United Firefighters Union angered over airport virus task

Queensland's firefighter union says a new State Government directive deploying fireys to help with the COVID-19 crisis is ‘low-level admin work’ their officers shouldn’t be involved in.

FIREFIGHTERS have been deployed to Brisbane airports to hand out COVID-19 information forms in a move that has angered their union.

Under direction from the Chief Health Officer, professional firefighters were deployed to the airports earlier this month, United Firefighters Union Queensland General Secretary John Oliver said.

In a message to union members, Mr Oliver said the move placed crucial first responders in danger and depleted resources available for emergencies.

"I and your executive and state committee consider this to be ill-conceived, poorly thought through and, at best, a total misuse of critical emergency response capability and, at worst, a lazy decision to put some of you directly at risk of exposure to COVID19 for absolutely no reason," he wrote.

"No other Australian jurisdiction has been so foolish as to risk some of the most important emergency workers in their state or territory to do such low-level administrative work carrying such high risk."

Mr Oliver's comments have been met with criticism by volunteer firefighters, however, who now say they will have to take on the role without pay.

One person who contacted The Courier-Mail said professional firefighters were getting paid for the task and had more safety equipment made available to them than volunteers.

"The firefighters were provided with more personal protective equipment than is available to many health workers but despite this they are crying that they are being put at risk, which is bulls**t," the person said.

"(There's) no more risk than going to a shopping centre. This is domestic interstate flights only.

"There are also police and health officials there to control and assess patients."

Mr Oliver said he was prepared to take the matter to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission.

He also urged any firefighter tasked to the airport to hand out forms to immediately contact their union.

"There are a multitude of other agencies, and even within QFES multiple groups of people potentially better suited to doing the work at the airports due to them not being necessary for critical emergency response (for example non-frontline staff in administrative roles)," he wrote.

In a message to union members last Friday, Mr Oliver said that Queensland Fire and Emergency Service had listened to the union's concerns and agreed to use "a combination of SES and public service ready reserve personnel in lieu of FRS going forward".