Controversial bid to shake-up MFB, CFA with new Fire Rescue Victoria back on agenda

The CFA would become a volunteer-only organisation under plans reheated by the Andrews Government today.

The Andrews Government will today reheat its bid to split the fire services by reintroducing proposed new laws to parliament.

The legislation would create a new Fire Rescue Victoria to replace the MFB, with its territory to cover the 38 “integrated” fire districts that share career and volunteer firefighters.

The CFA would be reduced to a volunteer-only organisation, sparking fears its firefighters could be sidelined and its numbers will nosedive.

Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the government was confident it had the upper house numbers to pass the bill, possibly as early as next week.

CFA crews working east of Melbourne. Picture: Mark Stewart

“We want to get this done, we want to move on from this,” she said.

“We want to build a really strong career organisation. We want to continue to build the best volunteer agency.”

Legislation to split the fire services was controversially defeated last year when two Liberal MPs reneged on a Good Friday “pairing” to vote it down.

The same bill, including amendments made last year, will return to parliament today.

The government is confident it can garner enough crossbench support in the Legislative Council to pass the bill, after its numbers were bolstered and the Coalition was reduced to just 11 upper house MPs at November’s state election.

Flanked by Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp, MFB boss Dan Stephens and CFA acting chief Gavin Freeman, Ms Neville said despite the complex reform, firefighting would be “business as usual”.

“Will there be a truck turn up at your place if your house is on fire? Yes,” she said.

“If there’s a bushfire, our aircraft, our crews will be attending that bushfire just as they have last season, as they will this one and every season going forward.”

Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville will reintroduce the bill to parliament. Picture: AAP Image/Stefan Postles

Critics have argued that the changes will reduce the role of volunteers, particularly at integrated stations in regional centres and Melbourne’s fringes.

Stations in Bendigo, Ballarat, Warrnambool, Craigeburn, Sunbury, Pakenham and Cranbourne are among the 38 fire districts to be affected.

The Herald Sun revealed in January that the number of operation CFA volunteers had dropped to a 10-year low.

The CFA’s 2017-18 annual report showed the state had lost more than 600 boots-on-the-ground volunteers, to 34,586, in the previous financial year alone.

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But Mr Stephens said it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to create a new fire service, and promised volunteers would not be forced out.

“We simply couldn’t function without the volunteer component within the CFA,” he said.

“My commitment to the volunteers is exactly the same as that of the Minister and that of the CFA: they are fundamentally important and they absolutely have a place.

“It would be my desire that all of the integrated stations remain such and volunteers remain on those stations.”

The government hopes to have the new structure up and running, at the latest, by June next year.

It will the overhaul of IT systems, upgraded communication links and a potentially-costly new EBA that would “align” conditions and ranks.

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@moniquehore