Volunteer firefighters appeal for income support, equipment amid bushfire crisis
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is in talks with the states to pay volunteer firefighters, after a senior minister broke ranks to say “it is not logical or sustainable” for them to remain unpaid.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison is discussing the possibility of paying volunteer firefighters with state premiers as the bushfire crisis continues.
Defence Minister Linda Reynolds said Mr Morrison was “acutely aware” that volunteers were working beyond allocated leave and that they “come under financial strain” when fighting fires to protect their communities.
“He’s been discussing [financial support] with the Premier of NSW and other state and territory leaders,” Ms Reynolds said during an appearance in Perth on Friday.
“The Prime Minister is looking at this issue further on how we can provide targeted support in these extreme circumstances so that our volunteers get the support they need to keep volunteering.”
The comments came after Nationals MP and Government frontbencher Darren Chester broke ranks and came out to publicly support the idea.
It comes after one of Mr Morrison’s ministers has said “it is not logical or sustainable” for volunteer firefighting forces to remain unpaid.
Veterans’ Affairs Minister Darren Chester told the ABC today he has asked his local electorate of Gippsland for feedback on the issue before taking any proposals to Cabinet when Parliament resumes next year.
Mr Chester said CFA volunteers were equipped and willing to fight blazes but longer term fires had large financial impacts on communities.
“This is a conversation that’s been ongoing in my electorate now since the Black Saturday bushfires, more than 10 year us a go,” he said.
“It is about recognising for those one off events, like a motor vehicle accident or structural fire in a town, the CFA volunteers are well trained and prepared and able to take time off work quickly to respond to those. Once you move into these campaign fires - fires that go days, weeks and months, we have volunteers taking a long time from their workplace, whether they are small business people, farmers, or employed in the town.
“Expecting them to take weeks and months to be on the fire grounds, side by side with state government employees, who are being paid, I think in the longer term we need to have this conversation now. It is about sustainability of the volunteer model.”
Mr Chester said it was a personal view he had developed after speaking with his constituents and that it was not the view of the Morrison Government.
“Can the CFA be sustainable in Victoria? ... or RFS in New South Wales? Can it be sustainable in the loer term when it is required - under changing climatic conditions, to be in the field for days, weeks and months? It is a long time away from your family,” he said.
“There is no clash between me and the Prime Minister.”
Mr Chester also said his National Party colleagues have raised similar concerns.
“It’s suggested the ageing nature of the volunteer workforce is making it difficult to maintain volunteer branches,” he said.
“Smaller towns have had people move as it’s become difficult with drought, or the increasing industrial relation of farms means there are less people.
How do we maintain the strong ethos of the volunteer service but understand there is long campaign fires that take more than volunteer and how much pressure can we keep putting on?”
Labor leader Anthony Albanese also called on the Government to offer more financial compensation for those who are volunteering to fight bushfires all over the country.
“They (the Government) really need to give consideration to providing some form of financial compensation to people who have been putting in- defending their local communities and making a difference to our country,” he said.
“This is the best of Australia- people helping out their fellow neighbours, their communities and their cities, towns and regions.
“It is unsustainable, however, to not have income for a period, not of days, not even weeks, but of months.”
The Sydney politician made the comments on Friday during a visit to fire-affected community Nowra in NSW.
He said Scott Morrison needed to use “common sense” and to adapt to the ongoing crisis.
Multiple fire advice warnings remain in place for much of Victoria’s Gippsland region.
It also comes as NSW firefighters are “giving their all” to contain large and complex bushfires as much as possible before conditions worsen under forecast high temperatures and dry winds.
After a devastating end to last week - when two firefighters were killed and as many as 100 houses were destroyed in the state - firefighters have used milder conditions to strengthen containment lines.
Almost 1300 were in the field on Friday morning as 70 bush and grass blazes continued to burn, with 33 of them uncontained.
NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said firefighters had been doing “really difficult ... challenging work” in areas like the Blue Mountains and south coast.
They had been establishing containment and control lines with hand tools and machinery, and doing extensive backburning, Mr Fitzsimmons told Seven’s Sunrise on Friday.
“They’ve also got aircraft that are coming in from above, and they’re lighting up using little incendiary devices to light up the landscape to help control the spread and the intensity of the fire,” he said.
“Because these fires are large, they’re complex and they’re very prone to the elements, once these weather conditions turn around, we know we’re going to see increased fire activity.
“So they’re just giving their all to shore up protection and trying to consolidate and contain them as much as they can.” RFS spokesman Ben Shepherd said firefighters had done great work through Christmas while the conditions remained favourable.
PM BOOSTS PAID LEAVE FOR VOLUNTEERS
Paid leave allowances for public service workers volunteering to battle bushfire blazes will be increased thanks to a federal government decision.
The announcement comes in a bid to get more boots on the ground and ensure volunteer firefighters can focus on the job at hand, according to Mr Morrison.
The Prime Minister said commonwealth public service workers will receive at least 20 working days’ paid leave – equivalent to 28 calendar days – if they volunteer as firefighters to help communities in need.
The change brings public servants into line with arrangements offered to the Australian Defence Force reservists.
“We’re helping get more boots on the ground and giving people who’ve been out there for weeks some relief,” Mr Morrison said, adding large employers should follow the government’s lead on volunteer leave arrangements.
“We know this does not address the situation for self-employed and small businesses directly, but it does mean those working for larger organisations can step in and take some of the load.”
Mr Morrison’s comments follow the president of a body representing thousands of volunteer firefighters hitting out at him and NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian for ignoring increasing public concerns over practical support for firefighters.
Volunteer Fire Firefighters Association president Mick Holton has called for immediate income support and masks for firefighters, saying the situation is now “out of control”.
Mr Morrison and Ms Berejiklian have continued to attest they have not had any special requests made of them by fire chiefs who are “very comfortable with the arrangements”.
Mr Holton’s comments come as exhausted volunteers to continue to grapple with an Australia in the midst of a bushfire crisis.
Mr Holton said volunteers should be reimbursed for fuel, and income loss, while fighting the fires.
“Why aren’t we picking up the tab for legitimate expenses like we do for paid people?” he said, according to reports.
“They volunteer as much as they can afford, sometimes even more than they can afford.
“It is not sustainable.”
MORRISON’S VISIT DIVIDES LOCALS
Meanwhile, Scott Morrison’s visit to bushfire ravaged NSW has divided locals who battled a “fireball” while the prime minister was on holiday in Hawaii.
Mr Morrison took an aerial tour on Monday of the bushland where the Gospers Mountain megafire destroyed dozens of buildings around the Bilpin, Dargan and Clarence areas in the Blue Mountains over the weekend, before arriving in Mudgee to meet evacuated residents and NSW Rural Fire Service members.
Residents fled their homes last Saturday night after the massive Gospers Mountain and Oakey Creek fires joined, creating what locals have described as a “fireball” that tore through the area north west of the Blue Mountains.
Mr Morrison spoke with locals staying at the Mudgee Evacuation Centre who were nervously waiting to hear if their homes – saved once already on the weekend – were again about to be in the path of the megafire after it changed direction.
Ilford family John and Nova Cunningham and their three children arrived at the Mudgee Evacuation Centre at 11pm on Saturday, and have been forced to remain in town while they wait for an update about their home.
“There was a fireball that came through, it was this huge roar and that’s when it just hit everybody and we had to leave,” Ms Cunningham said.
“Our house is okay we think and we’re hoping to hear an update today if we can return, but the wind has changed the fire’s direction so we’re definitely not in the clear yet.”
Mr Cunningham said he thought it was “good” Mr Morrison had visited but felt he shouldn’t have gone on holiday last week.
“I believe everyone is entitled to a holiday, but I think as the voice of the people he probably should have stayed,” Mr Cunningham said.
“I think it’s a good thing he made the time to come out though.”
Running Stream farmers Diana, 73, and Keith Rutter, 76, said they were pleased Mr Morrison visited the evacuation centre but did not think he should have cut his holiday on Hawaii short to do so.
“He shouldn’t have come back from holiday early, because he’s going to be needed so much more in the new year,” Ms Rutter said.
“And what difference does it make, okay it’s good for morale but when he came back he would have been refreshed because he’s going to have a hard time when this is over and done with, there’s so much damage to NSW.”
Mr Rutter said the fire came within a foot of his back door on Saturday, but the blaze changed direction and headed back toward his home.
“So far we’re okay, some of my animals got a bit singed, but now the worry is the fire is coming back,” he said.
The Rutters’ son is a volunteer with the RFS and has been away fighting fires since they started.
“He’s a farmer so when it started he just went and he’s been fighting the fires ever since,” Mr Rutter said.
PM WON’T BUDGE ON CLIMATE CHANGE POLICY
It comes as Mr Morrison has rejected any new adjustment to the government’s climate change policy as he continues to deal with the fallout of a controversial overseas holiday, while the country continues to be gripped by deadly fires.
Mr Morrison said was on track to meet emissions objectives and the government would not bow to “reckless” targets.
“Australia’s emissions are 50 million tonnes on average lower every year under our government than the previous government,” Mr Morrison said.
“We have more renewable energy going into our system now than we have seen before.
“We have the policies and plans to not only meet and beat the Kyoto commitments which fall due next year, but also we will meet and beat Paris commitments as well.
“Australia is taking action on climate change.
“What we won’t do is engage in reckless and job destroying and economy crunching targets which is seeking to be postured to us at the moment, taking advantage of national disasters.
“Because no Australian would think that the direct policies of any single government in the world is directly linked to any fire event.”
Mr Morrison was also quizzed by host Jonathan Uptin over whether he was “embarrassed” at how Australia, and his leadership, was being seen globally.
“People from outside Australia will make whatever comments they want,” Mr Morrison said.
“I’ll set Australia’s policies consistent with what I took to the last election and what I believe — and my government believes — is Australia’s national interest.”
He was also asked on Seven’s Sunrise if he thought the community’s feelings on climate change had changed since the election.
“The plans that we have are as important now as they were then. We will beat our Kyoto targets … we will meet out Paris targets and I intend to beat those as well,” the prime minister said.
“I made a promise to the Australian people to take action on climate change and I am.”
OPINION: BUSHFIRES HAVE TESTED US BUT AUSTRALIA WILL PREVAIL
Mr Morrison made his first public appearance on Sunday after returning from a much-criticised Hawaiian holiday to deal with the escalating bushfires crisis, saying he accepted criticism of his ill-timed trip.
The prime minister apologised to the Australian public for being away as the country continues to deal with deadly fires.
“I have obviously returned from leave and I know that has caused some great anxiety in Australia and (my wife) Jenny and I acknowledge that,” Mr Morrison said.
“If you had your time over and you had the benefit of hindsight, you would have made different decisions.”
But he refused to accept criticism that his government was not doing enough to tackle climate change, and denied there was a fracture within the party over the issue.
“People can expect my government to do what it promised to do, what it took to the last election,” Mr Morrison said. “I don’t accept the suggestion that Australia is not carrying its weight.”
During an extensive press conference at NSW RFS headquarters, Mr Morrison also addressed links between the fires and climate change and his government’s approach to the issues.
“Our Government has always, and I have always, acknowledged the connection between these weather events and these broader fire events and the impacts globally of climate change. It’s one of many factors,” he said.
“The drought conditions have certainly been a big contributor in terms of the dryness of the fuel load. There are also many other issues — issues of management in national parks of fuel loads, issues of backburning and managing native vegetation and building codes.”
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He also took the opportunity to press his government’s claims on fighting climate change.
“There is no argument, in my view, of the government’s view, and any government in the country, about the links between broader issues of global climate change and weather events around the world,” he said.
“But I’m sure people would equally acknowledge the direct connection to any single fire event is not a credible suggestion to make.”
“We welcome investment in renewable energy technologies and at the same time we welcome the fact we pursue our climate policies while getting electricity prices down.”
‘HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE’: THUNBERG WEIGHS IN ON BUSHFIRES
Teen climate change activist Greta Thunberg has blamed political inaction for fuelling Australia’s bushfire crisis.
Thunberg, 16, took to Twitter on Sunday night as Mr Morrison rejected any adjustments to Australia’s climate change policy.
“Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action,” Thunberg said.
“How is this possible?
“Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #AustraliaFires.
“That’s what has to change. Now.”
Not even catastrophes like these seem to bring any political action. How is this possible?
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 22, 2019
Because we still fail to make the connection between the climate crisis and increased extreme weather events and nature disasters like the #AustraliaFires
That's what has to change.
Now. https://t.co/DQcZViKJQz
Hi all... Here's another picture, of #ScoMo alone this time. According to my uncle, everyone left and he stayed after the sunset for a while #auspol #AUSTRALIANBUSHFIRES #Scummo #wherethebloodyhellareya #WhereTheBloodyHellAreYou #whereisScoMo #WheresScotty #wheresscomo pic.twitter.com/209gq1NiyK
— Ben Parsons (@parso81) December 20, 2019
QLD PREMIER STARTS LEAVE AS FIRES RAGE
Annastacia Palaszczuk has been subject to a “double standards” call after she commenced Christmas leave while bushfires continue to burn in Queensland.
Opposition industrial relations and education spokesman Jarrod Bleijie tweeted yesterday: “So it seems the left-wing trolls have a problem with the PM spending time with his family on a short holiday but have no problem with the leader of the state … who (by the way) is responsible for fire response being on holidays and apparently just boarded a cruise.”
Dozens of fires raged throughout Queensland on Sunday but they did not pose any immediate threat to people or property.
A government spokesman told The Australian Ms Palaszczuk planned to spend some of her holiday on North Stradbroke Island.
“The Premier is on leave in Queensland and is able to return at any time if needed,” the spokesman said.
It came after South Australian Premier Steven Marshall cancelled his overseas trip on Friday as bushfires ravaged the state.
More than 70 homes have been destroyed in South Australia and many more damaged, along with hundreds of outbuildings and vehicles.
Originally published as Volunteer firefighters appeal for income support, equipment amid bushfire crisis
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