleading and patently wrong.  

The FWA volunteer support amendment does nothing more than prevent EBA’s from restricting or limiting how an organisation such as CFA supports, equips, recognises, respects and consults with volunteers in the same way as the Fair Work Act has prevented enterprise bargaining clauses which breached the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act since the Fair Work Act was introduced by the Gillard Government. This Commonwealth FWA volunteer support amendment does no more than prevent an Enterprise Agreement between the CFA and UFU from breaching the current requirements regarding CFA volunteers as contained in and arising from the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 as it has existed since May 2011.

Proposed restructure – doesn’t fix FWA/ EBA problem

To say the restructure of the fire services is needed because of the problems created by the FWA volunteer support amendment is wrong.  To allow this to be the motivation for carving up the fire services is wrong.   To say it will fix the problem is wrong. 

Carving up the fire services to avoid the FWA volunteer support amendment test does nothing to fix the problem. 

The proposed restructure creates even more problems and the underlying issues of EBA overreach are still embedded, and perhaps made worse by the proposed legislations requirement for all CFA operational personnel to be employed by FRV, under an EBA to be negotiated by FRV without CFA involvement.   

Proposed restructure – fundamental concerns

VFBV is concerned with the proposed restructure at a fundamental. 

Any modernisation of the fire and emergency services must be based on consideration of how best to systematically meet local needs plus how best to function as an intrinsically connected  regional and state-wide whole,  ensuring flexibility and resources are available for local demands and also for severe, multiple/concurrent, and long duration events (whilst simultaneously protecting their local communities).

Experience and reviews have shown us again and again that the best approach to public safety is to embed public safety ethos and practice in local communities. The CFA community based model, where emergency service volunteers and paid staff work in a fully integrated manner and where volunteers

are empowered, responsible and valued based on their training and experience (regardless of pay status), for both local service delivery and major incident management roles is a best practice model regarded world-wide. 

The medium and long term effect of the proposed changes on Victoria’s volunteer peak load and surge capacity is of deep concern for VFBV and others engaged in public safety.

The fire service structure set down in the proposed legislation is rigid, costly and undermines the whole concept of building local community embedded volunteer capacity and capability by relegating volunteers to second rate responders (if required at all) and also by removing the statutory responsibility of paid firefighters and FRV employees to encourage, maintain and strengthen local volunteer capacity.

VFBV submits that it is totally inappropriate to enshrine a changed fire service restructure that will have direct cost increase impacts without the proposal being adequately costed and properly funded not just for the next two years, but with assurances moving forward.

Consideration should also be given to the fact that simply costing the proposal properly and building an assured funding mechanism will do nothing to alleviate the even broader concern that the proposed legislation and flow on implications are likely to cause increases to the fire services levy, complications to the fire service levy governance and an impact on every person in Victoria who pays the fire service levy.

Proposed structure – adds no additional benefit to fix service gaps

We note that there have been attacks on the CFA meeting fire standards in some areas and that this has also been used as a basis for justifying the proposed changes. Without commenting on the statistics used in those attacks (which are made on CFA volunteers and paid staff alike), it is important to note that the current CFA system can and does flexibly respond to any real service capacity gaps and already has all of the legislated powers necessary to employ additional paid firefighters to supplement and support the volunteer base where required  The proposed legislation provides no change whatsoever to the fire services ability to respond to urban growth or urban service demands.

Any limits on CFA’s ability to respond and quickly to gaps in service capacity can be directly traced to outdated or otherwise limiting industrial clauses and practices arising from industrial agreements over the past 20 years.  It is the statutory duty of the CFA management to maintain effective functional service standards and they are accountable for that duty.

Negotiating industrial agreements in harmony with their statutory responsibilities is part of CFA management’s responsibility and should not be subject to political interference.  The proposed legislation does nothing to fix these problems, and worse, it establishes in legislation a future framework that reduces the options and flexibility that currently exist. 

The opportunity that exists today for CFA pursue a range of options to transition and evolve volunteer brigade capacity (including supplementing paid firefighters into the volunteer brigade) as local service demands changes will be reduced not strengthened by the proposed restructure.

The proposed structure and resulting systems established by the proposed legislation lack the flexibility of the CFA system and alienates local volunteerism in urban communities; it sets a framework that will disempower and discourage volunteers and this will lead to a need to replace volunteers over time with paid staff doing the same response job as volunteers but without the community networks or ongoing provision sufficient surge capacity.

Proposed legislation – should be rejected and rethought

VFBV submits that the proposed restructure of Victoria fire services as established by the proposed legislation is inferior to the CFA’s current system and must be rejected. 

The proposed legislation provides no additional service capacity or service interoperability than exists today, in fact it further fragment the services. 

The proposed legislation will act to diminish and discourage volunteer capacity. 

The proposed legislation is inconsistent and in conflict with key recommendations of recent major reviews, including the findings of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

The proposed legislation is motivated by the wrong reason of seeking to find a clear path to push ahead with EBA demands of the UFU.  It works against sustaining volunteer capacity.  

The proposed legislation does not provide a solution to the current real problem of industrial dispute and it does not provide a solution to the challenges/problems/opportunities facing the fire and emergency sector.

In summary VFBV submits:

1. The Fire Service Reform aspects of the proposed legislation should not be supported. The Bill should be withdrawn and its underlying assumptions rethought for the provision of agile, responsive and effective community embedded public safety across Victoria. Any structure proposed for adoption must maintain and strengthen the primary role of community embedded volunteers fully integrated with and, supplemented and supported by paid staff on a genuine needs basis. Future models should be developed in a fully transparent and collaborative way with the full involvement of all stakeholders and personnel/volunteers on the ground.
   
   
2. The proposed legislation should be split to separate the consideration of Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation from Fire Services Reform aspects and be subject to separate consultation.  
   
   
3. The Firefighters’ Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the proposed legislation needs to be amended to remove the differential treatment of paid staff and volunteers. 

A way forward

VFBV respectfully request that the Select Committee seek:

1. Transparent and evidence backed understanding of the problems trying to be fixed;
   
   
2. Independent and robust impact analysis (including cost/benefit impact) of any reform proposals before a decision is made;
   
   
3. Critically examination and evidence to test how the key changes being proposed will provide a better solution than the arrangements which exist today;

VFBV believe it is critically important that there is established a proper and transparent process of community, agency and volunteer engagement and consultation before the reform policy is decided and before future legislation is considered and developed.

VFBV suggest, as an immediate next step and before any legislation is decided,  an independently chaired, all stakeholder fire service improvement task force be established to -  commence and actively facilitate organisational culture and positive relationships shift; engagement of key stakeholders; support active leadership to rebuild a shared focus and commitment to common operating principles and goals; facilitate an independent review of fire service best practice models; identify priority areas for improvement in Victoria; to ensure independent and transparent assessment of options and feasibility/costs/benefits impacts; and develop a Fire Services Reform program owned by the people on the ground.

The establishment of this taskforce will provide an immediate opportunity for trust and respect to be rebuilt between Government and all stakeholders and agencies, and create a framework for a shared vision and journey for future fire services reform.

FWA/EBA concerns – let FWC process resolve it

At a minimum VFBV believes it is incumbent on the Select Committee to test the proposition about problems caused by the FWA volunteer support amendment thoroughly.

VFBV submits that to end the tension, claim and counter claim – submit the proposed 2016 CFA Operational Staff EBA to the Fair Work Commission and allow the fair umpire[1] and subsequent transparent process to resolve any concerns. 

Volunteers do not wish to stop EBA’s from being finalised and the Government and United Firefighters Union have openly stated that the proposed 2016 CFA Operational Staff EBA does not, should not and is not intended to be able to restrict or limit how CFA supports, equips, recognises, respects or consults with volunteers.  Given this foundation, a sensible way forward would be to submit the EBA, confirm if there are any unintended problems and remove these problems.  The tensions that have played out over the past year will be resolved and at a minimum there will be objective, transparent and fair deliberation.

NOTE TO MEMBERS – 15 June 2017

FIRE SERVICES REFORM LEGISLATION UPDATE AND VFBV LEGAL ADVICE

Attached to this News Note, is a copy of the legal advice provided to VFBV regarding the Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the proposed Firefighter's Presumptive Rights Compensation and Fire Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 (referred to here as ‘the Bill’). 

This legal advice, provided by Jack Rush QC, a former Supreme Court Judge, former Chairman of the Victorian Bar Council, and Counsel Assisting the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission confirms that the proposed presumptive rights legislation:

“…establishes two distinct mechanisms for the operation of the presumption that specified cancers are due to the nature of firefighting – one for career firefighters and one for volunteer firefighters. The Bill discriminates against volunteer firefighters, is inequitable to them, has been drafted in a manner that is prejudicial to volunteer firefighters’ entitlements and rights to claim for specified forms of cancer when compared to the claims process created by the Bill for career firefighters for precisely the same cancer conditions.”

This directly contradicts the Governments statements:

1. Career Firefighters and Volunteers will get equal treatment – They do not
2. That it is the same or better than the QLD model – It is not
3. That the proposed legislation is what VFBV asked for – It is not

Bill scheduled to go to Upper House for vote next Tuesday (20th June 2017)

The Bill has been passed in the Legislative Assembly (lower House) and is supposedly scheduled to be put to the vote in the Legislative Council (Upper House) next week, probably Tuesday 20^th June 2017.  This is very disappointing for volunteers who have raised serious concerns about the lack of consultation regarding the Bill; the negative effect dismantling the existing CFA integrated service model; the potential erosion of Victoria’s vital volunteer surge capacity; the lack of transparent process, operational or cost impact analysis; and the ambiguity, confusion and interference that will flow if this change is adopted.

Volunteers are supportive of genuine and cost effective fire service modernisation but we continue to urge the decision makers to withdraw or stop the adoption of the current Andrews’ government proposal.  The approach to modernisation needs to be re-thought. Our strong view is that those aspects of the Bill relating to the split up of the integrated CFA model and the creation of FRV are so fundamentally flawed they should be rejected and at a minimum require a major rethink and review before being considered by the Legislative Council.

We are continuing to have asked MPs to take this legislation off the table for now or at least agree to a transparent and proper process of scrutiny and review before the legislation is passed.

Previous VFBV communiques have outlined VFBV broad concerns regarding the Bill and these concerns remain. 

Bill should be split to separate presumptive rights compensation from the aspects relating to structural changes to Victoria’s Fire Services

As stated above, VFBV concerns regarding the broader reform aspects of the Bill remain and are in addition to the Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the Bill.  VFBV and many other respected public officials and bodies have already expressed our deep disappointment that the Bill combines two totally separate issues.  One being firefighters’ presumptive rights compensation and the other being proposed changes to the fire service structure and arrangements for Victoria.  It is highly offensive and morally wrong to combine an issue so important as firefighter cancer protection with the proposed reforms to the fire services that essentially carve up CFA, one as a ransom note for the other.

VFBV has met with MPs from all sides of politics seeking support to separate those aspects of the Bill which relate to presumptive rights from the remaining aspects relating to the broader restructure of the fire services.  

At this point in time our efforts have been unsuccessful however we remain hopeful that this issue will be respectfully resolved by a resolution to split the Bill when the legislation is considered in the Upper House.  

It is untrue and blatantly misleading to say the Firefighters Presumptive Rights Compensation aspects of the proposed Bill is the same as the QLD presumptive legislation

Regarding the presumptive rights compensation aspects of the Bill I refer you to the attached legal advice provided to VFBV.  This advice from Jack Rush QC confirms VFBV concerns that the proposed firefighter presumptive rights legislation is being sold as something that it clearly is not.  The proposed Victorian legislation does not provide a simple process for volunteers, it does not treat volunteers and paid firefighters equally, it is not the same as the well regarded QLD model and it sets up potential for ambiguous protracted legal debate and bureaucratic hurdles for sick volunteers. 

To sell the cancer protection as being the same as other simple and equitable models such as the QLD approach is false.  The proposed Victorian cancer protection legislation is not the QLD model, it sets up a complex and ambiguous legal battle for volunteers and a much simpler process for paid firefighters.  VFBV is pleased that paid firefighters will be provided with simple and compassionate cancer protection but why discriminate against volunteers?

All volunteers are urged to read the attached legal advice as it sets out a compelling case for there to be further work done on the presumptive rights protection aspects of the Bill before it is adopted.

VFBV believes this work could be done quite quickly if the true spirit of the QLD model is genuinely applied for both paid and volunteer firefighters in Victoria. 

Serious concerns regarding the proposed fires services reform echoed by counsel assisting the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission

All members are encouraged to read the attached opinion of Jack Rush QC regarding the adverse effects of the proposed Bill on CFA volunteer capacity, Victoria’s capacity to deal with major fires, CFA operations and support for volunteer. 

VFBV have argued strongly that the proposed fire service reform change triggered by the legislation is not a modernisation of the fire services. 

It creates less flexibility for the fire services to adapt to changing risk and service demands. The Government, the Emergency Management Commissioner, and the CFA Chief Officer are yet to be able to explain to the Victorian public what public safety improvement will occur in communities currently serviced by CFA’s 35 Integrated Brigades. They are yet to explain how changing the logo on a truck that sits in Dandenong, Geelong or Bendigo today, somehow makes that community better protected tomorrow.

It further fragments Victoria’s fire services when all recent reviews have said fire service modernisation needs to be about joining up effort.

It creates 35 separated fire service islands spread throughout regional Victoria creating confusion, duplication and complex chains of command. 

Contrary to the Governments claim, none of the recent major reviews, and certainly not the 2009 fires Royal Commission, recommended splitting the world-renowned CFA model.  This is confirmed and the propaganda being pedalled by the Government has now been called out by Jack Rush QC as ‘nonsense’.    Jack Rush has confirmed that the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission applauded the CFA model as being ‘the nations pre-eminent firefighting organisation.

Jack Rush has confirmed that the 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission recognised the importance of maintaining and strengthening the existing CFA model that fully integrates volunteers and paid firefighters.  The 2009 Bushfires Royal Commission and other recent reviews recognised the absolute importance of the existing CFA model as the best way for Victoria. 

The Government is marketing these reforms as restoring CFA to a strong and independent volunteer service. They omit the fact that all those operational positions covered by the UFU that support, lead and manage those same volunteers will now cleverly be forced to be contracted back in from the metro service - supposedly doing the same jobs they were doing before – but employed and grown by another service.

A clear motivation underpinning the proposed change is a blatant desire by those pushing it to avoid a simple test that now sits with the legislated Fair Work Commission umpire – the very same umpire that Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews said we should all listen to up until the day the umpire’s rules also require volunteers rights, capacity and contribution to be respected valued and recognised.  The so called Fair Work barriers to any industrial agreement are only about ensuring industrial agreements don’t restrict or limit how a body such as CFA supports, equips, deploys or respect volunteers.  These tests are not only common sense; they essentially already exist in CFA legislation.

What is VFBV’s vision for the future?

Based on volunteer feedback and consultation from the 2015 Fire Services review, and as submitted to last year’s Senate enquires, our view has been stated as the following:

Because volunteers are fundamental to Victoria’s emergency management capability, fundamental to community resilience and at the core of communities sharing responsibility for their own safety, it is vitally important to ensure that they are involved in decision making on all issues that affect them, both to make the most of their frontline knowledge and to help sustain Victoria’s essential volunteer resource.

VFBV wants to make it very clear that CFA volunteers appreciate and respect the dedication, skill and work of our CFA paid colleagues.  Our vision for CFA is for it to be a modern and contemporary emergency service where volunteers and paid staff work side by side, as equals and respect one another. 

We are against anything that tries to create a wedge between volunteers & paid staff, and any arrangements that seek to demoralise, discriminate or segregate volunteers from our paid colleagues. 

We are all CFA members who want to put our communities first.

Our desire is for a modern approach, focussed on all people working together to maintain and build volunteer and community safety; a respectful culture focussed on empowering and supporting

local volunteer brigades and community with the flexibility and agility to enable CFA to tailor resources and support to local community’s needs.

The Governments proposed legislation is not modern, it is not flexible, it does not further community safety outcomes, and it does not promote interoperability or connectedness, and it does not build and strengthen community resilience before, during and after natural and other disasters.

The Bill should not proceed

Volunteers are supportive of fire service modernisation but we continue to urge the decision makers to stop and have a re-think. 

Our strong view is that those aspects of the Bill relating to the split up of the integrated CFA model and the creation of FRV are so fundamentally flawed they should be rejected and at a minimum require a major rethink and review before being considered by the Legislative Council.  Jack Rush has thankfully called the Bill for what it is ‘motivated by a political and ideological outcome’, ‘it will most certainly not produce a positive operational outcome, it weakens rather than strengthens the CFA and support for CFA volunteers’

What you need to do

Volunteers should not give up.  Please continue to write, email or visit your local MPs, particularly Upper House MPs, and ask them to vote against the legislation.  At a minimum ask them, if they are not prepared to take this legislation off the table for now, at least agree to a transparent and proper process of scrutiny and review before the legislation is passed.

*               *               *

2017 Queen’s Birthday Honours

VFBV warmly congratulates all recipients of Honours and Awards awarded during the Queens Birthday honours, including three CFA volunteers, and CFA's Chief Officer on the honour bestowed upon them with the award of the Australian Fire Service Medal, as well deserved recognition of their outstanding contribution to our fire service and the people of Victoria:

Allan Cracknell AFSM, Bairnsdale

A CFA Volunteer since 1973 with Nullawil, Maffra, Rupanyup and currently Bairnsdale Brigade, with roles undertaken including Bairnsdale Secretary since 1993 and Group Secretary for 10 years.

Allan’s award acknowledges his long involvement in fire safety prevention including highly engaging fire safety sessions at numerous community organisations and schools, and running a Juvenile Fire Awareness & Intervention Program in the Bairnsdale area.  The award also acknowledges his dedication to member welfare through the Peer Support Program, and as Peer Support Co-ordinator for Districts 10 and 11 since 1997.

In addition to his volunteer service, Allan has been employed in later years by CFA as a Casual Community Fire Guard presenter and as a BASO supporting Brigades in far regional eastern Victoria.

Warren Currry AFSM, Port Albert

Warren has provided 44 years service to CFA at Yarram and currently Port Albert Brigade with approximately 39 of those years in a Brigade or Group Management Team role, including Lieutenant, Secretary, Captain, Deputy Group Officer and Group Officer.  

Warren’s outstanding leadership has assisted with the development of others particularly younger members, has played an active role in reforming and improving Group operating procedures and in training and assessment roles and motivating others to enhance the quality of service delivery within the greater Yarram area.

Warren’s award acknowledges his outstanding leadership and significant role during the 2009 fires; the very capable team he developed with a broad skill base that successfully operates the Tarra Group Local Command Facility; and being instrumental in establishing the Port Albert Junior Brigade.

Lance King AFSM, Yallourn North

A CFA volunteer of Yallourn North Brigade since 1977, with numerous roles undertaken including Brigade Lieutenant, Secretary, Captain, Coach and member of Brigade competition team, Municipal Fire Prevention Delegate, Group Officer and VFBV District Council 27 President.

Lance’s award acknowledges his outstanding operational expertise and abilities; and his leadership and innovative solutions to issues and needs within the municipal emergency management sector where he has been able to leverage his CFA knowledge and experience to the benefit of the greater community, particularly through his Emergency Co-ordinator role at Latrobe City.

His calm and methodical approach to dealing with challenges and generating solutions has benefitted his Brigade, the CFA and the community through projects that produced significant improvements to community safety, public warning systems and information management by municipalities during emergency events and the subsequent recovery periods.

Chief Officer Steven Warrington AFSM

VFBV also congratulates Chief Officer Steve Warrington AFSM on the honour bestowed with the award of the Australian Fire Service Medal, as well deserved recognition of his outstanding contribution to our fire service and the people of Victoria. 

Steve was a CFA volunteer for 14 years commencing with Chelsea Brigade in 1978.  He later joined CFA staff in 1983 initially at Langwarrin Brigade, then moved through a range of roles including Operations Manager in District 8, Community Safety, Deputy Chief Officer in 2008, and his appointment as Chief Officer in 2016.

Also included in the 2017 Queen’s Birthday honours were Peter Driscoll AFSM, Barwon Downs (DELWP) & David Youssef AFSM, Strathmore (MFB).

We have created an “Ask a question” page which can be accessed from here; https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FVZZ3DM 

Feel free to distribute this link, and anyone who has questions about the Governments reform, can enter their questions there. We will then try and chase answers, and will create a page on our website with questions and answers as they become known.

As communicated on the weekend, we are seeking a meeting with the Minister, Craig Lapsely and Steve Warrington as soon as possible to discuss the detail, and will try and get answers to your questions. So let us know what questions you have – or the most common questions at your Brigade – and we’ll try and get answers for you.

NOTE TO MEMBERS – 21 May 2017                                              

VICTORIAN FIRE SERVICES RESTRUCTURE

On Friday this week, the Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister James Merlino announced splitting the CFA, separating paid operational employees and volunteers into different organisations though major structural reform of Victoria’s Fire Services. This note outlines what VFBV know so far, about the proposal.

From what has been reported, these reforms have been drawn up by a small group working in secret within the Department of Premier & Cabinet, and has not involved the Fire Agencies. This group and their work has also reportedly been hidden from Cabinet itself. This would be the first time in Victoria’s history, that Fire Service Reform has not been the subject of any public scrutiny or consultation.

As a sign of Government’s desire to push through these changes before any detail is known, before any expert analysis/impact statements and before any public scrutiny, Minister Merlino has advised his plan is to introduce this legislation to Parliament next week.

VFBV’s understanding of the structural reforms based on the Premier and Ministers public comment and our discussions with Minister Merlino in a afternoon briefing last Friday after the public announcement, suggest that; 

1. MFB will cease to be an agency and Government will establish a new fire agency to be called Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV). According to the Government release, this agency will “lead firefighting in major regional cities and Melbourne”. This new agency will operate without a Board and CEO and will be led by a new “Commissioner”. The FRV Commissioner will “set the strategic direction and make very clear who is responsible when emergencies happen, so that action is immediate, seamless and appropriate.”
   
   
2. All CFA operational paid staff will be transferred to the MFB replacement “Fire Rescue Victoria”. This means not just paid firefighters transferring to the new FRV, VFBV has been advised that also all paid CFA operational staff who currently support volunteer brigades across Victoria (Operations Officers, Operations Managers etc) will be transferred to FRV. It is unclear what happens to training instructors, community safety/education managers, Comms and Protective Equipment Staff, and training ground PAD Operators/Supervisors.
   
   
3. CFA’s model of integrated brigades will be discontinued and FRV will be a 100% paid staff only service.
   
   
4. All current 35 CFA Integrated brigade response area’s will be removed from the CFA, and redefined to become FRV first response areas.
   
   
5. Current integrated brigades will be split into two separate Brigades – a paid firefighter FRV Brigade and a separate CFA Volunteer Brigade, “co-located” in the existing CFA facility. Each agency will own its own assets and equipment, including vehicles.
   
   
6. The Government will remove the need for Local Councils to request changes to boundaries, and will instead establish an “Independent” Fire District Review Panel that will undertake periodic reviews, to determine any future changes to areas covered by FRV and CFA.

MINISTER MERLINO STATEMENTS ABOUT CONSULTATION WITH VFBV ARE UNTRUE

It is important to understand that none of these reforms have been the subject of consultation with VFBV. The Minister’s comments that we have been consulted, are false and misleading.

Despite rumours about the proposed split, circulating for some weeks now, there has been no consultation with VFBV and no briefing of any detail whatsoever.

Following news reports overnight on Thursday 18^th May that Cabinet had met and approved reforms, VFBV CEO Andrew Ford requested an urgent meeting with the Minister. The Premier and Minister held their press conference at 10am on Friday 19^th May and the Minister met with VFBV later that day at 12:45 and provided a briefing covering the publically released information pack. VFBV raised a number of questions that were not able to be answered and the Minister took these questions on notice.

The only other discussion on this issue was on Monday 8^th May 2017 when the Minister informed VFBV he was considering “several options” to change the CFA arrangements because the proposed EBA agreed with the UFU would not pass the volunteer protection amendments to the Fair Work Act. VFBV expressed disappointment with this being the motivation of proposed reform let alone being factually incorrect. The Minister did not provide any detail, nor discuss any options he was considering, and would not be drawn on any detail other than to say an announcement of changes was “imminent.” It is simply inconceivable that just 10 days prior to cabinet approving the reforms that the Minister was not in a position to discuss particular ideas or options and seek volunteer feedback.

A letter from CFA CEO received late afternoon on Friday 19th May 2017 confirmed that significant reforms had been announced by the government.  There has been no opportunity for consultation with CFA prior to this because up until late Thursday advice from CFA to VFBV was that there was no information known.  Minister Merlino confirmed that even CFA Chief Officer Steve Warrington had not been involved in the discussions until two or three days prior to the announcement, despite the Chief Officer being on annual leave.

Apart from raising serious failure to consult with CFA volunteers in accordance with the CFA Act and Volunteer Charter it beggars belief that such major reform could be contemplated for CFA without detailed assessment and advice about operational impacts, volunteer capacity impacts, cost impacts and future service delivery implications.

Even the Emergency Management Commissioner only recently stated, under oath, that there was no work that he had done towards the new model and that he was not doing any work on changing the CFA service model or boundaries or changes between CFA and MFB. 

EIGHT PREVIOUS FIRE SERVICE REVIEWS QUOTED BY GOVERNMENT

The Premier and Minister has inferred that their proposed structural reform has been recommended by previous reviews and they list; 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission; 2011 Jones Inquiry; 2015 Fire Services Review, 2014/15 Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry and the 2015/16 Parliamentary Inquiry into CFA Training College Fiskville.

To be very clear, none of the recent major reviews have ever recommended that the CFA be split into a fully staffed service, and a 100% volunteer service. To suggest or imply otherwise is dishonest.

In fact, the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission specifically stated in its final report that it considered the CFA integrated service delivery should be maintained as a viable model.

In the Andrews Government’s own Fire Services Review conducted just recently, the Final Report actually calls for the strengthening of CFA’s integrated model to preserve the vital surge capacity of volunteers.

WHAT DO WE KNOW SO FAR

We have more questions than answers at this point.

The Minister has committed to providing answers to our questions as soon as practicable. He has also invited VFBV to meet with himself, Craig Lapsley and Steve Warrington so they can answer the Operational impacts. We are trying to secure that meeting as soon as possible and have requested that these discussions occur before final decisions are made on the proposed changes and particularly before any legislation change.

The following is a brief list of things we have specifically been able to work out based on the Premier & Ministers media commentary, our discussion with the Minister on Friday afternoon, and the Governments Fire Services website . We are forming an understanding on the following: 

1. The Government have already drafted Legislation and are planning to introduce it into Parliament this week. This will include amendments to the CFA Act. We have not seen either of these, and have asked for them.
   
   
2. It appears that all CFA operational career firefighters (ranks from Recruit through to Senior Station Officer), all Operations Officers, all Operations Managers, all Regional Commanders will be transferred to FRV.
   
   
3. The Minister was unclear about other classifications covered by the UFU such as Instructors, PAD Staff and Supervisors, Managers Community Safety and Communications staff. However, as all these classifications of employees are covered by the UFU and are referred to in the proposed EBA as “operational” we assume these positions are also likely to be transferred. It is unclear what will occur with the District Mechanical Officers who are also covered by the UFU but are under a separate EB.
   
   
4. The Minister has confirmed there will be $5 million to meet the additional cost of FRV’s rebranding (which we assume to be Stations, Trucks, PPC and Uniforms.)
   
   
5. While the OO’s (Operation Officers) and OM’s (Operational Managers) will be transferred to FRV, they will then be “seconded” or contracted back to work in CFA in their existing roles.
   
   This would mean that OM’s and OO’s would be FRV employees, likely working under their FRV EBA – but then seconded back to CFA under a contract to be drawn up between CFA and FRV. In effect, these employees of FRV would be contracted to provide all of CFA’s operational management and volunteer brigade operational leadership support.
   
   
6. The Minister has confirmed to VFBV that BASO’s and Volunteer Support Officers will not be transferred to FRV, and will remain with CFA as they do currently.
   
   
7. The Minister expects that appliances crewed by staff in integrated stations will be removed from CFA and transferred to FRV. It is unclear which specific appliances but as the Premier and Minister have both said FRV’s EB is likely to be very close to what the UFU proposed EB is, it is conceivable that FRV will use appliance based manning, so staff will be rostered to specific appliances, and those appliances will then be transferred to FRV, with the remaining left for CFA.
   
   
8. It is unclear what will occur with the savings and assets currently owned by the CFA Integrated brigades
   
   
9. Whilst the Minister has confirmed that there will be no current changes to the operational procedures of the first arriving agency appointing the Incident Controller – it is unclear what will happen if the new FRV EBA includes similar provisions to the proposed CFA EBA which did not allow staff to report to volunteers acting as Sector Commanders and Strike Team Leaders for example. Based on the Governments website it appears that the new FRV Commissioner may be provided additional powers to determine these arrangements in the future. It is not known what powers the CFA Chief Officer will have in relation to the amended CFA Act, the new FRV Act and/or any EBA terms negotiated by FRV.

GOVERNMENTS MOTIVATION BEHIND THIS CHANGE

Despite the spin about this change being to establish a modern and progressive fire service the Governments own acknowledgement is that the motivation for this change is to enable their industrial deal with the UFU to circumvent the CFA Act and Fair Work Act.

Problems with the UFU proposed EBA for CFA operational personnel are well documented, particularly the restrictions on CFA operational and resource decisions and on the way volunteers are deployed, equipped, supported, valued and respected. 

To recap in simplest terms, the proposed EBA reached far beyond normal EBA matters of pay and conditions and was seeking to use federal industrial legislation (the Fair Work Act) to override the CFA Act on a number of matters including CFA Chief Officers statutory powers and issues core to CFA operating as a volunteer based and fully integrated modern fire service.  The Fair Work Act was amended in late 2016, closing the loophole that the UFU EBA had been seeking to use. 

The Fair Work Act amendment has no impact on normal EBA matters and only applies to aspects such as EBA clauses that restrict or limit a body such as CFA engaging or deploying it volunteers; providing support or equipment to those volunteers;  managing its operations in relation to those volunteers.   Importantly the Fair Work Act amendments simply require that the EBA does not require or permit a body to do something other than in accordance with the powers, functions and duties set down in the CFA Act. In essence it stops Federal legislation being used to circumvent State legislation, such as the CFA Act.

Despite the UFU, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister James Merlino repeatedly claiming that the proposed EBA has no impact on CFA volunteers, they now say that the impact on volunteers are so big that the EBA would not pass the above test.  And because they are unwilling to put the EBA to the Fair Work Commissions, ‘fair umpire’ test, they will carve CFA up to get around it. 

The Governments proposal is cunning and looks simple, albeit flawed – separate the paid staff out into a new organisation and claim that because that organisation doesn’t have volunteers in it, the EBA isn’t subject to the Fair Work Act tests about restricting or limiting what volunteers do, how they are supported etc – then keep the firefighters separate and contract the operational staff back into CFA under the problematic EBA conditions.

The plan is a sham.  It is not about public safety. If it were not a trick, then the Government would not be trying to make these reforms without any public scrutiny or consultation.

And the sham isn’t limited to CFA.   It should not be lost on people that the MFB EBA is still in dispute and has been since 2013, with the MFB Board and Management refusing to approve their proposed EBA because of their fears about the impacts on public safety and the loss of power and control of their Chief Officer. Changing the MFB to FRV, and removing the MFB Board, MFB CEO and MFB Chief Officer means they can remove the last of the statutory appointed officials who are refusing to sign aspects of an EBA that diminish their statutory control and legislative responsibilities.

Furthermore claims that the proposition that the volunteer protection provisions of the Fair Work Act make it “impossible to implement the operational enterprise agreement at CFA or any agreement for operational staff” are dishonest. The UFU have refused to allow their proposed EBA be sent to the Fair Work Umpire for Fair Work to even make a determination.  The Federal Minister of Employment (the person administering the law) released a Statement on Friday evening advising that the Victorian Government’s statement that the amended laws prevented a new enterprise agreement being entered into with paid CFA staff is “absolutely false” and using this claim to justify a plan to dismantle CFA, is “based on a deliberate and blatant falsehood.”

OPPORTUNITY TO UNDERSTAND DETAIL AND IMPACT IS ESSENTIAL PRIOR TO ANY DECISION

The scant detail that VFBV does have has been outlined above.  Clearly there are many more questions than answers.  VFBV has been inundated with volunteer concerns about the lack of detail and many are assuming this detail will be provided before any final decision is made. 

Please do not be fooled by the lack of detail, it is either an intentional move to gloss over the obvious serious and detrimental impact this change will have; or perhaps, and just as alarming, the detail is not known and the impact analysis, practical implementation challenges, cost impact, etc has not been adequately done. 

For any change of this magnitude, there must be due process of review and impact assessment before decisions are made and certainly before legislation is passed. 

WHAT HAS VFBV ASKED FOR?

VFBV has requested the Minister:

1. Not proceed with legislation or implementation until there is volunteer and community consultation prior to decisions being made, as is the legal obligation under the CFA Act
   
   
2. Full details of the proposed changes, including answers to detailed operational questions and a full operational impact assessment of changes before a decision is made
   
   
3. A full volunteer impact assessment of the proposed changes before a decision is made
   
   
4. For the draft legislation and amendments to be provided to volunteers for consultation prior to it being considered by Parliament

 Further, VFBV has communicated directly to the Minister:

1. Its disappointment that the Government has again failed to respect the Volunteer Charter and its Statutory Obligations under the CFA Act
   
   
2. The CFA Act places a Statutory legal obligation on both Government and CFA to meaningfully consult with volunteers, allowing enough time for real involvement on all matters which may impact upon them before the adoption or implementation of any new or changed policies, procedures or approaches
   
   
3. That the Premier and Minister’s media messaging suggesting that volunteers are not capable of delivering fire and rescue services in urban areas is deeply offensive
   
   
4. That the Ministers statement on Neil Mitchell’s 3AW on Friday morning where he stated “Well, I would say to you that in a high population, high density areas, the community deserves 24/7 career station delivering urban fire services” ignores the fact that volunteers do and can provide professional services in urban areas and is deeply offensive
   
   
5. That the reforms outlined, and the way this is being done will have a significant and negative impact and will lead to reduced volunteer capability and decreased public safety

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

Volunteers should not sit and wait for the detail given that the Government plan to push the legislation through before they release the detail. 

VFBV has already raised a number of vitally important impact, implementation and governance questions with Minister Merlino and we are waiting on the answers to these.  We have set down to the Minister our expectation that consultation obligations will be met prior to a decision and prior to legislation being put to parliament. 

Volunteers should contact your local MPs and demand that this occur prior to a decision. 

You need to be contacting your local MPs immediately, requesting, as a minimum that legislation not be considered before there is formal process of inquiry regarding its impact plus opportunity for volunteer consultation. 

NEXT STEPS

1. VFBV will continue to try and source details and communicate them to you
   
   
2. Once the detail is known, we will work with members to allow volunteers to provide feedback. Particular emphasis will be to work with each Integrated Brigade to ensure their specific concerns and questions are addressed
   
   
3. VFBV will continue to brief MP’s and other decision makers.
   
   
4. We need you to assist by contacting your local MP with your questions and concerns and requesting they do not vote for any legislation before due process and opportunity for a more open inquiry into the changes proposed.

Victoria deserves a community and public safety driven solution to the current dispute, not a political one. VFBV is committed to providing a way forward to the current tension and always has been.

Since our first letters to the Fair Work Commission, Premier Andrews, Minister Merlino, and CFA Board/Management when this issue started all we have sought is for an opportunity for constructive, transparent and fair conversation with an opportunity for volunteers to have input.

We believe all firefighters, paid and volunteer alike, deserve respect and recognition for the work they do and the skills they have. We have always maintained that the pay and conditions of paid firefighters is their business. The pay and condition aspects of their EBA has already been agreed and implemented, and the EBA issues should be separated from how we design the best fire service arrangements for Victoria.

It is time for the dispute to end but putting a bad solution on the table is not the answer. VFBV will continue to urge the Government to stop, take a breath and work with us constructively and in consultation with our people delivering the services on the ground to find a model that will modernise Victoria’s fire and emergency services, not take it backward.

The Emergency Management Commissioner’s vision is “we work as one”. Further splitting the fire services is not the answer.

VFBV welcomes any reforms that improve the way Victorian Fire Services work but these reforms need to be developed collaboratively and openly.

Extensive evidence to the Bushfires Royal Commission gave a stark warning on this issue. Professor ‘t Hart warned:

“Redesigning emergency management systems or organisations often happens as a result of the sheer momentum for change created by the occurrence of a recent high impact tragedy. Unfortunately there is plenty of research to suggest that crisis induced reforms may create as many vulnerabilities as they seek to eliminate – particularly when they are too narrowly focussed on “wining the most recent war”.

During these difficult times, it is extremely important that you look after yourself, and your fellow peers.

Emergency contacts

If your query is urgent or you are having thoughts of harming yourself or others, you should seek immediate assistance using one of the contacts below: 

CFA Member assistance program

Access to psychologists and counsellors who can provide support to members and their families in managing the impacts on their psychological health and safety.

Phone 1300 795 711 (24 hours)

Lifeline

Lifeline provides crisis support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Phone 13 11 14 (24 hours)

Non-urgent contacts

CFA has a number of services available to members and their families to deal with non-urgent issues:

Member assistance program

Access to psychologists and counsellors who can provide support to members and their families in managing the impacts on their psychological health and safety.

Phone 1300 795 711 (24 hours)

Peer support program

CFA Peers are trained to provide Psychological First Aid following Potentially Traumatic Events, one on one support and links to other services for members and their families.

Phone your local Peer Coordinator. A complete listing of all peers by District can be found at; http://cfaonline.cfa.vic.gov.au/mycfa/Show?pageId=publicDisplayDoc&docId=017975

Chaplaincy program

Chaplains are allocated on a district basis. They provide pastoral care to members and their families including spiritual, physical, psychological and emotional care. Support is not limited to a faith.

Chaplains can also be contacted directly. Contact your local CFA office for more details.

Phone 1800 337 068 (24 hours)

Wellbeing pilot program

Experienced Field Officers are available to work with brigades and Districts to manage mental health and relationship issues by providing:

Coaching and guidance to resolve relationship issues

Mental health promotion and education

Mediation, conciliation, group based negotiation

Phone 92628409 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please look after yourselves and each other.

Members would be hearing via the media this morning, that the Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister James Merlino have announced a major restructure of Victoria's Fire Services. We have not been provided with any details or information and are learning everything as you are via the media. Comments by Minister Merlino that VFBV has been consulted about these changes are false and misleading. VFBV CEO has requested an urgent meeting with Minister Merlino today - and this is scheduled to occur this afternoon. This will be the first and only detail provided by the Minsiter to the VFBV regarding these structural changes to date.

As soon as we have details, we will make them available.

The decision of the Andrews State Cabinet to ram through changes to Victoria’s fire services without public and CFA volunteer consultation disregards Victoria’s community safety needs.

It is simply bad government.

Under the CFA Act volunteers must be fully consulted on any proposed change by government that affects their organisation, operations, service delivery, support and rights, before any decision is made. This ensures decisions are made based on all aspects of community safety. Today’s decision has never been a matter discussed or subject of consultation with CFA volunteers, which is a legal requirement of the CFA Act.

Applications are due to your Operations Manager by the 16th June.

The Minister for Emergency Services has announced the opening of this years VESEP (Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program).

VESEP provides funding to assist emergency service volunteers in acquiring a wide range of ancillary equipment in recognition of your significant contribution in supporting Victorian communities in times of emergency. The funding formula for the program in most instances provides for $2 for $1 of Brigade/Group funding.

The program launched in the year 2000, which back then was called the CSESP Program (Community Safety Emergency Support Program) and was designed in close consultation with VFBV and volunteers and achieved the goal of having an annual grants program for volunteers - designed by volunteers, with a low paperwork requirement, $2 in grant money for every $1 of local contribution for sustainability and local buy-in, local driven priorities with annual strategic state initiatives, robust district/region and state volunteer peer review and a quick and timely approval and notification process to the successful brigades and groups.

Since its inception, the program has completed over 1,400 projects totalling more than $105 million dollars.

VFBV have put together an Application Help Pack and Case Studies to assist Brigades and Groups with their applications. This pack offers practical suggestions and complements CFA’s Guidelines and the 2017/2018 Application forms.

The pack is available for download below, or if Brigades would like a printed copy posted to them, then please call the VFBV Office on 9886 1141

Members can also contact their local VFBV State Councillors and/or VFBV Support Officers for any additional information or assistance with their applications. Previous years Case Studies can be downloaded from here.

We wish all Brigades and Groups well with your applications and thank you for your untiring service to Victoria!

Editorial: Remember, Celebrate, Respect 

By Andrew Ford, VFBV Chief Executive Officer

As this edition of ‘Fire Wise’ hits the streets our calendar brings us to three quite different and important reminders. Firstly, St Florien’s Day or International Firefighters Day on 4 May, when firefighters and communities across the world show support and recognition of our firefighters commitment and dedication, remember those lost or injured in the line of duty and say thank you.  

And on Sunday 7 May many of us will have come together at Churchill or at other special places to remember CFA members who have given their lives in service to protecting their communities. My thoughts and prayers are for the families, friends and loved ones of those who have died in the line of duty and also for all those that have suffered loss or injury or sickness through their work, dedication and commitment to protecting their communities.  

The second week of May (from 8–14 May) is National Volunteer Week, an annual and national celebration to acknowledge the generous commitment of our volunteers.  

Generally our CFA volunteers shy away from recognition or thanks but I think it is really important for every volunteer to take a moment to reflect on the incredible and essential contribution you make to your communities and to communities across Victoria and beyond. You should feel good and be immensely proud of what you do, your professionalism and your commitment deserves to be celebrated.  

Numerous reviews have documented and acknowledged that CFA’s volunteer based resource model is the only approach capable of economically and practically dealing with the number, scale and simultaneous occurrence of fires and other emergencies experienced in Victoria.  

The CFA volunteers’ contribution to the community is incalculable with the value of labour alone estimated to be in excess of one billion dollars per year, let alone the contribution to community resilience, social connections, local knowledge and the substantial replacement cost or capacity loss if volunteers weren’t there.

There will be plenty of celebration and recognition for the work you do and my everlasting hope is that decision makers and others who influence public policy will continue to understand and respect the capacity, professionalism and essential contribution CFA volunteers make to public safety.  

CFA is a modern and contemporary fire and emergency service, protecting not just country Victoria but also to more than 60% of metropolitan Melbourne and provincial centres and townships across the State. I am hopeful that times like National Volunteer Week can be used as a catalyst to remind everyone of the vital and huge volunteer resource that currently exists in CFA and other emergency service volunteers.  

We also need to take the opportunity provided by National Volunteer Week to recognise and thank those who appreciate, respect and support the work we do as volunteers. To the families, employers, friends, decision makers; to the paid staff who work with and in support of volunteers; to our brother and sister volunteers in other agencies; and to our communities – THANK YOU for your ongoing support and respect.

As I write this, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that there is significant disquiet amongst many in our volunteer ranks. I understand this and desperately wish I could fix it. Over the past year and months I am constantly approached by volunteers and brigades who are concerned that the capacity, professionalism and essential need for our CFA volunteers may have been forgotten by some decision makers and politicians. Again, it would be foolish to ignore the actions and public messaging that give rise to this feeling.  

Rather than sit and wait for the train wreck, I want to encourage all of you to use this month to get out and be loud about what volunteers do and what needs to be done to maintain and grow this wonderful resource for future generations. Please activate now, talk to everyone you know, to your local member of parliament, to your local community clubs and networks – thank them for their support; educate them if they are not aware of what you do; ask for their support to ensure the CFA model is respected, supported and sustained; and explain to them the consequence of a future where CFA volunteer capacity is reduced or where the cost of the fire service levy goes through the roof due to lack of respect and support for volunteers.  

Explain the integral relationship between CFA volunteers in your local community and the surge capacity support that can be drawn from CFA volunteers across outer metropolitan Melbourne and other parts of Victoria when required.  

And, in preparation for the potential that the rumoured CFA carve up could be a real backroom plan, explain to them the breadth of services and risk environments CFA volunteer brigades currently provide; the vital CFA surge capacity that the whole CFA volunteer network provides for Victoria; the way volunteer brigades can be supported (not replaced) by paid staff in busy areas so that CFA can maintain service to growing communities and at the same time retain the important surge capacity that comes from the brigades in these busy urbanised areas.  

Help them understand that talk of carving CFA up into a paid urban service and a volunteer bushfire service, just to satisfy an industrial agenda, is a costly and potentially disastrous nonsense. Ask them to be ready to help you send a loud message to protect CFA and the CFA volunteer ethos.

Sadly I know lots of volunteers who are feeling fed up and many who have already either withdrawn, resigned or preparing to resign. My message to everyone is that we need to stay, we need to continue to serve our communities and we need to stay proud about the work we do.  

Please be really clear, nothing in this message is about being anti change, or anti paid staff or anti Government. Of course we need to evolve and change as communities change, of course we need to grow and adapt our capacity to meet changing community needs and of course we need to support and be supported by paid staff in various roles. Our paid CFA staff, along with all of the paid workers and other volunteers in the emergency sector, do a fantastic job and it is vitally important that we respect one another and work well together as one team.  

But my message is strong on several key points and that is that any contemplation of change to the CFA model must not be done just to pacify an industrial agenda or secret deal; must not be done without transparent, fair and genuine consultation with volunteers; and must not be driven by anything other than the interests of the community.  

And if the play is foul, we should call it, protest it and actively contest it. Please stay in touch via your local VFBV delegates and VFBV website for further updates.

Planned Burning as Training 

For many years, VFBV has been calling for a holistic approach to planned burning, and for CFA to promote the training advantages of participating in planned burns. Planned burns allow newer members to observe and learn fire behaviour, and provide an opportunity for experienced veterans to pass on their knowledge to others.

Volunteers on the VFBV/CFA Joint Community Safety Committee are pleased to see that recent planned burns have developed into exercises, not just in fire behaviour and fuel load interactions but are also offering learnings in weather behaviour, impact on flora and fauna, bush heritage and Indigenous fire management practices.  

The camps provide practical hands-on experience and each participant is tasked with both coaching and mentoring roles, allowing involvement by volunteers across all aspects of the planned burn.  

Recent camps have also involved Traditional Owners, Trust for Nature (landowners) bird scientists, Forest Fire Management Victoria staff, plantation owners and CFA career staff. The exercises worked well, building valuable relationships and creating an atmosphere of co-operation in complex burn scenarios. The Committee has requested CFA promote the camps and provide brigades with opportunities to become involved in upcoming Burn Camps. Brigades are encouraged to keep an eye out for future burn camps and get involved. 

Medium Tanker Evaluation

VFBV will shortly be conducting volunteer evaluation of current build Medium Tankers.  

The purpose of the evaluation is to gather feedback from Brigades that have been issued with Medium Tankers and assess how the cab chassis, locker configuration and base equipment is operating, and if there are any areas of improvement that could be suggested for future builds.  

Part of a continuous improvement initiative, VFBV has offered to run the evaluation and will shortly be inviting feedback from any members who wish to provide their thoughts and experiences of how the Medium Tankers are working in the field.  

Keep an eye out for the survey and if you have any feedback or design ideas that you think would benefit future builds – please get involved.

Hazardous Tree

In order to comply with EMV’s Joint Standard Operating Procedure J8.03 CFA is required to update and distribute its Hazardous Tree awareness and training materials, and ensure all members responding to bushfire incidents have undergone the new Hazardous Tree Management information training package.  

During discussions, VFBV has reiterated its position that all training be made available to volunteers via flexible methods, multiple mediums and that blended learning models be supported where possible.  

CFA has advised that it has incorporated these principles in its proposed package, and has developed processes that will minimise disruption to individual members, but still meet the required learning outcomes. Given the risk that hazardous tree’s presents to firefighters, VFBV has supported this training being made a high priority item before the next fire season.  

Brigades and members are encouraged to undertake the awareness package (which can be delivered online, on DVD or by Brigades/Groups) at their earliest opportunity.

ROP Safety Cushions  

The Joint Equipment & Infrastructure Committee reviewed volunteer feedback from the field trails over the summer season of the Tanker ROP Safety Cushion prototypes.  

These cushions have been designed to minimise the vibration of the vehicle and road being transferred into the spine and back of members, and prevent members being slid from side to side and coming in contact with the ROPS during travel.  

Feedback was overwhelming positive, with the Committee selecting a design and material and recommending a funding proposal be prepared to advance a retro-fit roll-out of the cushions to all Tankers with external ROPs.

We will keep you apprised of progress.

VESEP Update

At the time of going to press, there has not yet been an announcement of this year’s 2017/18 Volunteer Emergency Services Equipment Program (VESEP), however VFBV encourages Brigades and Groups, as it does every year - to be planning well in advance and have their support documents at the ready. This year’s program will be the 18th since it’s launch in the year 2000.

VESEP contributes $2 for every $1 of funding contributed by Brigade/ Group/Unit, and hardship provisions are available for Brigades that can demonstrate they are unable to fund the one third contribution.  

When the program is officially announced by the State Government -VESEP grant applications usually need to be with your OM within approximately six weeks of the opening so your local DPC (District Planning Committee) can then meet the following week to consider and prioritise applications – so plan ahead and get ready.

For assistance in preparing your application, or getting started on planning/fundraising for possible future funding rounds, talk to your VFBV State Councillor or VFBV Support Officer, or visit our website for case studies on successful applications from past years. VFBV also has an Application Help Pack which it updates each year once the program is announced, that provides templates and other useful information to assist with your application. Previous VFBV Application Help Packs are available from our website.

Upcoming VFBV Board Vacancies

All members are encouraged to apply for the VFBV Board positions as advertised in the last edition of ‘Fire Wise’.  

VFBV aims to attract a broad range of unique and diverse skills, perspectives and abilities to our organisation.

 VFBV encourages all members to consider applying for the forthcoming VFBV Board positions with four positions expiring 1 October 2017.  

Applications for the VFBV Board close 1 August 2017 – further information is on our website or can be obtained from the VFBV office on 9886 1141 or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Position Vacant – VFBV Policy & Advocacy Officer

- Key Strategic Advocacy & Communications Role

- Facilitate and Formulate Policy

VFBV is seeking to appoint a talented and motivated Policy and Advocacy Officer to work fulltime based at our Burwood East office involving broad ranging and rewarding work that supports and benefits our CFA Brigade members across Victoria. This is a key role in the small VFBV team.

The VFBV Policy and Advocacy Officer will play a vital role helping VFBV to work with volunteers to research issues, develop our position on key issues and advocate this position to decision makers and the media.

The person we are looking for will have strong analytical and research skills along with strong verbal and written communication skills. Relevant tertiary qualifications or experience in a related discipline is desirable. Highly developed interpersonal, facilitation and time management skills and the ability to establish and build relationships and work collaboratively with, and influence, a range of external and internal stakeholders is essential.

In addition to relevant skills, the successful applicant will need to have demonstrated empathy with the volunteer culture, be a good listener, and can navigate through complex issues resolution, be a self-starter and have a passion to improve arrangements that benefit the welfare and efficiency of CFA volunteers.

A copy of the Position Description and Application Process can be found on our website or by calling the VFBV office on (03) 9886 1141

The second week of May (from 8–14 May) is National Volunteer Week, an annual and national celebration to acknowledge the generous commitment of our volunteers.

VFBV Media Release

MEDIA RELEASE
May 7, 2017

VICTORIA’S CFA VOLUNTEERS LAUDED FOR PROTECTING THE COMMUNITY

Victoria’s 60,000 CFA volunteers are being lauded during National Volunteer Week for continuing a great Australian tradition of protecting their local communities and beyond.

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria CEO Andrew Ford said Victoria’s volunteers are essential to public safety and provide a professional service that is effective and affordable. 

“Our dedicated volunteers are continuing a great Australian tradition that is well respected in our communities,” Mr Ford said. 

“This week gives us the opportunity to recognise our volunteers and the work they do and also our communities, employers and families for their support of volunteers.” 

Mr Ford said volunteers are part of the fabric of society and contribute to community resilience. “All CFA volunteers provide a professional service and are glad to do so because they want to contribute to their communities,” he said. 

Volunteers make up 95 per cent of Victoria’s firefighting force, are trained with nationally-recognised qualifications and are on call around the clock every day of the year.

Mr Ford said the flexibility and strength of 60,000 CFA volunteers allows help to be sent across Victoria and beyond in times of emergency.

“Being one of the most bushfire prone areas in the world, we know how important it is for Victoria to be able to call on large numbers of trained and experienced volunteers for big fires and other serious incidents,” he said.

“We can be confident our volunteers are always ready to respond to support communities whenever and wherever disasters occur.”

CFA brigades–mostly run by volunteers– protect 60 per cent of suburban Melbourne, regional cities and all of regional Victoria, providing professional services for everything from bushfires and house fires to floods and road accidents.

National Volunteer Week is from May 8-14

The capacity of volunteers to respond to major disasters around the state is explained in the VFBV’s animated clip found at www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRcDE6d3ljw

CFA Events

CFA have advised of the following 'thank you' events;

State Control Centre Tours

Responding to volunteer criticism that all the tours were originally scheduled on weekdays, CFA have now added two weekend tours to the schedule so those that weren't able to make the original posted dates, might wish to check the two new dates announced.

As part of National Volunteer Week, CFA is giving CFA volunteers the opportunity to take a tour and see what happens behind the scenes at the State Control Centre (SCC).

State Control Centre Tour
Host: Emergency Management Victoria (EMV)
Location: SCC – 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne

Session one: Wednesday 10 May from 2.30pm to 4.30pm

Session two: Friday 12 May from 2.30pm to 4.30pm

Session three: Saturday 13 May from 10.00am to 11.30am

Session four: Saturday 13 May from 2.00pm to 3.30pm

The SCC is an important base that is run by Emergency Management Victoria (EMV). The centre is instrumental in working together with many emergency services to coordinate, lead and organise initiatives whilst supporting all communities.

The tour will start with an overview of the SCC workings and each agency’s usage.

Participants will then be split up into smaller groups and taken on a guided tour of the sections within the SCC to find out for themselves the work that is accomplished using real-life situations.

Sections will include

-       Intelligence including mapping

-       Social Media

-       Public Information

-       Fban – Fire Behaviour Analysis

-       Airdesk

-       Resources and logistics

There are 40 places available on each SCC tour. To register via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. as soon as possible and include your name, contact number, agency, volunteer number, tour date and preferred time.

Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority Tour

As part of National Volunteer Week, CFA is giving CFA volunteers the opportunity to take a tour and see what happens behind the scenes at Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA).

Host: Anthony Jones – ESTA

Location: ESTA – 33 Lakeside Drive, Burwood East

Session one: Tuesday 9 May from 4.00pm to 4.45pm

Session two: Tuesday 9 May from 5.00pm to 5.45pm

ESTA is dedicated to delivering quality community safety services to the Victorian Public by providing the critical link between the Victorian Community and the State’s emergency services agencies.

The tour will start with an overview of ESTA followed by a tour and question and answer time.

There are 12 places available on each ESTA tour, all places for these tours have been filled. 

Photo Competition 

As part of National Volunteer Week 2017 CFA wants to honour volunteers through pictures taken by volunteers. 

The CFA National Volunteer Week photo competition is open to all CFA volunteers to capture the essence of CFA Values (safety, respect, together, integrity and adaptive) and teamwork that exists throughout brigades around the state.

CFA draws together volunteers from all walks of life. But no matter what we bring as individuals, it's only through cooperation, shared values and teamwork that our brigades can thrive.

This competition sets out to capture this through imagery. So now is the time to get your creative juices flowing. What makes your volunteers so special to you or your community? Be traditional or think outside the square and be artistic. The choice is yours.

The prize winner will receive a $250 Bunnings voucher plus a framed copy of the winning photo. The winning Photo will also be used as the cover photograph on the CFA Facebook page during National Volunteer Week and shared across CFA social media during May 2017.

For the Prize Winner’s brigade, they will receive a framed copy of the Photo and a prize up to the value of $1,000 for the purchase of non-operational equipment  ie branded marquee, BBQ, lawnmower, chairs fridge etc.  CFA will purchase the equipment on the brigade’s behalf, no cash will be given and there will be no reimbursement for equipment or goods already purchased by the brigade.

So start snapping now. The competition opens on Friday 21 April 2017 and closes Wednesday 3 May 2017 at 5pm. Email your entry as a JPEG file to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..  (Maximum image size 10MB and if entering twice images to be sent separately)

Individuals can submit up to two entries. Entry is open to all CFA volunteers (CFA employees can only enter if they are current CFA brigade volunteers).

Parade of Honour

There will be a Lap of Honour around the MCG on Saturday 13 May before the AFL game between Essendon and Geelong as part of AFL Country Round. This Lap of Honour will also include volunteers from SES and Life Saving Victoria. Contact your District OM if you are interested in attending. 

A Note For Members: Law firm blog about CFA changes
Tuesday April 11th 2017

You may become aware of a legal blog article, published a few days ago by Philip Gardner a partner with law firm Ryan Carlisle Thomas Lawyers, and circulating on social media.  The article is promoting a restructure of Victorian fire service boundaries and a carve up of CFA. 

Philip Gardner and Ryan Carlisle Thomas lawyers have been engaged by the UFU at various times and acted for the UFU in seeking to block VFBV from being allowed to assist the Fair Work Commission (FWC) a year or so ago when we sought to assist the FWC to understand volunteer concerns with the proposed EBA prior to the events, sackings, Supreme Court action and Fair Work Act amendment that followed over the past year.

Ironically, the author as a lawyer has paid no heed to the CFA or Emergency Management Acts, let alone the high functioning capacity of our emergency management arrangements regardless of the ongoing UFU campaign.

The author ignores the facts that:

• CFA is a successful world renowned volunteer based integrated fire service operating in suburban, regional and rural Victoria (hasn’t been anything like the blogs description of CFA as being only a rural based service fire service for generations and has always had urban and rural components);
  
  
• a small number of paid operational staff including firefighters have been a successful feature of CFA and its predecessors going back to the 19th century;
  
  
• Victoria’s emergency management capacity to deal with fire, floods and other disasters across the state (and often simultaneous emergency events in different parts of the State) is based on the surge capacity inherent in our volunteer system, particularly from the large number of urban volunteers who have sufficient numbers to provide local response capacity and at the same time surge capacity to multiple events across the state for days, weeks and sometimes months – pushing out volunteers from urban areas using boundary changes would be truly disastrous for Victoria;
  
  
• Victoria’s emergency management capability cannot exist without the huge numbers of trained and experienced volunteers, which can supply trained, qualified and experienced firefighters (for local service delivery and around the state as needed) for weeks and even months if necessary and to multiple concurrent emergencies because of the very large numbers;
  
  
• there will be enormous cost to the community if the existing urban volunteer brigades in suburban Melbourne and major regional cities were to be pushed aside and replaced by additional paid firefighters;
  
  
• the UFU, Premier Daniel Andrews and Minister James Merlino have made repeated claims that the proposed EBA has no effect on volunteers and if these statements are true the Fair Work Act amendments have no application.  The Fair Work Act amendments only apply if EBA clauses interfere with an emergency organisations (such as CFA), legitimate work of:
  
  
  • engaging and deploying its volunteers;
  • providing support and equipment to its volunteers;
  • managing its relationship or work with any recognised emergency in relation to volunteers;
  • managing its operations in relation to those volunteers;
  • being able to consult, make decisions and take action regarding the above;
  • recognising, valuing, respecting and promoting the contribution of its volunteers; and
  • complying with the State laws such as the CFA Act
    
    
• the Fair Work Act amendments do not prohibit CFA management from making decisions about minimum staffing. The author forgets to mention that he is not even recognising volunteers as a legitimate part of crewing numbers;
  
  
• the Fair Work Act amendments have not caused any disruption to CFA’s management of its paid firefighters and the amendments have not even been tested because the UFU has resisted CFA attempts to have the proposed EBA considered by the Fair Work Commission;
  
  
• the Fair Work Act amendments do not render CFAs management of its employed firefighters unworkable and they are entirely consistent with the current CFA Chief Officers view (as presented to the Senate Inquiry into the Fair Work Act amendment) that any award or agreement made under the Fair Work Act cannot be allowed to interfere with or detract from his powers and obligations under the CFA Act;
  
  
• the Federal Government’s Fair Work Act amendments do no more than enforce what is in Victoria’s own CFA and Emergency Management Acts as they apply to volunteers which has been repeatedly supported by both Labor and the Coalition in the Victorian Parliament – the Federal amendments simply removed an anomaly whereby the enterprise bargaining arrangements under the Fair Work Act (up until last October’s Federal amendments) could be manipulated to by-pass the state parliament and override the CFA and Emergency Management Acts and the framework they have for the organisation and operation of CFA (and other) volunteers.
   

Having ignored these critically important facts, the article is nothing but pure propaganda (without factual merit) aimed at planting a seed of fear and resentment towards volunteers to further another agenda.  I think it is time that we called this out. It is not about community safety or a benefit to Victoria if it displaces or erodes volunteer capacity. And all this comes at an enormous cost, both in dollars; loss of emergency management capability and capacity; loss of local community capacity and reduced community resilience.

Editorial: Thank you CFA volunteers, you give me great hope
By Andrew Ford, VFBV Chief Executive Officer

Like my reflections in the last edition of Fire Wise, this month I want to continue my reflection on the great enthusiasm and dedication shown by hundreds of CFA volunteers and the CFA staff who made the recent VFBV State Championships held in Bendigo and Wodonga, so inspiring and such a great symbol of our CFA spirit and hope.

And the great truth is that what we see at the VFBV State Championships is just a brief portrait and window into the amazing things our CFA members do in their local communities every day of the year. Communities from all corners of Victoria, well known townships and places many have never heard of.

The events treated those who attended to a picture of thriving young volunteer participation, just under 800 junior volunteer participants in total; almost 2000 competitors altogether at the State championships and many more who participated just as eagerly in local support, training and District events throughout the year. Hundreds of volunteers, long serving CFA Brigade and Group leaders, mentors and support teams working alongside the competitors and in the background.

Generations of volunteers knowing the value the championships provide to recruiting new members, honing their teamwork and practical skills. They represent tomorrows dedicated CFA volunteers, future volunteer leaders and the next generation of CFA, building community connections, social fabric and todays local capacity.

Emergency Management Commissioner Lapsley wrote to me following his attendance thanking VFBV for the commitment and professionalism that made these events the success they are and recognising the commitment and leadership that is displayed. Talking with Craig and CFA newly appointed Chief Officer Steve Warrington and many others I am encouraged by a deep recognition that many of todays most skilled and dedicated volunteers and EM Sector leaders (including both Craig and Steve) cut their teeth as junior championship competitors.

As an example, one volunteer brigade has five of their past six Captains having started their CFA volunteering as junior members running at local fire brigade championships. Literally hundreds of CFA’s most experienced operational volunteers started their volunteering in the same way. There is justifiably a huge emphasis currently on encouraging all of us to embrace greater diversity in CFA including a need to encourage more women in CFA. The signs are positive for the future if we look at the young people coming through the brigade teams at the recent championships – just under 40% of the junior competitors were young women.

Talking of this, you will notice an advertisement in this edition of Fire Wise for VFBV Board positions. I encourage anyone who believes they can contribute at VFBV Board level to apply. Talking with Samantha Rothman, one of our last VFBV Board appointments there are many people out in our volunteer pool who underestimate the value that they could bring to the Board table. I know many very wise older people but I also know some extremely impressive young people. And gender is not a determinant of brainpower of leadership. So please make the Board selection panels job as hard as you can and serve up a fantastic pool of applicants!

Back to the championships. During these two major events, I had a constant stream of volunteers from all over the state, some I knew well, others I had not met before, all offering their gratitude and thanks for the work VFBV is doing and offering their full support for us to keep up the efforts to preserve the very essence of CFA – volunteerism, community participation, dedication and respect. Thank you for this support it means a lot and I assure you we will not give up.

It is no secret that CFA has been enduring tough times both at the top end and also right down to grass roots and brigade level. We have had our previous Board sacked for standing up for the rights of volunteers and CFA decision making powers; we have had an outstanding CEO, Lucinda Nolan, pushed out for similar reasons and gagged from talking about her concerns; our well respected and values driven CFA Chief Officer Joe Buffone resigned, publicly stating that the proposed EBA/industrial agreement between UFU and CFA would fundamentally change his decision making approach and inhibit his ability to discharge his statutory obligations as CFA Chief Officer; Minister Jane Garret forced out and demonstrating guts and real integrity at the expense of her cabinet position; and many other senior CFA officers gone or numbed into inaction.

The latest anxiety swirls around speculation that somewhere in the depths of bureaucracy or Government there is a secret plan or deal being done with the UFU to dismantle the CFA structure to circumvent the industrial parameters now in place through the Fair Work Act amendment, or worse, possibly just as pay back for volunteers making a stand. There was naturally huge talk about this amongst all attending the championships and elsewhere throughout CFA circles. And many people are asking for answers.

Unfortunately, I do not have much to report other than to repeat what I have reported previously. VFBV has not been involved in any discussion, if there is one.

Even the person on the street knows it would be reckless for any proposal that erodes Victoria’s volunteer fire and emergency service capacity to be contemplated, especially if this is driven by political or industrial motivation.

On an encouraging note, despite the message being pedalled by some and the real speculation by many senior officers within the EM Sector, both CFA Chief Officer and the Emergency Management Commissioner have assured me that they are not involved in any discussions, plans or intent to restructure, carve up or dismantle the CFA volunteer based and integrated service model.

Only a few weeks ago, in response to the current Victorian State Parliamentary Standing Committee on Environment and Planning (Inquiry into fire season preparedness) Emergency Management Commissioner Craig Lapsley stated under oath that there is no work that he has done toward a new model for CFA and there is nothing in his remit to Government to look at changing legislation or changing organisations (CFA and MFESB).

He stated that he is not doing any work on changing the CFA service model or boundaries or work on amalgamations between CFA and MFB.

I think we owe it to these two, as the people with legislated roles and powers, to trust that no one would contemplate a change without their careful consideration and formal advice.

On the one hand I urge everyone to maintain hope and faith that our leaders, laws and systems will not fail us. Stay motivated as volunteers and for now keep focussed on working as a team, respecting one another and delivering services to the community. On the other hand, if our laws and systems are ignored, be ready to come out very strongly if someone dumps a carve up of CFA on the table. Get your networks in place now and stay tuned so that we can keep you informed.

Engaging Diversity

VFBV continues its programs of encouraging and engaging diversity from the ground up. This year’s VFBV Leadership Program continues to embrace and support volunteers from other agencies, with scholarships awarded to volunteers from CFA, SES, Ambulance Victoria, St John, Live Saving Victoria and the Australian Volunteer Coast Guard.

Over the last 12 months, the VFBV Multi-Agency Youth Network is growing from strength to strength with over 100 young volunteer delegates formally joining the network to represent their District, and start the journey towards establishing our very first State Youth Council with the support and encouragement of VFBV State Council.

Also over the last couple of months, brigade and group competition teams – both juniors and seniors have been on display to the Victorian community, with over 1,800 individual competitors competing at this year’s VFBV State Championships. This year’s State Rural Junior Championships has set a new record for female participation, with over 40% of competitors comprised of young women representing their brigade, competing in fully integrated teams, and eager to join the ranks as senior volunteer firefighters in the years to come.

And last, but by no means least, following this year’s fire season VFBV is this month rolling out its new Brigade Delegate training package across the State, which has been themed as engaging diversity to complement our other programs, and provide practical skills and knowledge to volunteers taking on the VFBV Delegate role at their brigade or group level. Please refer to its dedicated story below.

Brigade delegate training

VFBV District Councils can now book their local VFBV Delegate Development Program course. This two day course will be held on weekends and has been mapped to national competencies from the Australian Public Safety units, and has been themed as “VFBV Delegate Development Program: Engaging Diversity.”

It has been designed on the premise that if we want to attract, encourage and support a diverse range of leaders and delegates now and into the future, what kind of skills will our current leaders need to have to do that effectively?

This course will provide delegates with tools and techniques to improve and develop their issues resolution, communication skills, problem solving, decision making, teamwork, relationship and network building, strategic thinking and leadership. The objective is to increase the level of engagement between District Councils, brigades/groups and individuals, and help delegates be more involved, not just with their own issues but issues on a broader scale.

The course is available to all current and aspiring VFBV Brigade/Group delegates and office holders, with approximately 20 places available per district. As an option, members who successfully complete the course and associated assessments will be eligible to enrol to have their training recognised on their training records through a RPL process, that VFBV will support individual candidates with. Alternatively, members can simply do the course to enhance or develop their skills as a brigade delegate.

VFBV District Councils are currently registering available dates, and will shortly be contacting their brigades with full details.

To nominate for the course or ask a question, contact your local District Council executive member, or VFBV Support Officer for more details.

VFBV Affiliation

VFBV’s representation of CFA’s volunteers continues to win growing approval and support with a new record high of 95% Brigades affiliating with VFBV and almost 90% of Brigades subscribing to the VFBV Welfare Fund in 2016/17.

After a very challenging year, it is extremely rewarding to know we have record levels of membership and support. Brigades across Victoria are more connected with VFBV than ever; our VFBV State, District and Brigade delegates are more informed and active than ever and doing a great job.

The 2017/18 affiliation notices for your Brigade/ Group’s VFBV affiliation and VFBV Welfare Fund Subscriptions are with your Secretary now, with a due date of 30 June 2017.

As well as affiliating with VFBV, we strongly encourage Brigades to subscribe to the VFBV Welfare Fund. It can provide small grants to assist volunteer members, their immediate family members and long serving ex-members, who are suffering significant financial hardship, with grants up to $5,000.

VFBV and its predecessor associations established the fund in 1913. Since then the fund has helped over 1,000 volunteers. Over the last 10 years alone, the fund has provided grants worth over $1M, with an approval rate of 100% of received applications approved by the Management Committee over the last 12 months.

For any queries about VFBV affiliation contact your State Councillor or the VFBV office on (03) 9886 1141.

State Championship results

At this year’s 134th Annual Urban State Championships, Maryvale won its 16th State Championship Grand Aggregate at Bendigo with 88 points.

Maryvale’s win was closely contested by Kangaroo Flat with both teams on almost equal points at the start of the final day of competition, however Maryvale sealed its win with two first placings to Kangaroo Flat’s one win in the Hose & Reel Eights.

With early historical records dating back to 1882 only recording brigade names and not competitors, it is believed that this year for possibly the first time, a female competitor has competed in a winning team in the A Section Hose & Reel 8s event.

Kate Dargaville and her team-mates Jackson, Thomas, Jamie, James, Craig, Lachie, Jack and David representing Kangaroo Flat were successful. Of special note is four members of the team are all from the same family, with coach David Dargaville joined by daughter Kate and sons Jackson and Thomas, all leaving an enviable legacy.

Tatura easily won the B Section aggregate with 75 points, with a couple of the brigade’s junior competitors now moving into the senior team – both juniors having been members of the Tatura team winning successive Junior State Championship titles for the past four years. Pakenham convincingly won the C Section Aggregate with 84 points, from Hoppers Crossing 53 points and Eaglehawk B 51 points.

Aggregate winners at the 61st Senior State Rural Championship at Wodonga were Division 1 Beazley’s Bridge A with 52 points, from second placed Greta A with 42 points (winner of last year’s Division 1). Division 2 was won by Chiltern A with 56 points with Dunrobin/ Nangeela C second with 38 points; and Sedgwick A won Division 3 with 32 points from Pearcedale B with 22 points.

At this year’s 39th Junior State Rural Championships, Stuart Mill won its first Championship with Eldorado A a close second. Stuart Mill A won the 11-13 Years Aggregate with Eldorado A winning the 11-15 Years Aggregate – but Stuart Mill A won the overall Junior Grand Aggregate on 82 points, with Eldorado A second on 74 points.

Below: Some of the action from the Junior State Rural Championships at Wodonga and Urban State Championships at Bendigo.

Newsletter - March 2017

Editorial: Our inspiring young CFA volunteers

By Andrew Ford, VFBV Chief Executive Officer

I want to take this opportunity to reflect on some of the amazing aspects of our wonderful CFA.

A few weeks ago the VFBV State Junior Fire Brigades Championships were held at Tatura, and a big thank you and well done to the local organising committee, officials and supporters who made this event happen.

There is enough just in the organising, set up and running of this event to be proud of but on top of this there is a the fact that what we see in the young CFA volunteers attending this event is tomorrows CFA, future community leaders and our successors.

Talking to people over the Tatura weekend, the smart leaders knew the value of engaging young people in CFA, in their communities and in the broader sense of social connection, belonging and self-worth. Young girls and boys, men and women from a huge range of cultural and community backgrounds, bright eyed and full of spirit, having fun, learning skills, and already with strong foundations of community service and engagement.

The smart people know that this is one of the many great examples of how CFA volunteers pass on the baton, pass on the sense of commitment and pass on the connection with the big CFA family.

A challenge for us is that there will always be some people who miss it altogether and either don’t bother to wonder how the huge network of CFA brigades are always there when needed, or marvel in surprise when they realise what a huge army of highly trained volunteers turn up to just get on with the job when it needs to be done.

For people who have been around CFA for a long time, it is easy to take for granted that the names on the shirts came from every corner of Victoria and that there were dozens and dozens of communities represented.

It is easy to take for granted that these young competitors demonstrated some terrific practical fireman ship skills and it is easy to take for granted that many of these young volunteers are already on the path to becoming dedicated volunteers with CFA, with other services, or across many. And because it is how CFA does things, it is easy to accept that these young people trained for months, that they had support teams and families who encouraged and supported them and that there is a huge amount of work done back in the local brigade to encourage, motivate and keep them involved. But we mustn’t take this for granted.

And we mustn’t forget to be incredibly proud of all of the good things that CFA is, has always been and will hopefully still be long into the future. Like watching a sunset, we need to continually stop and appreciate what we have and consciously watch out for it and look after it.

Plenty of wise folk talk about how Victoria’s emergency management capability could not exist without volunteers and about the vital importance of CFA volunteers. And there is plenty said about the need to build resilient communities, build communities who share responsibility for their own wellbeing and safety; and build community participation.

There is also plenty said about engaging young people in this journey. Imagine we were starting from scratch and someone said they could activate dozens of young people, from towns and suburbs across Victoria, to come together and be directly involved in building tomorrows community leaders, tomorrows community networks and tomorrows volunteers.

Imagine if they said they could do this in such a way that it wasn’t just written down in a fancy strategy document but was going to be practical, tangible, ongoing and driven by the local communities themselves. What an initiative? where do we invest? would be the likely reaction.

I know I will see the same beauty and incredible spirit at our forthcoming VFBV State Urban Senior Championships on the long weekend in March and our VFBV State Rural Championships to be held in April. So, well done to the people who made the Tatura VFBV State Junior Urban Fire Brigades happen. Well done to all of CFA’s young volunteers and thank you for your time and energy. Well done to all CFA volunteers, young and old, newcomers and those that have served for decades. Well done to all of the CFA people, family support, employers and everyone who helps foster and encourage tomorrows CFA.

And particularly to the bright eyed optimistic young volunteers I saw on the track at Tatura, thank you for reminding us of the beauty of CFA and of what we have inherited from those who created and continuously evolved this marvellous community legacy.

I have chosen to reflect on the Tatura event simply because it sticks in my mind as a recent event but this doesn’t for a minute detract from the other examples of the wonderful CFA spirit that some of us are lucky enough to see regularly at brigade level, other events, incidents etc.

The same spirit, bond and CFA family was very evident at the funeral I attended for long serving and highly respected CFA officer Mark Reid.

Mark worked with many brigades and volunteers across all parts of Victoria, he understood and deeply valued the CFA volunteer based ethos. I had the good fortune of working closely with Mark, he was a respected leader and good friend to many CFA people, he will be sadly missed.

VFBV Multi-Agency Youth Network Update

VFBV’s multi-agency Youth Network continues to build, with another eight field visits planned across the State over the next couple of months to bring together District Council Executives, Youth Champions and young members looking to become involved. Youth panels have now been established in almost every district across the State, demonstrating the enthusiasm and interest amongst young volunteers across the sector. Encouragingly, members from other volunteer agencies are being accepted by members with open arms, and are actively contributing to the panels.

Two field meetings were recently held between VFBV Youth Network members and the Victorian Equal Opportunities and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC). The first meeting brought together young CFA volunteers from four regional Districts and the second meeting was held in an outer metropolitan District.

Our young volunteers showed a high level of maturity and expressed a broad range of issues that were reflective of other young volunteers across the organisation. Their views were balanced and fair, and VEOHRC were interested and engaged throughout the conversation and welcomed the valuable input of our young members. VEOHRC assured our young volunteers that the issues raised would inform the VEOHRC Review into Equity & Diversity, and the Commission was very grateful for the time and energy of all the participants. VFBV continues to support and assist this extremely important review.

44th Junior Championships 

Tatura has won its fourth successive VFBV State Junior Championship with another impressive performance, coming 1^st place in 10 of the 18 events and creating one New Record Time in the Y Coupling 4 Competitors, Under 17 Years event.   

The Tatura team had a significant lead in the final Grand Aggregate with 103 points, from Melton A on 37 points and Harvey A (W.A.) on 34 points.  Tatura also won both the Dry and Wet Aggregates, as well as both the Under 14 Years Aggregate and the Under 17 Years Aggregate. 

Other strong performances came from Harvey and Melton – Melton with 4 teams, were 2^nd in the Dry Aggregate, 2^nd and 3^rd in the Under 14 Years Aggregate, and 2^nd in the Grand Aggregate.  Harvey who travelled from W.A. with 2 teams, were 2^nd in the Under 17 Years Aggregate, and 3^rd in the Dry, Wet and Grand Aggregates.

The Championships were again held in Tatura and attracted more than 700 junior competitors aged between 11 and 16 years old, with 78 teams from across the state, including 2 teams from Harvey, Western Australia.

Pumping Pit Recommissioning 

VFBV has been strongly advocating for CFA to commit to a remediation and recommissioning program for pumping pits, whose use was temporarily suspended back in February 2015.

There are approximately 91 pumping pits in use across the state.  Of vital importance is the need for pumping pits to be safe, and for there to be an efficient and timely program to clean, monitor water quality and ultimately recommission them for use.

For many Brigades, pumping pits form the only safe, controlled and viable option for brigades to train in drafting and other related pump operations and skills maintenance.

CFA has now issued a Work Instruction on the Management of Pumping Pits, and have implemented an approved recommissioning process. CFA has advised that the ultimate decision to recommission and fund the cost of these works rests with the Region. Water testing costs between $300/$400, with the cost of cleaning and refilling to be approximately $1,000.

VFBV/CFA Joint Training Committee delegates have raised concern that due to Regional budget limitations, these costs will be pushed back to Brigades. CFA’s advice to these concerns is that Brigades should go through the Chain of Command and ultimately to Assistant Chief Officers who hold oversight of the Regions.

40 KPH Speed Limits 

VFBV continues to advocate for a 40 kph speed limit for vehicles passing any stationary emergency service vehicle displaying its red and blue flashing lights.

VFBV has long pointed out that firefighters attending incidents on or near roads are put at a significant health and safety risk by passing vehicles.  For many years, we have called for 40 kph speed limits similar to those for roadside workers, along with strong public campaigns to educate motorists on the dangers.

The VFBV/CFA Joint Operations Committee continues to advocate for new road rules that will protect all emergency service personnel when working on the side of roads and has been very pleased with CFA’s renewed support for this long awaited initiative.

Electrical Safety Mobile Props 

Despite significant work and progress on the design of an electrical safety mobile trailer prop back in 2014/15 CFA, funding for the prop lapsed and is no longer available, leaving the project completely un-funded.

VFBV is advocating for these mobile props to be fully funded and reprioritised.  Electrical Safety and especially skills maintenance for Low Voltage Fuse Removal has been identified as a state-wide gap for quite some time, and the VFBV/CFA Joint Training Committee believes the electrical safety mobile props would significantly improve capability and member access to this vital training and knowledge. The trailers were designed by a working group of subject matter experts drawn from both volunteer and career staff ranks, many of whom were licensed electricians.

VFBV will be seeking support of CFA’s new Operational Training Department in pursuit of these much needed props.

First Aid Training

Delegates on the VFBV/CFA Joint Training Committee say early results from CFA's new First Aid Training arrangements with St John appear to be positive. 

There has been great acceptance of the out-of-session course work that cuts down the course duration and allows students to do some of the work at home and in their own time. 

Adjustments for postal delays are now being factored into future courses, based on feedback from recent courses. 

Travel Reimbursement 

After reports of differences in how volunteer travel reimbursements are paid and authorised in different CFA Regions and Districts, the VFBV/CFA Joint Volunteerism Committee has asked CFA to develop a State-wide Business Rule that will standardise and clarify arrangements, and CFA has agreed to progress a policy review.

VFBV’s long held policy is that no volunteer should be out of pocket due to their volunteering. The Committee continues to advocate for improved access to CFA vehicles, including corporate pool vehicles, for travel to training or other CFA related activities.  Should an appropriate vehicle not be available, then volunteers should have access to travel reimbursement, which is currently set at $0.72 per km

VFBV Rural Championships 2017 - Final Results (last updated Sunday 2 April - 15:30)

Results from Day 2 - Junior's

Final Aggregates

11-13 YEARS AGGREGATE

11-15 YEARS AGGREGATE

CHAMPION TEAM:

VFBV State President Encouragement Award:    Truganina B

Stan Ross Conduct Trophy:                                Wodonga West                

Junior Firefighter Sprint:                  

11-13 Years – Female:                                    Bethany Evans, Greta

11-13 Years – Male:                                       Callum Dart-Bell, Eldorado

11-15 Years – Female:                                    Abbie Hromenko, Huntly

11-15 Years – Male:                                       Nick Myers, Stuart Mill

Event 6A:  Tanker – Drawing Water from Tank – 11-13 Years

Event 6B:  Tanker – Drawing Water from Tank – 11-15 Years

Event 5A:  Hydrant & Tanker – 11-13 Years

Event 5B:  Hydrant & Tanker – 11-15 Years

Event 4A:  Tanker – Priming, Pumping & Ladder – 11-13 Years

Event 4B:  Tanker – Priming, Pumping & Ladder – 11-15 Years

No Event 3 for Juniors

Event 2B:  Hose & Ladder – 11-15 Years

Event 2A:  Hose & Ladder – 11-13 Years

Event 1A:  Low Down Pump & Ladder – 11-13 Years       

Event 1B:  Low Down Pump & Ladder – 11-15 Years

Results from Day 1 (Senior's) are as follows;

FINAL AGGREGATES

DIVISION 1 AGGREGATE

DIVISION 2 AGGREGATE

DIVISION 3 AGGREGATE

ALAN KING AFSM MEMORIAL CONDUCT AWARD:                       Wodonga West Brigade

WINNERS OF THE SPRINTS:        

Female Sprint:   Sarah Hooper, Greta Brigade 

Male Sprint:       Nathan Hooper, Greta Brigade

Event 6:  Tanker Drawing Water from Tank

Event 5:  Hydrant & Tanker

Event 4:  Tanker - Priming, Pumping & Ladder

Event 3:  Tanker Hose Reel & Ladder

Event 2:  Hose & Ladder

Event 1:  Low Down Pump & Ladder

VFBV Rural Championships 2017 now underway in Wodonga

The 2017 Rural State Championships are being held at Wodonga, on 1 & 2 April 2017

The 2017 Program is available at the bottom of this page, and full results will be posted at the end of Day 1 Events, and the Junior Results will be posted at the end of Day 2. (Sunday)

VFBV welcomes HINO as the major sponsor for the 2017 VFBV Rural State Championships, click on the logo below to see HINO's website.

COMPETITION – WIN SANDOWN 500 TICKETS

Our major sponsor HINO is offering four corporate tickets to the Sandown 500 on 15 and 17 September 2017 - valued at $1,900!

Entries are now closed, and the winner will be announced at approx 11am Saturday morning.

After campaigning for recognition of Junior Service since 2015, we are pleased to announce that the proposal has now been approved by CFA.

From  1  April  2017,  current  members  who  have  accurate  CFA  junior  membership  records  in  the  CFA database  (RMS)  will  have  their  junior  service  recognised  as  eligible  service  for  CFA  Service  and  Life Memberships awards.

This follows a District Council request to State Council to advocate for the recognition of junior service. State Council at its December 2015 meeting agreed to support and promote an extensive membership survey conducted in partnership with CFA to gauge member’s opinions and acceptance of several options put forward to recognise junior service. Results of the membership survey showed overwhelming support, with 72.5% of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing for junior service to be included as part of a members overall service history. Following the survey, a formal VFBV position was endorsed by State Council and through the VFBV/CFA Joint Volunteerism Committee which was submitted to CFA’s Honours & Awards Committee in June last year.

CFA have released a FAQ and have advised they are posting information to their website. The FAQ document is available for download from below.

VFBV is delighted to hear that formal CFA approval has now finally been signed off and announced to members, and we congratulate CFA on this important change that recognises and rewards our junior member’s contribution to their CFA service.

UPDATED 15:19 13/03/2017: Final Day 3 Results (Monday). Aggregate Results have been posted, and are available as a download at the bottom of this page.

134th VFBV Urban State Championships (2017)

Being held this long weekend, 11, 12 and 13th March 2017 at the Weeroona Oval, Bendigo.

Day 3 Results - Placings

Event 31: Champion Fours

Event 30: A Section Hose and Reel Eights

Event 29: C Section Y Coupling - Four Competitors

Event 28: B Section Hose  and Reel Eights

Event 27: A Section Y Coupling - Four Competitors

Event 26: C Section Hose and Ladder Fives

Event 25: B Section Y Coupling - Four Competitors

Event 24: A Section Pumper and Ladder - Five Competitors

Total Points as at the end of Day 2 (Sunday 12th March)

Day 2 Results - Placings

Event 23: C Section Y Coupling and Ladder Eights

Event 22: B Section Hose, Hydrant and Pumper

Event 21: A Section Y Coupling and Ladder Eights

Event 20: C Section Hose, Hydrant and Pumper

Event 19: B Section Y Coupling and Ladder Eights

Event 18: A Section Hose, Hydrant and Pumper

Event 17: C Section Hose and Reel Sixes

Event 16: B Section Marshall - 2 Competitors

Event 15: A Section Hose and Reel Sixes

Event 14: C Section Marshall - 2 Competitors

Event 13: B Section Hose and Ladder Eights

Event 12: A Section Marshall - 2 Competitors

Event 11: C Section Pumper and Ladder - 5 Competitors

Event 10: Hydrant Race - One Competitor

Day 1 Results - Placings

Event 9: A Section Marshall - One Competitor

Event 8: A Section Marshall - One Competitor

Event 7: C Section Hose and Reel Fours

Event 6: B Section Marshall - One Competitor

Event 5: A Section Hose and Ladder Eights

Event 4: C Section Marshall - One Competitor

Event 3: B Section Pumper & Ladder (Five Competitors)

Event 2: Ladder Race - One Competitor

Event 1: Discipline Contest

This is a re-post from the Lara Fire Brigade Facebook Page. Well done Lara!

Yesterday our members were paged to a grass and stubble fire on the corner of Plains Road and Flinders Ave Lara.

Our Tanker 1 was first on scene quickly backed up by our colleagues from Little River CFA and followed on by our Tanker 2 and Corio CFA Tanker.

Whilst actively involved in the fire fight in the paddocks near a farm house the incident controller in Lara Tanker 1 was advised by the Central CFA dispatcher, VicFire, that Ambulance Victoria had received a call for a person reported suffering smoke inhalation.

Tanker 1 broke away from the fire fight to look for the reported injured person. They subsequently found a person lying near a tractor complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath.

They assessed him decided to treat it as a heart attack and applied our defibrillator just in case he deteriorated.

That was a good move as no more than 5 minutes after they had the Defib pads on the patient he started to go quiet, change colour and the Defib identified that his heart was in trouble and advised to shock the patient.

They followed procedures and shocked the patient, where upon he regained composure, asked what had happened and actually stated he was feeling much better.

The team had in fact acted so quickly that the patient had the best possible outcome and limited the extension of cardiac and any possible brain damage from the cardiac arrest (Fibrillation). They continued to look after him until Ambulance Vic arrived on scene and transported him to hospital.

Volunteer Firefighters David Love, Michelle Cable and Brian Stevens pictured below should be recognized for what they achieved yesterday, along with all of the CFA structures, including the dispatchers who tied the information together about the 2 calls for help, and also the other CFA members who kept working on the fire.

We also need to remember all of the members who raised money to buy the Defib and the community members who donated money for them as well. This one event, that has saved and changed a life, is in fact the result of a whole lot of little things that our community has made possible.

UPDATED: With full results from the weekend.

To be held this weekend, 25 and 26 February 2017 at the Tatura Racecourse.

Over 700 Competitors from 78 teams and 45 brigades, including teams from Harvey, Western Australia will take part in 18 events that are designed to build fitness, dexterity, confidence and practical firefighting skills in young CFA volunteers.

Hosted by Tatura Fire Brigade and Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria with major sponsors Greater Shepparton City Council, The Shepparton Club, Tatura Milk Industries and Unilever Australia. 

Results:

FINAL AGGREGATE RESULTS

DRY AGGREGATE:

1^st    TATURA                                      51 points

2^nd   MELTON A                                 27 points

3^rd    HARVEY A                                  21 points

WET AGGREGATE

1^st        TATURA                                   52 points 

2^nd       MORWELL A                          19 points                                                                                  

3^rd       HAARVEY A                            13 points

UNDER 14 YEARS AGGREGATE

1^st        TATURA                                   48 points 

2^nd       MELTON A                              30 points                                                                                  

3^rd       MELTON B                              28 points

UNDER 17 YEARS AGGREGATE

1^st        TATURA                                   55 points 

2^nd       HARVEY A                               34 points                                                                                  

3^rd       PAKENHAM                           21 points

GRAND AGGREGATE                     

1^st        TATURA                                   103 points 

2^nd       MELTON A                              37 points                                                                                  

3^rd       HARVEY A                               34 points

2017 - Champion Team Members – TATURA:

Coaches Martin Rennie, Darren Rennie & Damian Briese, and competitors:

1. Harry Browning-Briese
2. Josh Esam
3. Hayley Rennie
4. Luke Rennie
5. Matthew Rennie
6. Tailah Rennie
7. Kelham Tyson
8. Grady Tyson
9. Tim Wilson

Full results, including event by event results are available for download below.

During these difficult times, it is extremely important that you look after yourself, and your fellow peers.

While emotions are running high, it is now more important than ever to support one another, and be kind to one another. Show compassion and empathy for those you interact with, and act with honour and respect. We would urge members not to resign, we joined to protect our communities, and our communities still rely on us.

We will stand together, and we will stand up against the contempt and bullying behaviour that some pursuing. We need you to stand with us, shoulder to shoulder, and stand up for our communities and each other. Don’t desert them, we are all that is left to stand up for our communities and the fire services we know they deserve.

If you believe you are experiencing bullying or harassment, or you are being subjected to unfair treatment or repercussions as in individual or a Brigade, you are urged to report this through CFA’s dedicated and independent hotline.

The hotline is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is managed by an independent external team.

The hotline number is 1800 795 075.

All callers are treated with dignity and respect – there will be no judgement about the information they are providing. Each call is managed confidentially, with the consent of the caller helping to determine the way the report is best managed.

This also a good opportunity to remind members of the following services available to all CFA members in addition to the newly announced Hotline.

Emergency contacts

If your query is urgent or you are having thoughts of harming yourself or others, you should seek immediate assistance using one of the contacts below:

CFA Member assistance program

Access to psychologists and counsellors who can provide support to members and their families in managing the impacts on their psychological health and safety.

Phone 1300 795 711 (24 hours)

Lifeline

Lifeline provides crisis support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Phone 13 11 14 (24 hours)

Non-urgent contacts

CFA has a number of services available to members and their families to deal with non-urgent issues:

Member assistance program

Access to psychologists and counsellors who can provide support to members and their families in managing the impacts on their psychological health and safety.

Phone 1300 795 711 (24 hours)

Peer support program

CFA Peers are trained to provide Psychological First Aid following Potentially Traumatic Events, one on one support and links to other services for members and their families.

Phone your local Peer Coordinator. A complete listing of all peers by District can be found at; http://cfaonline.cfa.vic.gov.au/mycfa/Show?pageId=publicDisplayDoc&docId=017975

Chaplaincy program

Chaplains are allocated on a district basis. They provide pastoral care to members and their families including spiritual, physical, psychological and emotional care. Support is not limited to a faith.

Chaplains can also be contacted directly. Contact your local CFA office for more details.

Phone 1800 337 068 (24 hours)

Wellbeing pilot program

Experienced Field Officers are available to work with brigades and Districts to manage mental health and relationship issues by providing:

Coaching and guidance to resolve relationship issues

Mental health promotion and education

Mediation, conciliation, group based negotiation

Phone 92628409 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Please look after yourselves and each other.

Attached at the bottom of this page, is the current copy of the proposed CFA-UFU Operational Staff Enterprise Agreement 2016 version 17.4, which has been provided to VFBV for consultation purposes arising from our recent court action to enforce the consultation provisions of the Volunteer Charter.

This document is provided to you for examination by members of your brigade for feedback covering such things as:

• questions
• concerns
• practical Implications
• local volunteer capacity implications
• impacts on CFA operating as a fully integrated organisation
• potential to discourage volunteers or impact on their welfare and efficiency
• potential impacts on CFA’s volunteer based culture
• anything that might limit or erode support for volunteers
• anything that impacts on CFA’s ability to genuinely consult with volunteers

This latest document (referenced by CFA as version 17.4) does have some changes made since the last version provided to VFBV by CFA on 15th June, but still provides clear evidence that the comments by the Premier and Deputy Premier are misleading to say the least. The document should also serve to dispel any criticisms of VFBV’s broad concerns and comments made to date as “unfounded and misleading” by Premier Andrew’s, new Minister Merlino and UFU leadership.

Clearly this latest version of the proposed enterprise agreement speaks for itself as did earlier versions when they were made public. The matters of concern that we have raised are either written in the document itself or would be the necessary outworking’s of the implementation and operation of various clauses on volunteers and the organisation and operation of the CFA as a volunteer based and fully integrated fire and emergency service.

Recent independent legal commentary by Mr Jack Rush QC sums it up well by stating that the UFU EBA proposal is contrary to the CFA Act because it works against the idea that CFA is first and foremost a volunteer based organisation in which volunteers and paid staff are to work in a fully integrated manner; it undermines the role of volunteers; and it provides unprecedented powers to the UFU.

CFA have assured us, consistent with their undertakings to the Supreme Court, that this is the latest version of the proposed agreement and incorporates a range of changes to earlier versions including amendments recommended by Fair Work Commissioner Roe and subsequent further amendments in response to issues raised by the CFA Board (now ex-Board) recommended by Fair Work President Ross.

At a fundamental level our concerns with previous drafts of the UFU EBA proposal are not addressed. There has been some change in the detail but the EBA still includes clauses that interfere with the Chief Officer’s operational resource decision making autonomy; directly impact on the provision of support to volunteer brigades; affect the way the CFA integrated system works; affect the role of volunteers and impact on CFA brigades across Victoria, not just the 34 Integrated brigades as stated by Premier Andrews and recently appointed Minister Merlino.

Recent claims made by Premier Andrew’s and Minister Merlino that the UFU EBA proposal only impacts on the work of paid staff or on the way CFA’s 34 Integrated brigades operate is not only fundamentally wrong in terms of the way CFA’s volunteer and integrated brigades network together to respond to incidents but it is also categorically wrong given the fact that:

• provision of Brigade Administrative Support (BASO) to all CFA volunteer brigades will be altered by clause 15;
• the support provided by CFA Volunteer Support Officers to CFA volunteer brigades across Victoria will be altered by clause 16;
• the UFU EBA (17.4) proposal perpetuates the UFU’s long running ban on any volunteer brigade being supported by Community Safety Facilitators despite volunteer brigades repeatedly pointing out that this brigade support initiative is still regarded as one of the most successful volunteer support initiatives ever;
• at any fire ground where volunteers and paid staff come together at an incident the reporting relationships and line of control becomes unclear given clause 35.4 which at a minimum creates confusion and at worst is likely to unpack the current CFA integrated system (not to mention it appears to specifically exclude DELWP staff being recognized as incident controllers);
• the UFU EBA (17.4) proposal perpetuates deficiencies in the CFA’s paid training staff workforce management arrangements, an issue highlighted repeatedly by volunteers, CFA and recent independent inquiries;
• the UFU EBA (17.4) proposal specifically dictates the future operational and resource arrangements for a number of fully volunteer brigades, despite Premier Andrew’s and Minister Merlino’s claims that there is no impact beyond the existing 34 integrated brigades
• the UFU EBA (17.4) proposal introduces changes to Road Accident Rescue, a function currently performed by many CFA and SES volunteer brigades and units
• the UFU EBA (17.4) proposal introduces a process to change the way CFA responds to incidents affecting many more brigades than the existing 34 integrated brigades and it is unclear how volunteers would be consulted about this process and form to date would suggest that if it ends in Fair Work Australia, volunteers would have no say
• various clauses requiring agreement between CFA and the UFU mean that obligations to consult with volunteers are likely to be sidelined or potentially ignored
• various clauses about dispatch of paid firefighters to incidents ignore the role and capacity of trained volunteer firefighters, impact on many more than the 34 integrated brigades and enable an EBA instrument to override the Chief Officer’s powers and decision making
• and the list goes on…

Sadly, most of the crucial concerns we have had with previous versions have still not been properly addressed in the latest proposed agreement. The Government’s claims that a new clause (7A.1) which states “The role of volunteers in fighting bushfires and maintaining community safety and delivering high quality services to the public in remote and regional areas and in integrated stations is not altered by this agreement” fails to recognise that CFA brigades do more than fight bushfires in remote and regional areas and either cleverly or by accidental omission ignores the fact that CFA volunteer brigades service a huge part of metropolitan Melbourne and provincial centres & townships across Victoria.

We will be asking for clarification during this consultation stage as to what this clause means and how it works when other clauses contained in the EBA specifically contradict this clause. We know that CFA’s own assessment is that the EBA clauses affect many more than the 34 integrated brigades and fundamentally alters the way CFA works today as a volunteer based and integrated system. By what it omits to say, if this clause is aiming to suggest that the role of volunteers in outer metropolitan Melbourne and urban communities will be altered, then this would be a matter of serious concern.  The failure of this clause to specifically recognize the role of volunteers in the urban risk environment is consistent with our assessment of the impact of many of the clauses that this EB would have on the CFA volunteer capability that we have today, and at a fundamental level reinforces our concern.

Premier Andrew’s and Minister Merlino continue to make public comment that all volunteer issues have been addressed despite the fact that they still have not bothered to seek to understand VFBV’s concerns, instead the Minister has advised us that cabinet have made their decision.

Until the consultative process we are working through with CFA is completed, and despite the Government ignoring Ex Minister Garrett’s, the now sacked CFA Board’s, and the Ex CFA CEO Lucinda Nolan’s advice, we remain hopeful that the Government will not continue to ignore volunteer and VFBV concerns.

Because of the Court arrangements, timelines for both member/brigade consultation and direct consultation with CFA are very tight and your expedited assistance is required.  We also apologise for the delay in sending you a copy of the latest proposed agreement – a single hard copy was provided to us late Friday with CFA restrictions placed on its circulation which then became a matter for further legal advice and determination. The electronic copy was only provided to us late yesterday.

It is proposed that your feedback, particularly your assessment of the key issues affecting your brigade and its operations, be sent by no later than the evening of Sunday 10 July. In the circumstances, any initial observations, comments and feedback at an earlier time would be most welcome with any further detail submitted by 10 July.

Our next formal discussion with CFA is currently scheduled for Friday, 8 July and it is anticipated that a schedule of formal consultation meetings with then continue until 19 July.

We look forward to your earliest response on this matter of fundamental importance to CFA volunteers. Attached is a generic template you can use to provide feedback if it helps, and we have also attached an initial impact analysis that whilst based on 17.2, will be used to re-assess version 17.4 in the coming days. Appreciate of concerns that members are raising about confidentiality and their fears of retribution, all responses will be consider confidential, and will all be consolidated to anonymize any responses. You can send your feedback back to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

On behalf of the VFBV Board and volunteer leaders across CFA, it is with sadness and regret that I write to advise members that today Chief Officer Joe Buffone has tendered his resignation.

The CFA Chief Officer holds a special place in volunteer’s hearts. He is our operational leader and our symbolic head of authority in our shared mission to protect lives and property. Joe has exercised his responsibilities and authority with honesty, integrity and compassion.

Joe has been very clear in his recent messages and letter of resignation, that as Chief Officer he will be unable to discharge his legislative responsibilities under the proposed industrial agreement, confirming that the latest changes do not address his fundamental concerns.  Joe, just as Minister Jane Garrett and CEO Lucinda Nolan before him, has had to choose between following his conscience and his job. As CFA’s most senior operational officer, he has acted with respect and integrity and done everything in his power to protect the safety of Victorian’s and remain impartial. He has, like those before him, been clear and unequivocal about the impacts the proposed agreement will have not just on volunteers but on CFA and its ability to discharge its responsibilities, in particular the powers of the Chief Officer.

Joe was appointed by Daniel Andrews on the 15^th October 2015, and came to CFA from EMV where he was the Deputy Commissioner of Risk & Resilience. Mr Andrews also appointed the now Ex CFA CEO Lucinda Nolan in November 2015, a distinguished Deputy Commissioner with Victoria Police with over 30 years’ experience including acting as Police Commissioner.

Attempts by some to discredit a man that has spent over 25 years in emergency services encompassing senior roles with the Victoria State Emergency Service, Marine Safety Victoria, Port of Melbourne Corporation and Department of Infrastructure and served with the Australian Defence Force in Special Forces are quite disturbing. Both Joe and Lucinda have spent their entire lives serving the public in senior emergency response roles. Both have withstood the test of time and responsibility over their careers, that such important roles demand.

Just like the Governments spin about our court injunction “being lifted” and forgetting to tell the Victorian public that it was replaced with an even more onerous Court Order, they have again only told half the story.

Joe resigned on Tuesday.

Joe has stated publically today that Minister Merlino’s statements to the media about the factors underpinning his resignation are “absolutely incorrect”.

VFBV understands that it was Government and/or EMV officials that resisted his resignation, prompting discussions today and yesterday about what terms might be required to convince Joe to stay. It is entirely understandable that those terms might have included ensuring Joe had the organisational standing and powers to perform his role without the threat of being administratively overridden; it is also understandable that he might have sought confirmation about the security of his job tenure in order not to be threatened with being sacked if he didn’t toe the Government line against his assessment of the CFA statutory obligations that create and direct his role.

Despite the half stories being quoted by people in the media VFBV understand that Joe, after carefully considering his options, and concluding that he was simply unable to reconcile what he was being asked to do with what he knows are his statutory and legal obligations, he advised Government he would not reconsider his resignation. As Joe reminded volunteers on the weekend, when things go wrong, it will be the Chief Officer who will be in the stand, as occurred during the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. It is therefore incumbent on the person who holds that office, to ensure they have the powers necessary to fulfil their role, and his assessment was frank and fearless. The proposed agreement is not good for CFA, it was not good for Volunteers and it is not good for Victoria.

Joe broke his silence this afternoon on 3AW, and you can listen to his interview here; http://www.3aw.com.au/news/former-cfa-chief-fire-officer-says-hes-absolutely-gutted-over-his-resignation-20160630-gpvkje.html

Joe has prosecuted his case in a respectful, professional and poignant way. He has gone to extremes to remain balanced and impartial, and operated as a loyal and honest broker. He will be remembered as the Chief who stood up for what he believes is right, and leaves with our utmost respect and thanks. Joe, your stance to attempt to save CFA, has been exemplary.

Thank you for your service and dedication, we won’t forget you.
Sincerely,

Andrew Ford
Chief Executive Officer

The Premier has this morning announced the resignation of Minister Jane Garrett from Cabinet. You can find the announcement here;

Minister Garrett has been honourable, honest and values driven. We will have more to say shortly.

Video of Volunteer's showing their respect for her principled stand, captured last Sunday in Melbourne;

For those who may not have known Minister Garrett well, a copy of her Inaugural speech is below, which we encourage you to read to understand a little bit about her integrity and values;

ADDRESS-IN-REPLY – JANE GARRETT’S INAUGURAL SPEECH

UPDATE 27 MAY 2016

CFA Operational EBA update - Friday 27 May 2016

This week, we have been attending hearings at the Fair Work Commission as part of Operational EBA negotiations.

We have now made formal written submissions to the Commissioner, and have again reinforced CFA’s position around any clauses proposed by the UFU that would:

• remove or diminish the ability of the Chief Officer to allocate and deploy resources flexibly and with agility
• require agreement or provide veto to UFU over CFA management decisions
• restrict or negatively impact on volunteers and BASOs.

The Commissioner will now consider our final submissions and will provide some potential next steps to resolve this matter.

A final hearing will be held at Fair Work on Monday, and the Commissioner is expected to discuss his thoughts and potential solutions to progress the current process.

This could involve handing down recommendations for all parties to consider.

CFA remains committed to resolving the matter as soon as possible, however any deal must be fair and affordable, and must not adversely impact on volunteers and needs to benefit Victorians.

From the Organisational Leadership Team – Lucinda Nolan, Joe Buffone, John Haynes, Steve Warrington, Garry Cook, Ross Sullivan, Trevor Owen, Bob Barry, Gavin Thompson, Peter O’Keefe, Paul King, Kate Harrap, Emma Tyner, Phil Harbutt, Margareth Thomas, Terry Hayes.

UPDATE 18 MAY 2016

Following more enquiries regarding the EBA, the CFA Organisational Leadership Team has released an updated EBA Information sheet, which is replicated below. You can download a PDF version either form the link at the bottom of this page, or directly from the CFA website; http://news.cfa.vic.gov.au/news/operational-eba-update-18-may-2016.html 

Ops EBA information

There are a number of questions that have been raised about the EBA negotiations. We
want to make sure you have the facts.

Organisational Leadership Team – Lucinda Nolan, Joe Buffone, John Haynes, Steve Warrington, Garry Cook, Ross Sullivan, Trevor Owen, Bob Barry, Gavin Thompson, Peter O’Keefe, Kate Harrap, Emma Tyner, Todd Perkinson, Phil Harbutt, Margareth Thomas, Terry Hayes

We are deeply saddened by reports of deteriorating relationships between volunteers and staff in some areas.

Many volunteers have told us they do not want to get involved in genuine negotiations about pay and conditions of staff, and nor should they.

They do, however, have a right to raise concerns over potential decisions that directly impact them, and CFA is required to consult on these issues.

We once again ask all members to be tolerant of each other's views and for everybody to treat each other with appropriate respect.

At a recent Board meeting, we discussed our desire to see a resolution to the EBA discussions as soon as possible, but reconfirmed we will not negotiate on the inclusion of certain clauses being sought by the UFU.

These clauses would:
• remove or diminish the ability of the Chief Officer to allocate and deploy resources flexibly and with agility
• require agreement or provide veto to UFU over CFA management decisions
• restrict or negatively impact on volunteers and BASOs.

We do want to emphasise that we remain committed to consulting extensively with our membership on any significant changes that impact them, their safety or their terms and conditions. The position we have taken does not diminish this in any way.

The UFU presented these clauses in a draft EBA to the Victorian Government.

We believe it would be beneficial if all members covered by the proposed agreement had access to the current proposal (version 17.1) so that you are appropriately informed about the discussions, issues and impacts.

As this is a UFU document, and not CFA’s proposal, we have written to the UFU to seek their agreement to make it available to their members.

Tomorrow, we will be attending a Fair Work Commission hearing, which was requested by the UFU. We will be presenting what we can and can’t agree on.

We will continue to update you on developments.

From CFA Board

(John Peberdy, Ross Coyle, Michael Freshwater, Katherine Forrest, James Holyman, John Schurink, Michael Tudball, Samantha Hunter)

Posted on the CFA website, 4pm 12 May 2016

STATEMENTS FROM MINISTER GARRETT AND THE CHIEF OFFICER - 11 MAY 2016

Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett has told Nine News, “I do have grave concerns about some of what has been in various logs of claims from the UFU.”

“We want this resolved as quickly as possible but it will be on terms that look after all of our firefighters.” (Nine News, 11 May 2016)

And CFA Chief Officer Joe Buffone has issued a statement saying “there has been much debate devoted to negotiations around a new enterprise bargaining agreement” and that “there has also been misinformation that needs to be corrected.”

He says the current EBA log of claims includes clauses “that will adversely impact on volunteers and CFA’s ability to run the organisation in a way that will best serve all Victorians.”

You can read his full statement in the Weekly Times here.

CFA VOLUNTEERS' MOTORCADE OF SUPPORT

CFA volunteers held a motorcade of fire vehicles through the streets of Melbourne on Saturday 23^rd April, 2016, to demonstrate their support for the CFA and Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett.  Fire vehicles came from all corners of the state to converge on the city.  See TV coverage here:  SBS TV News, WIN TV News Gippsland, ABC TV News

The Minister and CFA have been sidelined by the Premier, Daniel Andrews, who is reported to have done a secret personal deal with Firefighters’ union secretary, Peter Marshall which would see the Union gain significant control over CFA operations as well as achieve massive pay and allowance increases.

“The CFA and the Minister were negotiating with the union in good faith for a reasonable financial settlement for paid firefighters but would not agree to surrender proper management and operational functions or to marginalise volunteers as the Union demanded”, Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria CEO Andrew Ford said.

“It has become clear to volunteers that in recent days the Premier went behind the Minister’s back and reached a deal with Peter Marshall which gives the union virtually all it wants,” he said. 

“And that includes marginalising experienced and qualified volunteer firefighters who are committed to volunteer community service and flooding the organisation with unneeded extra paid staff to replace thousands of urban volunteers without increasing public safety.

“The cost implications of the Premier’s sell-out are huge, with the fire service levy on households and business expected to significantly grow year on year for years into the future as more and more volunteers are replaced by paid employees under the union’s system.

“The name “The Marshall Plan” will have a totally new meaning.

“Where’s the money coming from? Out of our pockets of course!

“It’s ironic that after capping municipal rates and charges the government’s fire service levy, which municipal councils’ are required to send out on their rates notices, will grow like topsy.

“The public safety implications are particularly troubling.  If you undermine, deactivate and progressively push out volunteers, who will provide Victoria with a surge capacity to respond to major fires and emergencies?

“And if you are substantially reliant on paid staff be prepared to pay overtime, penalty rates, extra shift allowances, meal allowances, accommodation costs and allowances as well as the wages that will be required to have sufficient paid staff available.

“And remember they are going up by 19% under the Andrews-Marshall industrial deal.

“Daniel Andrews either hasn’t thought this through or just doesn’t care.

“Jane Garrett has demonstrated that she has thought this through, understands the issues and details and repeatedly demonstrated she does care.

“The CFA Board and its leadership, including CEO Lucinda Nolan and Chief Fire Officer Joe Buffone know what’s at stake in respect of cost and operational capacity to keep Victorian’s safe.

“That’s why volunteers are mobilising to support Minister Jane Garrett and the CFA and its leadership.”

For all inquiries ring the VFBV office on 9802 0501.

NOTE TO MEMBERS
Wednesday 20^th April 2016

RE: Latest Reports on CFA-UFU EBA Negotiation Developments – 20 April 2016

You will have read or heard in today’s media reports of attempts to finalise the CFA-UFU Enterprise Bargaining Industrial Agreement by the Premier Daniel Andrews in a manner said to be circumventing the role of the Minister for Emergency Services, Jane Garrett and the Board and CEO of the CFA. The same approach is also said to be being used for the MFB.

In summary the features of the agreement would give way to the UFU in most if not all their demands.

The proposed financial settlement included a 19% wage increase over the life of the Agreement (also flowing to existing allowances) and an initial cash payment of $3,000 per operational employee as a “sign on payment”.  There are apparently a range of new allowances also claimed by the UFU. The cost implications of such a settlement are large and will lead to significant rises in the Fire Service Levy. This is not an issue for our members as volunteers except to the extent that it reduces or retards the allocation of training, equipment and support for building volunteer capacity to meet growing service requirements including surge capacity.

From a CFA, volunteer and community safety perspective the non-financial demands of the UFU that are intended as part of the Agreement are fundamentally more serious. These include various ways of marginalising volunteers and progressively replacing urban volunteers in Greater Melbourne and regional centres with paid career staff:

• The agreement proposes that there would be a minimum of seven paid firefighters on any CFA fireground before response measures were initiated. Qualified volunteer firefighters are not to be counted.
  
  
• A new Board of Reference is to be created comprised of a representative of the UFU, a representative of the CFA and a mutually agreed industrial chairperson to assess and determine staffing disputes between the Union and the CFA as regard the numbers, shift deployment and rank of paid staff at CFA brigades, both existing integrated brigades and purely volunteer brigades.  There is also a proposal that the MFB be incorporated into the Board of Reference, although the status of this proposal is unknown to us. The initial negotiation over these matters is limited to the Union and CFA under the terms of the proposal. This arrangement would deal with further new paid staff additional to the 342 paid staff from the 2010 EBA and the 350 paid staff promised by Daniel Andrews at the last election. (It is noteworthy that the then Chief Officer in his evidence to the 2009 Bushfire Royal Commission estimated the then additional requirement for paid staff as less than half this number to 2020.)

The above information has entered the public domain in the past 24 hours – we are not aware of other features of the Agreement. It has not been discussed with VFBV despite the impact various clauses may have on volunteers. Under the terms of the Volunteer Charter as incorporated in the CFA Act 1958 with support of the Coalition and the Labor Party in 2011, VFBV is to be meaningfully consulted on any matter which may affect volunteers before any decisions are made. That consultation has to include details relevant to the decision making and time for proper consultation with the volunteers who may be affected by the decision(s).

It has also become clear that our Minister, Jane Garrett, our CEO, Lucinda Nolan , our Chief Officer, Joe Buffone and the CFA Board have been resolute in opposing the proposed Agreement, particularly the non-financial aspects which impact on statutory and management responsibilities of CFA , particularly with regard to volunteers  – to develop policy and organisational arrangements that encourage, maintain and strengthen the capacity of volunteers to provide the CFA’s services as well as the fundamental role of the Chief Officer.

We Need Your Help:

VFBV is solidly in support of the Minister, CFA CEO, Chief Officer and CFA Board’s position and wish to make that generally clear to all Victorians. And we want your urgent help to do this.

You can contact local MPs (Federal and State), candidates, mayors and councillors, community organisations and service clubs to get them to write to the Premier and Minister in support of our position of non-industrial/political interference in the organisation and operation of CFA as a volunteer based emergency service. Write to or contact local media with the same message. And you should write to the Minister supporting her stand and send a copy to the Premier.

Minister's email address is; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  and the Premier can be reached at; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

We will continue to closely monitor events as they unfold, including invoking relevant clauses of the Volunteer Charter for the provision of information and formal consultation as required.

We will keep you advised, but in the meantime ask that wherever possible you make clear our support of the Minister and the CFA current reported position.

Andrew Ford                                         Nev Jones
Chief Executive Officer                           State President

For background the Herald Sun article can be accessed from here http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/firefighters-union-tipped-to-get-bulk-of-demands-if-premier-daniel-andrews-caves-in/news-story/49b619c0340322a4e1f441d422f04ebf

and

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/victorian-premier-daniel-andrews-united-firefighters-union-negotiations-anger-ministers/news-story/116cfe7517c871f470d6f95afccc9c09

2016 VFBV Volunteer Leadership Scholarships  

Courses based in the Gisborne and Pakenham/Dandenong areas, starting April 2016

CLOSING SOON - Apply by Sunday, 21 February 2016

See below to download the information pack and application forms. VFBV accepts applications from volunteers from Ambulance Victoria, Australian Volunteer Coastguard, CFA, Life Saving Victoria, SES and St John.

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The participants work towards a nationally recognised qualification in leadership and management, in a course involving eight days of face-to-face class work and considerable off-campus course, project and assessment tasks, spread over the year.

The VFBV Leadership Scholarship program includes a series of one and two day sessions at venues chosen to be as convenient as possible to the participants.

The course covers skills suited to volunteer, career and community situations and include units on; •Leadership •Decision making •Planning •Safety and risk management •Team effectiveness •Making presentations •Managing projects •Engaging the community

The first two days of the course focus on leadership, team effectiveness and communication, the skills at the heart of the scholarships' aims.

The course adds to the participants' capabilities in useful skills such as public speaking, business writing and influencing.  It comprises a mixture of lecture style teaching and interactive activities designed to suit the needs of adult students, as well as ample support using distance learning methods.

Recognising that many of the participants may be returning to study for the first time in years, we will provided them with return to study and study skills material to help them get started.

About the VFBV Volunteer Leadership Scholarship Program

The Leadership Scholarship aims to:

1. Recognise and develop current and future leaders in VFBV & our Volunteer Emergency Service Agencies

2. Build networks and work on important issues for volunteers and VFBV

3.Lead to a recognised qualification so the skills and capabilities learned can be transferred to all areas of the participant's life.

On completion of the Scholarship, the students will be awarded Certificate IV in Leadership and Management (BSB42015).

Time Commitment: The program runs over 9 months and includes eight face to face sessions throughout the year.

Method: the program includes face to face, guest speakers, and plenty of active learning and discussion.

Assessments: include individual work with small group project work to address key issues.

Costs: the program is fully funded by VFBV.  Students need to provide their own transport and accommodation (if required) to the program venues (possibly with use of a CFA or brigade vehicle).

Overview: Certificate IV in Leadership and Management BSB42015  There are 12 units in the qualification and four of those must be core units. The units selected below match the qualification requirements and the key issues discussed for the program.  We have sourced suitable resources for all of these units which will mean both the requirements of the qualification and the participants’ expectations as parties to the Scholarship are met.

The Units are:

BSBLDR401 Communicate Effectively as a workplace leader

BSBLDR402 Lead Effective workplace relationships

BSBMGT402 Implement Operational plan

BSBLDR403 Lead team effectiveness

BSBRSK401 Identify Risk and apply risk management processes

BSBWHS401 Implement and monitor WHS policies, procedures and programs

BSBWOR404 Develop Work Priorities

BSBCMM401  Make a presentation

BSBCUS401   Co-ordinate implementation of customer service strategies

BSBMGT401  Show leadership in the workplace

BSBPMG522  Undertake project work

BSBADM502  Manage meetings

The outcomes allow students to apply their enhanced skills to their voluntary, VFBV, employment and community roles. This is primarily achieved by application of principles and tools or models into the various different contexts.

A couple of obvious examples are in applying the basics of effective presentation skills and risk management in their voluntary and employed roles.  In the voluntary presentation and risk management context he/she may be coming from a leadership position in the CFA and community, whilst as an employee the presentation may be internal or external sales, and risk may be from a much narrower perspective.

The principles are the same but the application may change in a different context. This flexibility is a skill in itself.

Delivery  

Each day will comprise:

a. Preview and day's objectives •Key learning objectives •Course requirements – competency and element overview •Explanation of assessment requirements •Expectations of participants

The first day will encompass an overview of the entire course and a general introduction to each other and to the course requirements. For some it may be a reintroduction to adult learning models, including;

•Slides, discussions, exercises and workgroups working through key issues for each of the topics

•Plenty of focus on discussion, idea sharing, scenario exploration and application of ideas.  Role plays and small group activities and discussions are utilised where possible and practical.

•Guest speakers to demonstrate or talk about a specific issues or experiences which will enhance learning and lead to focused discussion &/or project work.

•A wrap up at the end of the day to highlight key points and issues and reinforce main learnings.

Follow up homework and assessments will be issued, with further follow up via email, and by phone if required. Participants will work in small groups to facilitate more localised support.  Assessments will be completed progressively throughout the course. At the end of the first session, the group divides into small teams of 5 or 6 to design and work on key projects.

These projects would be relevant to the volunteers and community and to the course requirements. For example:

Consider the critical issues in designing and implementing a performance management and review system for the various levels and functions of a broadly dispersed voluntary organisation. What would it look like? What would it aim to achieve, what are some risks and how might they be managed? What are critical success factors and KPIs and how would they be measured, monitored and reviewed? Which stakeholders might you need to consult with, how and why?

For more information, contact your VFBV Support Officer (contact details in the application pack) or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Updated 18 December 2015 with a special VFBV Message to Volunteers

VFBV Message to Volunteers

Many of you will be aware that the release of the Fire Services Review report and the State Government’s response have been postponed until after the bushfire season.

Minister for Emergency Services Jane Garrett will now lead a working group of Ministers to study the Review’s findings in depth and report back to the Government.

VFBV acknowledges that many volunteers are frustrated with the delay and we certainly share their feelings of disappointment. However, given that we are already into what is clearly going to be a long and busy summer, I suggest we take the opportunity to get on with the job at hand and concentrate on the important work of protecting the community.

When the Review’s report does become public, volunteers will need to be ready to have their say. By visiting www.vfbv.com.au you can see our submission and VFBV’s September 28 letter to the Minister and all MPs, outlining the key issues of concern. I encourage each of you to read them and discuss your thoughts with your fellow volunteers. 

Also in September, VFBV requested a meeting with the Minister to discuss issues coming out of the Fire Services Review before any decisions affecting volunteers are made. The Minister offered to meet with us after the report has been presented, and with its release newly postponed I will make another request that we meet and discuss the issues at the earliest opportunity.

GENDER EQUITY AND WORKPLACE CULTURE

The Government has also announced that the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner will examine issues around gender equity and workplace culture in Victoria’s emergency services, and I very strongly encourage all VFBV delegates to show leadership in actively welcoming and engaging in this work. Support for greater diversity in CFA is something VFBV has recognised as a real opportunity, and where there are gaps, an area warranting concerted effort to achieve improvement.

Any move towards encouraging greater diversity with regard to gender, cultures and ages in CFA, is something that will strengthen Brigades’ connections with the communities we protect and increase the pool of potential volunteers.

Minister Garrett has expressed concern that only 3% of CFA and MFB operational staff are women. In comparison, approximately 20% of all CFA volunteers are women and nearly 5,000 of those volunteer women are operational members.

I am assuming the activation of this work to examine issues around gender equity and workplace culture has been identified during the Fire Services Review, and we have already seen the Jones Inquiry into the effect of arrangements made by the Country Fire Authority on its Volunteers identifying culture and human resource management issues requiring attention.

Judge David Jones noted in his report that “CFA culture, leadership and human resource management are keys to maintaining and strengthening the community’s understanding of, confidence in, support for and active participation in the volunteer based emergency service model for Victoria, which is consequently fundamental to the future success of the CFA”.

Judge Jones also observed that “Improving leadership in CFA from top to bottom is key to the success of the CFA integrated model – this cannot be over emphasised and is one of CFA’s biggest challenges”.

The annual VFBV Volunteer Welfare & Efficiency Survey has also asked volunteers for their opinions on diversity and workplace culture issues, and found they strongly desire an environment in CFA that welcomes people from all cultural backgrounds as well as different religious, political and personal beliefs; actively discourages workplace bullying; and ensures that there are no barriers to the roles women can occupy in Brigades.

The 2015 survey results show that although CFA performance in this area is scored comparatively well against other areas, it still needs attention. The results showed that female volunteers saw a greater gap between the importance of equity and diversity issues and CFA’s actual performance.

CFA VOLUNTEERS; READY FOR SUMMER

With the fire season well and truly here, and considering many parts of the state have already been extremely busy with large and serious incidents, my message to the Minister has been that the CFA and Emergency Management sector need to be supported in focusing on the immediate task of protecting the community.

Many volunteers have expressed frustration that CFA is in an era of review upon review, but we must not let this damage the spirit of CFA or the professional standards of protection we provide to the community every day and night of the year.

We know CFA is an overwhelmingly great organisation, achieving great things in communities across Victoria, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep looking for areas for improvement and ironing out any issues we find on the way.

Media Release - Wednesday 16th December 2015

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) has welcomed the State Government’s decision to engage Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kate Jenkins to examine issues around
gender equity and workplace culture in Victoria’s emergency services.

Representing Victoria’s 60,000 CFA volunteers, VFBV sees the announcement as a move towards encouraging greater diversity, not just of gender, but of cultures and ages in CFA.

VFBV Chief Executive Officer Andrew Ford said greater diversity means practical benefits for Brigades and the communities they protect. 

“Having more diversity of gender, cultures and ages will strengthen CFA Brigades’ connections with the communities we protect and increase the pool of potential volunteers,” Mr Ford said.

Minister Garrett has highlighted the fact that only 3% of CFA and MFB operational staff are women.

“Among CFA volunteers, approximately 20% of all volunteers are women and nearly 5,000 of those women are front line firefighters,” Mr Ford said.

“CFA volunteers serve in front line, command and specialist roles at all levels, and provide CFA’s great surge capacity, the ability to field thousands of trained, experienced firefighters to deal with major and multiple incidents wherever they occur,” he said.

“We see diversity as not only ensuring that essential response capacity into the future, but adding to CFA Brigades’ connection with every part of the community.”

“VFBV looks forward to supporting the efforts of Minister Garrett and CFA CEO Lucinda Nolan to drive gender equity across CFA,” Mr Ford said.

Download the VFBV Message to Volunteers here

UPDATE 19 January 2016: ORDERS HAVE NOW CLOSED

ANNOUNCEMENT 16 October: On behalf of CFA and VFBV it is with great pleasure that we announce the availability of CFA’s new Digital Scanners.

*** A copy of this letter and paper order forms have been posted with our October mailout. Digital copies of all forms are attached below. *** 

As you are more than likely already aware, CFA and VFBV through the Joint Communications & Technology Committee and CFA’s Business Services Team have been diligently working on a replacement Listening Set since 2010, with the knowledge that as CFA’s radio network transitioned to digital frequencies on the P25 digital network, almost all current analogue listening sets and scanners being used by members would become redundant. Acknowledging the significant expense that new digital capable devices represents to members, and the important role they play in many Brigades, we have been jointly working on not only a replacement scanner, but a subsidization program that would assist members with their replacement.

After an exhaustive tender, trial and selection process, the Uniden UBCD436-PT digital scanner has been selected. This will be amongst one of the first scanners available in Australian that support P25 Phase 2 digital communications, which future proofs the device as Victorian Emergency Services transition to Phase 2 P25 in the future. The scanner is backward compatible, is capable of receiving analogue and current Phase 1 P25 digital radio traffic and will come preprogramed with the current CFA/DELWP radio channel plan.

As this scanner is not currently available via retail channels, and is being manufactured and sold exclusively to CFA members before a public release next year – retail pricing is not yet available, however it is expected to retail within the $500 – $700 per unit range.

In order to provide Brigades with equitable and fair access to these units, CFA and VFBV have developed a subsidy program that will provide all brigades & groups access to a limited number of heavily subsidized units. Through a combination of project funding and a successful joint CFA/VFBV application to the VESEP program, $3 million dollars has been set aside to subsidize units for members. To ensure equitable access to this funding, brigades will have access to a guaranteed minimum of 8 units per brigade at a one off subsidy price of $150 per unit, plus postage and handling, with the subsidy budget picking up the difference. ($296.75) This effectively represents an approximate 70% discount for members. Groups will be provided with a guaranteed minimum of 2 units per group.

The 8 units per brigade, and 2 units per group will be reserved and put aside for brigades/groups to access. You will have 90 days to claim and order/pay for your reserved units at the heavily discounted price, and they will be dispatched as per the attached schedule as orders and payment are received. At the end of 90 days, any units that have not been taken up will then be re-released into the general pool, and will be equally allocated to brigades and groups based on their 2^nd Tier pre-orders. If there are any remaining units, these will then be advertised, and made available to individuals on a first in first served basis until all remaining units have been exhausted.

Once the subsidization budget runs out, (expected early 2016) additional units will be made available to individual members at a cost price of $446.75 plus postage and handling.

As these units are being manufactured by Uniden exclusively for CFA, there are long lead times on orders placed with the manufacturer. Units are being received into Australia as they come off the manufacturing line. The first 3,500 units are due to arrive in the country by the 1^st November, with a second and third order of units totallying another 2,500 units arriving late December and February. Again, in order to provide all brigades with equitable access to units as quickly as possible, brigades will be able to access their 8 guaranteed units in two batches. The first 3 will be dispatched immediately upon your order and payment being processed, with the remaining 5 being dispatched as soon as subsequent units arrive in the country, and dispatched in the order that orders/payment are received. Group units will be dispatched upon order and payment being processed.

It will be left to the discretion of your brigade/group to determine how the digital scanners will be distributed amongst members, and the brigade/group may determine to purchase the subsidized units from brigade/group funds or request individual members to reimburse the brigade/group for their scanner. During the subsidization program, orders will only be accepted from brigades and groups. As soon as the subsidization program is finished (expected early 2016) scanners will be available for purchase by individual members at cost price.

Payment for the first 8 scanners must accompany your brigade’s order. Cheques and money orders must be made payable to “CFA”. Payment for the first 2 group scanners must also accompany group orders..

If your brigade/group wishes to pay by direct deposit into CFA’s bank account, please indicate where shown on the order form and once your order form has been received, CFA will issue you with an invoice that will contain the direct deposit bank details for you to pay for the order. (If paying this way – you must wait for the invoice to arrive before making payment.)

CFA brigades who are still operating under their own brigade ABN and are registered for GST will need to be processed separately, and will need to wait for a Tax Invoice to be issued by CFA for the total amount payable. If you are unsure if your brigade is still operating under its own ABN, please contact the VFBV office and we can assist with your enquiries. (There are currently only 33 brigades in the state still operating under a brigade ABN – and your brigade secretary/treasurer should know.)

VFBV is providing the administrative support for the processing of orders, and as such all orders should be returned to VFBV for processing. VFBV will process and lodge all orders with CFA within 48 hours of our receiving them. Brigades will be sent an electronic confirmation of your orders lodgement.

Any questions or queries should be directed to the VFBV Office on (03) 9886 1141 or via email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Scanners are not endorsed for operational use, and are no replacement for an official CFA Tait portable/mobile radio. Digital scanners have no send capability, and can only listen in on communications.

This program would not have been possible without CFA’s support and approval, and VFBV wishes to thank CFA for the establishment and support of the subsidization program for the benefit of members.

Download a copy of this letter here

Download a Brigade Order Form here

Download a Group Order Form here

Download the FAQ's here

Download a sample Order Form here

Download Scanner Spec Sheet here

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can we order less than 8 units?
Yes. Brigades are guaranteed to have access to a minimum of 8 subsidized units put aside for them and available up until the 15th January 2016. You can order less than eight, but postage and handling will remain at $35 for any number up to 3 units, and a second postage and handling fee of $45 for any number of units between 4 and 8.

Groups can also order less than their guaranteed 2 units, but again the postage and handling fee will remain at $35 for dispatch of the guaranteed units.

2. How will we know how many subsidized units we can have above our initial allocation of 8? (Tier 2)
We won’t know how many are available until the 25th January 2016. This is to ensure all brigades have equal time to order and pay for their initial allocation. After the closing date of the 15th January – any units not taken up by brigades through the Tier 1 process, will then be made available in the Tier 2 program. We will then divide this total number of units left over by the number of brigades and groups requesting Tier 2 units, and that number will then be allocated proportionally amongst the Tier 2 orders until there are no subsidized units remaining.

On the 25th January, brigades and groups will be advised how many of their Tier 2 orders can be honoured, and payment will then be requested. Brigades and groups will have until the 1st March to pay for these units.

3. Are Tier 2 orders binding?
Yes. Even though you won’t have to pay for these units until we know how many are available, we will have to treat all Tier 2 orders as binding in order to know how many we can allocate to brigades and groups. You should assume that you will be asked to pay for every unit you indicate on the Tier 2 order form.

4. Who will own the units?
This is a brigade/group decision. If the brigade purchases the units using brigade funds, then they will be owned by the brigade/group and can be allocated at the brigade’s or group’s discretion.
Many brigades/groups are likely to request that individual members purchase the units at their own expense, in which case brigades/groups will determine how to prioritize the limited number of subsidized units available, but once the member reimburses the brigade/group for the unit cost, the device will then become the property of that individual.

5. How should we prioritize members if more than 8 members want to pay for a scanner?
This is a brigade decision. The brigade may elect to implement its own ranking system which might prioritize members based on their role within the brigade or group, and what benefit that member’s possession of a digital scanner would have on the brigade.

6. What if a member does not want to order through the brigade/group and just wants to buy one themselves?

Individual members will not have access to units at the subsidized price unless the full allocations to brigades and groups are not taken up. However, individuals will be able to purchase units at the full cost price when they become available. Individual orders will be treated the same as any Tier 3 orders and will be processed only after the end of the subsidization program, which is expected to finish early 2016. The manufacturer will not have any additional capacity until the end of the subsidization program, as it is expected that demand through the subsidization process will deplete all available stock.

Non CFA members will need to wait until the product is released at the retail level, which will be at the manufacturer’s discretion and is unlikely to be until well after CFA’s internal distribution program is completed.

7. Why can only brigades or groups order them?
This scanner has been developed specifically for CFA members and there is a limited budget for how many units can be subsidized by CFA. We are expecting demand to exceed supply, and are therefore relying on brigades and groups to be best placed to determine priority based on benefit to the overall community/brigade/group.

8. Can Headquarters and Coastguard brigades apply?
Yes. All registered CFA brigades and groups may apply. This includes registered Headquarters brigades and registered CFA Coastguard brigades.

9. Can Forest industry brigades apply?
No.

10. Why have groups been provided with a smaller number of guaranteed units?
For two main reasons. The first was to maintain parity and proportion with the units offered to brigades when considering membership/role numbers. The second reason being that groups received a priority allocation well above brigade allocations in the allocation of CFA Tait radios during CFA’s radio replacement project. On average, each group in the state received an allocation of 10 CFA Tait radios for use by group personnel.

11. Why will only 3 units be dispatched straight away?
These units are being manufactured exclusively for CFA. It currently takes 120 days from when CFA places an order, and when that unit is then available in the country. 3 units per brigade has been determined by how many are in the country and are available now, with additional units being dispatched as they come off the manufacturing line.

12. I own a small business. Can I purchase these units for re-sale?
No. These units are only available exclusively for CFA members until early 2016.
These units are likely to be offered to the public through the manufacturer’s normal wholesale and retail channels at some point in the future, but is unlikely to occur before the end of CFA’s distribution program. Any decision to offer the unit to the public will be solely at the discretion of the manufacturer.

The survey is now open until 31 August - to take part now, click here.

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) invites all CFA volunteers to take part in a volunteer-run survey that will better equip your association to advise the CFA Board and State Government on what’s most important to volunteers.

We designed and road tested the VFBV Volunteer Welfare & Efficiency Survey with volunteers, so it gets straight to the point on issues that matter to the people on the front line.  The survey includes 33 questions and takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete.  Each question asks how important the issue is to you, and how well you feel it is being handled by CFA. 

Why a fourth survey?

This year’s survey results will be compared with the first three years' figures, to show trends in how volunteers feel on each of the issues.  It is a co-operative process; VFBV and the CFA Board both studied the first three years' results and will continue to use the survey to highlight aspects of volunteer support that need attention.  Your individual answers will be confidential, but the overall results will go straight to the decision makers.

The survey is an important step forward in volunteer representation.  VFBV is established under the CFA Act to represent volunteers on all matters that affect their welfare and efficiency, and the VFBV Board commissioned this project to identify the factors that volunteers feel have a key impact on their welfare and efficiency, to establish ways of measuring whether things are getting better or worse, and to develop a process that uses these measures to ensure better support for volunteers and Brigades.  By repeating the survey periodically, VFBV can track trends in volunteers’ opinions.

Open to all CFA volunteers

Most Brigades are affiliated with VFBV, its officials are CFA volunteers and VFBV represents volunteers in dealings with CFA, the State Government and Opposition, and official inquiries, on everything from routine equipment and procedures to the future of the emergency services as a whole.  This survey is making our representation more effective and making sure every volunteer’s voice has the chance to be heard, whether you and your Brigade are directly involved with VFBV or not.

Last year’s survey drew more than 1,600 responses.

The survey will give VFBV facts and figures we can use in working for the benefit of volunteers, Brigades and the communities they protect, so we urge all CFA volunteers to take part. 

To take part in the survey, click here.

Members would remember in the October edition of our Newsletter & the Fireman, the advice that elastic waisted bushfire PPC was available that had been specifically designed to suit female members who may have difficulty wearing braces. This advice followed discussions between VFBV and CFA’s CEO and Chief Officer, who assured us that female members could exchange their existing PPC as a basic entitlement and that it would not be subject to District approval.

Following our article, VFBV received calls from female members who had tried to access the new PPC from their local CFA stores, only to be turned away. Advice given to members has ranged from – it is only available to new members, it is only available if you can demonstrate your existing PPC is unserviceable or damaged, or that it is not available due to budget cuts.

VFBV has been advocating for female fit PPC since 2004, and our position has always been female members are entitled to garments that have been specifically designed to cater for their needs and comfort, and they should not need to justify nor fight for what should be a basic entitlement. The Chief Officer has agreed, and was shocked at what was occurring in some Districts.

VFBV knows that it often takes time for CFA policy messages to filter down through Regions and Districts. We also know that sometimes volunteers get the run around at the local level when Regions or Districts put their own interpretation on corporate policy and apply their own extra barriers and red tape. This is not acceptable to us, and thankfully nor to CFA Executive. After hearing VFBV’s concerns, the Chief Officer has reissued a Memo to all District Offices and OM/OO’s instructing that female fit bushfire PPC is available to all new members, and current members may exchange their existing ensemble. Current members do not have to wait until their current PPC reaches end of life.

A copy of the Chiefs memo is available below. Any members who have difficulty accessing female fit PPC through the Districts are invited to contact the Chief Officer directly, who has promised to follow up any instances personally. You can email him directly at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Details can be found http://news.cfa.vic.gov.au/news/reminder-of-female-ppc.html

The following Operations Bulletin has been released by CFA this week;

Operations Bulletin 005/2014

Scope
This Operations Bulletin applies to CFA members operating Medium Tankers and 4.4R Concept Tankers which are equipped with electro-pneumatic operating 3 way valves (these units can be identified as they are also equipped with Ultra High Pressure (UHP) pumps). 

Purpose
To provide information to CFA members regarding the operation of the electro- pneumatic 3 way valve.

It has been identified that when CFA members are operating these appliances they need to be aware if the crew protection system is switched on while draughting, the electro-pneumatic operated 3 way valve will automatically default to the tank supply. This then results in water delivery to all outlets, including the crew protection system being supplied from water remaining in the appliances water tank, and not from the static supply.

Details
The 3 way valve requires to be energised to work in the draughting position. When not energised a spring mechanism in the 3 way valve always brings the valve back to the tank setting. This ensures if the tankers electrical system is disrupted during a burn over, the reserved tank water is available for protection of the crew in conjunction with the pump which will also remain functional unless switched off. This is a safety feature as any hose used for draughting during a burn over will not have protection afforded by the Crew Protection Sprays. 

In the case of a hydrant water supply being used when the Crew Protection Sprays are switched on, the supply will stay with the reticulated water because it feeds in after the 3 way valve just before the pump. In this situation if a boost length of hose to the hydrant fails during a burn over or the reticulation system fails, water supply to the pump will automatically revert to the tank supply as shown in figure 1. It is important to understand that there is no alarm or light to indicate this change has occurred.

Training material will be updated with this information for new appliances built from now onwards and existing documentation updated on CFA Online.
Note: In the event of a burn over when an appliance is connected to an unlimited static or reticulated water supply, the Crew Leader using the dynamic risk assessment process, has an alternative option to the Crew Protection Sprays instead of using hoses and water fogs to defend. This strategy would then include wetting down all fuel around the appliance in addition to using water fogs to protect the crew and essential elements of the appliance from radiant heat and direct flame impingement using as much water as practically possible.

Further Information
Contact the Operations Manager Wildfire Planning & Forestry Industry Brigades at CFA Headquarters on (03) 9262 8330.

The following letter has been received from regular contributor to
"The Fireman", Fireman Sam.

Mr Andrew Ford
CEO
VFBV

25.11.2014

Dear Andrew

I would not normally make a request like this because I have ample opportunity to express my opinions in my regular column in The Fireman, however, time is of the essence in this case. I am wondering whether you can use your networks to urgently convey my concerns to volunteers about the negative impact that the proposed appointment of 350 additional paid firefighting staff will have on the CFA as we know it.   

Over the years I have often drawn attention to government interference and meddling. Most recently, I compared the emergence of EMV with the 30 year old attempts to amalgamate CFA and MFB. Some of these Spring Street influences are consistent with CFA’s own planning and culture, others are not.

As with wildfires, a rapid response in sufficient force is essential to containment of the UFU wildfire that threatens the future viability of CFA as we know it.  We do not need another 350 paid firefighters over the next 4 years. If we did I am sure that the Chief Officer and the Authority would have been seeking them.

The appointments of so many additional paid firefighters poses a real threat to every country community and to the city interface areas. When Victoria burns, as we all know it will, I wonder where we will find the small army of volunteers that we currently are able to draw on from the outer metro areas, the so called “surge capacity” that CFA has come to rely on.

Appointment of additional paid firefighters in our existing stations has proven to be a recipe for fewer volunteers. The UFU know this and thru its connections with Labor is once again wanting to usurp the roles of the Board and of the Chief Officer. Why? Because it will help to achieve the UFU’s stated objective of a “career based firefighting service to cover the whole of the Melbourne urban area and other major regional centres”.

This is not a good policy framework for the Fire Service, nor is it in the best interests of the safety of the people of Victoria. The same type of union influence can also be seen in announcements made relating to the Ambulance Service.

We are saddled with, and have experienced for several years now, the frustrations and barriers caused by the restrictive clauses in the current staff EBA. They do not benefit the people of Victoria. They certainly don’t benefit the CFA as an organisation. That is the consequence of enabling a vested interest to have undue influence on decisions and processes that should rightfully be those of the Chief Officer and the Authority.

We need a government that will support the CFA in meeting the needs of volunteers, that understands country communities and the people that live in them. We need a government that will adhere to the purpose and provisions of the legislation that established the CFA, one that understands that the Chief Officer and the Authority are best placed to determine staffing and infrastructure needs.

If you need further evidence that 350 additional paid firefighters would be a bad thing for CFA consider the requirement for massive expenditure on new stations, extensions to existing ones, vehicles, etc.  We are seeing that with the employment of the current UFU inspired growth. Wherever the money comes from you can be sure that it will be detrimental to the slice of the cake directed to volunteer needs. 

The organisations ability to cater for the needs of volunteers, to provide our protective equipment and clothing, to manage and conduct our training will continue to be compromised. We will continue to feel that we are treated as second class firies.

Our integrated model is the envy of others. We need to make sure that our communities understand that there is a real downside to what Mr Andrews has announced. On the surface it sounds like a great idea. We know that it contains a real threat to the independence of the CFA, to our future capability and to the safety of our communities.

You have only until this Saturday to make sure that your community understands the hidden threats in the UFU’s grand plan. Don’t let UFU wishful thinking become CFA reality.

Andrew, I trust that what I am saying is not too out of step with VFBV’s own perspectives on these issues and that you will be sympathetic to my request for help.  The matter is too important to not do something.
Yours sincerely,

Fireman Sam

Dear members,

On Tuesday last week, Labor announced a suite of initiatives, including their deal with the union to allocate an additional 350 paid firefighters to CFA and 100 to MFB. Labor have confirmed to VFBV that this 350 additional paid firefighters is in addition to the 342 they forced into CFA’s EBA. Labor have confirmed that CFA did not request these additional firefighters and they do not have any idea where they are to be allocated but they have said CFA is to employ the 350 within the next 4 years.

Labor have also announced that they will reintroduce the Board of Reference and that they support the union having a say in where, how many and what numbers of paid firefighters are employed by CFA. They did not agree with us that this should be based solely on the determination by the CFA Chief Officer and based on a transparent, evidence and risk based needs analysis.

Last week, confirming they had no plans for where the additional paid firefighters could be located, Labor also confirmed they had not contemplated any specific fire stations capital funding to accommodate these firefighters, suggesting they thought they would be accommodated at existing CFA facilities.

One conclusion is that they genuinely have no idea and they will now need to strip $100 Million out of CFA’s existing budget to buy trucks and build new integrated stations. Another conclusion is that they are going to convert existing integrated stations to fully paid stations, marginalising volunteers and destroying 1000’s of CFA volunteer firefighter surge capacity workforce.

Labor’s policy announcement is a step backwards to the deal making of 5 and 6 years ago. There has been no discussion with CFA, VFBV or volunteers about what is needed to build and strengthen CFA capacity and no discussion about what would be smart in terms of maintaining and building volunteer capacity and strengthening and sustaining CFA’s volunteer based and integrated model.

None of the initiatives announced on Tuesday are designed to have any benefit or support to volunteers. When asked why Labor have turned their backs on volunteers; why they have ignored the fundamental principles of trust and integrity the Shadow Minister Wade Noonan said this was a very important issue for the union.

Be very clear, VFBV supports the provision of additional resources wherever determined by CFA Chief Officer and welcomes the support of additional paid firefighters wherever they are needed.

But a union/industrial driven CFA, designed and aided and abetted by a Labor Government to fulfil UFU’s stated position of creating a “career-based firefighting services to cover the whole of the Melbourne urban area and other major regional centres in Victoria” is something that we cannot stand by and let happen. We know what this means for a volunteer based and fully integrated CFA service model and is a disaster for Victoria’s emergency management capability. It will mean Victoria has no surge capacity for major incidents; it will reduce CFA volunteer numbers by 1000’s and it will kill CFA as we know it today.

For months we have been talking to Labor about what is needed if they are really serious about improving community safety and this includes:

• More resources to support training of volunteers
• Investment in a modern firefighting fleet
• Remove industrial restrictions that are designed to erode volunteer capacity
• Give CFA the flexibility to deploy resources when and where they are needed
• Remove industrial control over how CFA uses its workforce. 
• Ensure CFA’s integrated paid staff and volunteer model can work well 

They have ignored this and didn’t even have the decency to talk with us about their latest announcement.

Labor’s policy is a plan to destroy CFA’s volunteer based and integrated foundations and to reduce CFA volunteer firefighter numbers.

On the issue of Presumptive Legislation, Labor says it will do it; says it will include the 12 cancers but in the fine print says it will effectively discriminate against CFA volunteers. Labor said they could not provide VFBV a commitment that they will not differentiate between volunteers and paid staff in their legislation. They have quoted the Tasmanian model which discriminates against volunteer firefighters exposed to the same risks as their paid counterparts.

They are happy to find $150 million for more paid firefighters even when CFA hasn’t asked for them; even though CFA still has not had the need to deploy 100 of the last 342 but they say their model for Presumptive Legislation for volunteers will need to be restricted because there isn’t enough money. By the way they as we understand it, they haven’t limited the $$ for the paid firefighters Presumptive component. Similar to the Tasmanian approach to discrimination.

Labor have said it will support the unions push to reopen another inquiry into whether Fiskville is safe to use, and the contamination and health impact on employees.  From our conversation with Labor it looks to be nothing more than the unions push to close Fiskville.

CALL TO ACTION

Be very clear - the union will twist our reaction as being opposed to paid firefighters – this is not true.

The reality is that this deal between Labor and the union, and their complete disregard and disrespect for what it means for CFA volunteers, a CFA integrated service model, and actual local community capability, is sinister and the biggest threat to Victoria’s public safety, that we have not seen since Labor Minister Race Matthews tried to amalgamate MFB and CFA many years ago.

In summary can you spread this message as wide as you can.

We need to get our volunteers active so that the community can see the extreme threat that is posed by Labor’s policy announcement.

We need you, and the people you talk to, to activate a community backlash to this announcement now, and when they contemplate how to vote.

Hans van Hamond AFSM
State President

A message from the Board of Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria.

On Tuesday 18^th November, the Labor Party announced a policy that we believe will have grave and disastrous consequences for CFA.

As CFA volunteer firefighters with an average of over 40 years’ service each and as the elected board of the body established in Victorian law to be the voice of CFA volunteers, we feel the need to take this unprecedented action of activating all Victorians to help us stop a policy that has the potential to destroy CFA.

Our concern with the recently announced Labor policy is that it establishes external industrial interference with the CFA Chief Officer’s power to decide where and when and how he uses CFA firefighters.

We are also concerned that Labor’s policy will reduce CFA’s volunteer firefighting force by thousands of volunteers, pushing volunteers out of CFA stations and hundreds of CFA trucks off the road when we need them for major fires such as Black Saturday.

Labor has grossly underestimated the cost and impact of its policy.  Labor’s promise of $150M and an additional 350 paid firefighters actually only provides 70 additional paid firefighters on the ground at any one time under current paid firefighter rostering arrangements, and it will come at the expense of thousands of highly trained and professional volunteer firefighters.

We support and welcome additional paid support and resources for CFA, provided these resources are required and provided that the CFA determines the need, not a union.  Don’t be fooled, the plan announced by Labor is not about improving community safety in Victoria, the detail included in their announcement is about giving the control of CFA to a union.

Labor’s policy announcement includes specific provisions to surrender CFA operational decisions to an external industrial relations panel.

Instead of Labor’s policy, we need a plan that will recruit and train more CFA volunteer firefighters, provide trucks and equipment to combat fires and other incidents, investment in a modern firefighting fleet, give CFA the flexibility to deploy resources when and where they are needed and remove industrial control over how CFA uses its workforce.

Victoria is one of the most fire prone areas in the world and there are predictions of longer, hotter and more severe fire seasons ahead.  If Labor’s policy is allowed to push trained and experienced CFA volunteers out of fire stations across greater metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria will not have the fire fighting force it needs for day to day incidents and certainly will not have the force to deal with major incidents when they occur, such as Black Saturday.

When you vote on Saturday 29^th understand one thing, as some of Victoria’s most senior volunteer firefighters, we believe Labor’s policy for CFA is not good for CFA volunteers, is not good for Victoria and is not good for the future of CFA.
Signed;

All ten members of the VFBV Board. (The attached PDF copy includes all ten signatures)

A Message to the Labor Party

Dear (Labor) Member of Parliament,

This week the Board of Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria have taken the unprecedented step of publishing an open letter to the people of Victoria, to record their strong objection to Labor’s policy announcement of the 18^th November 2014 affecting the CFA.

The Board have not taken this decision lightly, and want you to understand the depth of despair and anger amongst volunteer ranks caused by Labor’s CFA policy - a policy that sweeps aside the role, discounts the work and ignores the rights of unpaid, hard-working and committed volunteers who make up over 97% of CFA’s 62,000 members and staff.

Make no mistake – this policy is a direct attack on CFA as a statutory volunteer based fire and emergency service where volunteers are supported by sufficient paid staff as expertly determined by the Chief Officer and who form a fully integrated workforce to deliver CFA services.

In 2011 Labor, Coalition and Green MPs in the Victorian Parliament unanimously voted to amend the CFA Act to explicitly recognise this long known fact.

Critical aspects of the amendment bill included:

• Statutory recognition of the Authority as a volunteer based organisation in which volunteers are supported by employees in a fully integrated manner ;
  
  
• Statutory recognition and acceptance of the Volunteer Charter which requires amongst other things that the Government and the Authority commits to meaningful consultation with the VFBV on behalf of CFA volunteers on any matter that might reasonably be expected to affect them;
  
  
• The statutory requirement that he Authority in performing its functions have regard to the commitment and principles set out in the Volunteer Charter; and,
  
  
• The statutory requirement that the Authority is responsible for developing policy and organisational arrangements that encourage, maintain and strengthen the capacity of volunteer officers and members to provide the Authority’s fire and emergency services.

The reason and purpose for these amendments were to set aside industrial arrangements introduced in the final years of the Brumby Government. Those arrangements failed to recognise that CFA and its services to the public are volunteer based and that the role of paid staff is to support such volunteers services as and when determined by the CFA’s Chief Officer and the Board of the Authority according to their statutory obligations.

Since these amendments, the CFA has fought and won cases in the Fair Work Commission and Federal Court that uphold its managerial and statutory responsibility to determine paid staff numbers and allocations within the organisation including its brigades on a needs basis as determined by the Chief Officer.

The CFA model recruits and integrates paid firefighters into volunteer brigades where they are needed to support the delivery of CFA services.

Labor’s policy axes this approach - it takes away the Chief’s role of determining these matters based on expertise and transfers it to an industrial board of reference. Further, it eliminates local volunteers and their state representatives from having any input into these decisions, despite their knowledge and experience.

This new Labor policy will have significant impacts upon CFA’s future and inevitably lead to a dramatic increase in costs to Victorians without any increase in public safety.

VFBV are deeply opposed to your support for the reinstatement of the previously short lived industrial board of reference. It changes the successful nature of the CFA as an organisation (which was consistently lauded by the Bushfire Royal Commission). It is an egregious attack on the independence and statutory powers of CFA’s Chief Officer. Decision making on key staffing issues is perverted from a critical operational matter to a matter of industrial negotiation.

To be clear, volunteers consider the office of the Chief Officer to be sacrosanct, and any attack on the independence and statutory authority of their Chief will be met with fierce and unrelenting resistance.

VFBV met with shadow Minister Wade Noonan last week following the announcement to express its concern and dismay at the policy. Nothing was provided during or since that meeting to allay our fears and we remain deeply concerned.

It was under the Bracks Labor Government that the Volunteer Charter was negotiated and signed by Steve Bracks as Premier, the CFA Chairman and the volunteer representatives. We now find that you have turned your back on the principles and values you told us were an enduring commitment. Volunteers have every right to feel aggrieved. Quite rightly, as the word spreads - volunteers will see your Party’s policy as a betrayal to the trust and respect afforded to you by CFA volunteers.
Sincerely,

Andrew Ford
Chief Executive Officer

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.