Bushfires: irate fireys seek millions in compo

Retired CFA captain Frank Whelan and former CFA captain Warren Davis at Lilydale fire station in Victoria, where they have both been reinstated as volunteers. Picture: David Geraghty

The Andrews government is facing a multi-million-dollar compensation suit on behalf of a group of Victorian volunteer firefighters after a three-year investigation into alleged corruption within the ranks of the Country Fire Authority was dropped amid claims it had been conducted illegally.

Three veteran firefighters, who have since been exonerated of any wrongdoing, claim they had been the victims of a “political hit” orchestrated by the United Firefighters Union during a long-running battle for control over the state’s fire rescue services.

They are now claiming “aggravated and punitive” compensation after having been cleared by the state’s corruption watchdog and having had 137 “improper” ­charges laid against them by a separate independent CFA-appointed investigator withdrawn.

The Australian can reveal that lawyers acting for the men, who have been reinstated to their CFA positions at the Lilydale Fire Brigade unit three years after having been suspended at the height of the union dispute, have formally written to the CFA demanding compensation after being subjected to raids on their homes.

One of the men, Frank Whelan, a veteran volunteer firefighter, told The Australian he and his colleagues had been politically “targeted” for speaking out during the turf war between the professional and volunteer firefighters and the Victorian government backed-union push to break up the CFA, which spilled into the 2016 federal election campaign.

“We have fairly good intelligence that we were the meat in the sandwich … We had been set up to cop a whack,” Mr Whelan said.

“It was political … We were prominent in opposing the whole thing … It tuned out Warren and I were a good target.

“It is an absolute disgrace. The way they flayed us.

“And it broke my heart. I love the CFA … and we felt it was a betrayal … We felt broken about it.”

The three men were targeted in July 2017 when an investigator was appointed to look into the handling of CFA businesses that raised money for the volunteer organisation, including allegations the fundraising businesses were being embezzled.

A month later, the matter was referred to the Independent Broad based Anti-Corruption Commission). Despite IBAC concluding its investigation without any recommendations against the men — writing to them on April 15, 2019, to say no action was being taken against them — the CFA’s independent investigation was resumed. In May last year, the three men were served with 137 charges in total under offences provisions of the CFA.

Barrister Bret Walker SC was engaged on behalf of the claimants to deal with concerns over the procedural conduct of the investigation late last year.

In August this year, the charges were withdrawn without ever being heard and the men were reinstated but were forced to sign a confidentiality agreement preventing them from discussing ­aspects of the investigation.

Arro lawyers, acting for the men, claimed the CFA investi­gation breached its legal powers and the investigator appointed had acted outside his powers as an investigative officer.

In a letter to the CFA last week, Arro claimed the authority’s investigation had breached its statutory duty and owed a duty to care under law to the volunteers, whose suspensions they claimed had been invalid. “Despite the full exoneration of the claimants giving rise to their reinstatement as CFA volunteers, we note that the claimants’ claims for compensation, about which your client has been on notice for over a year, remains unaddressed,” it said.

“You confirmed that your client does not consider it necessary to address the issue of compensation. As a result, this letter is intended to set out, in detail, the claimants’ grievances concerning your client’s conduct and failure to comply with its legal obligations owed to the claimants from July 2017. Furthermore, this letter also seeks to address the consequences of your client’s actions, namely the claimants’ entitlement to significant monetary damages.”

In an October 9 email, the CFA confirmed the charges had been withdrawn.

The investigation into the Lilydale brigade came at the height of tensions in the fire ser­vices that had prompted interventions by the Turnbull government to pass workplace laws giving volunteers a say in workplace negotiations.

Mr Whelan said senior colleagues at CFA had privately conceded the investigation should never have taken place. “Our families got knocked around … We got raided early in the morning. It’s the most dreadful thing,” he said.

The CFA has not responded to the legal requests from the three volunteers.