A parliamentary committee report wants the Victorian Government’s fire services bill to be axed

THE Andrews Government’s controversial restructure of the fire services has been slammed by the parliamentary committee charged with reviewing the proposed changes.

THE Andrews Government’s controversial restructure of the fire services has been slammed by the parliamentary committee charged with reviewing the proposed changes.

The government has been told to immediately withdraw the bill in a report authored by three Coalition MPs and Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP Daniel Young.

A minority report by four Labor and Greens members recommended passing the bill with a number of amendments.

As chair, Liberal MP Gordon Rich-Phillips was able to use his casting vote to deliver the majority report.

A CFA firefighter attend to an unknown chemical hazard.

In the report, Emergency Services Minister James Merlino was found to have tried to “frustrate the committee” by stopping it accessing a landmark review into sexism and bullying in the fire services.

The committee found the impact on the state’s critical surge capacity to deal with major incidents “was disputed”, and stressed the importance that it not be undermined.

It recommended that part of the bill — providing presumptive rights compensation for firefighters suffering from cancer — should be resubmitted and supported as a separate piece of legislation.

The government was slammed for its lack of consultation before introducing the bill, and was found to not have well developed plans for how the changes would be implemented.

Under the proposed changes, the Metropolitan Fire Brigade would be abolished and replaced by a new agency, Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV), while the Country Fire Authority would be turned into a purely volunteer service and stripped of a number of brigades.

“The government’s failure to consult with the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria as required by the Volunteer Charter and the Country Fire Authority Act 1958 has caused considerable concern to Country Fire Authority volunteers, reinforced the perception of a bias towards the United Firefighters Union, and undermined confidence in the restructure proposal,” the committee’s report said.

“The government’s original written submission to the committee contained substantial errors relating to its claimed level of consultation. Its failure to acknowledge and correct those errors until prompted by the committee undermines confidence in the claimed consultation process.

“In the committee’s view, the government’s consultation on the proposed restructure to Victoria’s fire services has been inadequate, and in the case of consultation with volunteers, in contravention of the CFA Act.”

UFU Victoria secretary Peter Marshall outside a Senate Inquiry in Melbourne. Picture: Mark Stewart

The committee said the cost of the restructure was unknown and “very limited information has been made available outlining those implications”.

The MFB and the Department of Premier and Cabinet were slammed for “interfering” in the committee’s work by telling firefighter and other public sector workers how they should make submissions.

Kristen Hilton, commissioner of the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.

The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner Kristen Hilton was also criticised for refusing to release a draft of her organisation’s report into sexism and bullying in the fire services.

The committee served a summons on the commission to release the document.

It can now be revealed Mr Merlino then made a claim of executive privilege on the document, claiming it couldn’t be released to the committee.

“The committee regards the changing explanations provided by the Victorian Equal

Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner for her failure to comply with the

summons, along with the Government’s claim of executive privilege as designed to

frustrate the Committee’s Inquiry,” the report said.

Mr Merlino said VEOHRC requested executive privilege for the report and after receiving

legal advice the government met the request.

In their separate report, Labor and Greens members said the bill should be backed but supported some changes including greater consultation and a rethink on whether CFA operational staff should be seconded from the new FRV.

“The minority report, unlike the majority report has not dismissed the substantial evidence,

particularly from hundreds of frontline firefighters, of the deficiencies in Victoria’s outdated fire

services framework that prevent the best possible outcomes when it comes to community

safety,” they said.

Liberal MP Gordon Rich-Phillips at an event in Melbourne.

In his forward, Mr Rich-Phillips said the proposed restructure was “developed quickly, bypassing normal government consultation processes”.

“In preparing the legislation in isolation from the fire services, the Government

did not develop any implementation, operational, or funding plans,” he said.

“As such, there is limited information available to the community, as to how the restructure

would work.

“Given the lack of clarity around implementation, operations and funding under

this proposal; the failure to undertake consultation with effected parties; and

the near total polarisation of volunteer and career firefighters, the committee

recommends that government withdraw the bill.”

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