Families first as court rules on the $51m comedian Celeste Barber raised after bushfires

Court declares funds raised by Celeste Barber can be used to support families of dead volunteer firefighters.

Celeste Barber at the Fire Fight Australia bushfire relief concert at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on February 16. Picture: AAP

It is nearly six months since volunteer firefighters Geoffrey Keaton and Andrew O’Dwyer were killed — but it is only now that their former crewmates can breath a sigh of relief after a court declared funds raised by comedian Celeste Barber can be used to support the families they left behind.

Ben Robb, a senior deputy with the NSW Rural Fire Service at Horsley Park, in Sydney’s west, where Keaton and O’Dwyer were based, said it was the right decision. “We lost our hero mates,” he said. “The boys are always in our hearts.”

Keaton, 32, was the deputy captain of the Horsley Park brigade, having joined the service in 2006. He and fellow volunteer O’Dwyer, 36, died when a tree fell in the path of their truck near Buxton in the NSW southern highlands on December 19, causing it to veer off the road and roll. Both men were fathers of young children born within days of each other. The tragedy demonstrated to a shocked nation the sacrifices made by volunteer firefighters — for no pay, at the expense of time with their loved ones, and in the face of ever-present danger.

Mr Robb said he welcomed the decision on Monday by the NSW Supreme Court to allow injured volunteers and the families of firefighters who died to claim some of the $51m raised by Barber. “The decision has definitely brought back some painful memories,” he said. “But at least we’ve got some closure now, and we know donations will be used to help families.”

Anthony Ciccaldo, 35, is also a senior deputy at Horsley Park brigade. “It’s good to know that there will be resources and support for RFS volunteers and their families,” he said. “Any form of help is a huge deal. A lot of fireys are battling mental health issues now and that money will go a long way to helping those who need it most.”

Andrew O’Dwyer with daughter Charlotte. Picture: RFS

Less than two weeks after Keaton and O’Dwyer were killed, volunteer firefighter Samuel McPaul died when the fire truck in which he was travelling flipped in a “fire tornado” at Jingellic, about 100km east of Albury.

Thirty-three people died in the summer bushfires, including seven volunteer firefighters and three US firefighters. The sacrifices of the volunteers led The Australian to name the men and women of the firefighting services the newspaper’s Australians of the Year.

While injured volunteers and the families of firefighters who died would be able to apply to access the funds raised by Barber, none of the money donated to the NSW Rural Fire Services’ Brigades -Donations Fund — Barber’s nominated charity — could be shared with other charities or organisations, including the Red Cross, or firefighting brigades outside NSW, the court ruled.

Firefighters Ben Robb and Anthony Ciccaldo in Horsley Park, Sydney, on Monday. Picture: Nikki Short

The money can be used to provide physical and mental health support. However, at least 70 NSW RFS volunteers who lost or sustained significant damage to their homes are barred from accessing the money to help them rebuild.

Volunteer firefighter Steve Hillyar was battling a blaze on the NSW south coast on December 30, unaware his house in Malua Bay had been lost.

“I was pretty numb by the time I realised my house had been destroyed,” he said. “I had just been on the fire truck for 24 hours.”

Nearly five months after bushfires wiped out close to 460 homes on the NSW south coast, Mr Hillyar, his wife, and their three children are still living in his parents’ holiday house in Tomakin.

“It’s mind-blowing the amount of money that’s out there that should be going to people who have nothing,” Mr Hillyar said.

“The people of Australia donated this money and it should not be sucked up by the NSW -government.”

Geoffrey Keaton and son Keaton. Picture: RFS

Mr Hillyar, an RFS veteran of 26 years, said parts of Malua Bay resembled a “refugee camp”, with many victims of the Clyde Mountain bushfire left “high and dry”.

“It’s five months on and I’ve got friends who are still living out of caravans they paid for out of insurance money,” he said. “People here are still living without running water. We’ve been forgotten.”

Greg Allan from the RFS said about 450 volunteers had been financially “impacted on some level” following the bushfires, including members who had lost livestock, machinery and fencing.

Barber expressed disappointment with the court decision, which effectively ends a four-month impasse over how the RFS fund could spend the donations from her appeal.

“It was decided today in the Supreme Court that the money we raised will stay with the NSW RFS,” she said in an Instagram post.

“I had hoped, because it was such a big and ‘unprecedented’ amount, that it could have been distributed to other states and charities. Turns out that studying acting at university does not make me a lawmaker.

“So the money will be in the very capable, very grateful hands of the NSW RFS. It will be used for equipment and training, to support rural firefighters injured while fighting, the families of rural firefighters killed while fighting, along with mental health training and trauma counselling, to train up more volunteers and help communities be better prepared for the ongoing threat of bushfires here in our beautiful Australia.”