Inquiry calls for RFS donations to be allocated to injured firefighters

A NSW upper house inquiry has called for the NSW Rural Fire Service to create a fund for injured and killed firefighters using donations raised by comedian Celeste Barber during the summer's horror bushfires.

The NSW RFS has allocated at least $90 million in donations made to the NSW RFS and Brigades Donations Fund, with the money to be spent on equipment and support for fire brigades.

Barber helped direct more than $51 million in donations to the same trust after setting up a social media campaign in January.

In a report tabled in the Legislative Council on Friday, an upper house committee recommended some of the unallocated donations from that campaign be used to create a "benevolent fund" to directly support volunteer firefighters and their families.

Celeste Barber on stage at a Fire Fight bushfire relief concert in February. Credit: Dean Sewell

"Our hope is that this will provide immediate support to volunteer firefighters who have been injured and/or who have lost their homes to fires during the course of their volunteer duties, and to the families of firefighters who have lost their lives," committee chair Robert Borsak said.

Three government MPs opposed the recommendation to establish the fund, but were outnumbered by Labor and crossbench MPs.

In a statement an RFS spokesman said the agency was "already working on establishing a benevolent fund" using $15 million allocated by the trust to go towards "a number of volunteer welfare programs".

"The families of the NSW RFS firefighters who died last fire season have received funds from specific fundraising accounts that were set up to support them. The community showed a significant level of support to these funds, and every dollar went directly to the families," the spokesman said.

Chair of the RFS trust Andrew Macdonald told the inquiry this month the welfare programs may include grief and trauma counselling and the provision of education grants and scholarships.

The distribution of donations generated by Barber's campaign has devolved into a source of contention, after it emerged the trust's structure dictated the money could only be used for limited purposes including: purchasing firefighting equipment, maintaining facilities, training, and administrative expenses.

This was reaffirmed in a Supreme Court decision in May, which found the money could not be given to other charities or fire services, but could be used to set up a fund for RFS firefighters who are injured or killed.

The committee's inquiry was triggered by a bill put forward by Greens MLC David Shoebridge that would amend the Rural Fires Act to allow donations made between November and February to go towards bushfire-affected communities and individuals.

The report did not endorse Mr Shoebridge's bill, but recommended it proceed to debate.

Mr Shoebridge, who was deputy chair of the inquiry, said it was "unacceptable" that "not one dollar from this generous donation has gone to injured firefighters or people who lost their home in the fires."

The RFS opposes the bill, arguing in a submission to the inquiry the court decision should be respected.

"To do anything else would undermine the spirit of the trust and any efforts to raise money for brigades in the future," the submission said.

Barber, in her submission, said the "unprecedented circumstances" warranted consideration of a change in the rules.

"My concern is that if it is not possible to help these people have their money allocated to where they want it to go in this unprecedented instance that this may be the last we see of such generosity on such an international scale," the submission said.

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