CFA funding: Victorian government strips fire authority of $70m

The Victorian government has secretly stripped the CFA of almost $70m, while pumping $1 billion into the union-dominated FRV.

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria says Jacinta Allan’s Government has applied the “blow torch” to the CFA, stripping it of almost $70m.

The Victorian government has secretly stripped the CFA of almost $70m to fund other emergency agencies, as the United Firefighters Union strangles the supply of commanders and instructors needed to support volunteers.

The CFA’s financials show the government has steadily eroded the volunteer service’s core funding, by lifting its contribution to Emergency Management Victoria, Triple Zero Victoria and other agencies, from $26m four years ago to a whopping $67.4m in 2023-24.

In contrast the government has kept the union-dominated Fire Rescue Victoria’s payments to the same agencies at about $26m a year since 2020-21, while increasing its funding over the past four years from $859m to more than $1 billion.

By charging the CFA almost three times as much as FRV to fund other emergency agencies the government has effectively cut the volunteer services funding from $324m in 2020-21 to $272m in 2023-24, exacerbating equipment shortages, delaying station upgrades and volunteer support.

CFA v FRV funding.

Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria chief executive Adam Barnett said the government had applied the “blow torch” to the CFA, with the $67m “secretly funnelled away by the Department of Justice and Community Safety to fund its army of public servants who will never hold a hose or ride on the back of an old fire truck”.

“That money could have replaced 206 light tankers or 138 medium tankers – the work horses of CFA’s fleet,” Mr Barnett said.

“To add insult to injury, after hiking its Fire Service Property levy to collect an additional $186 million this year, Treasury has admitted that only 25 per cent of the levy goes towards CFA, effectively meaning regional Victorian’s are funding FRV’s cost blowouts.”

While the government has committed to build just 15 new pumpers over the next three years, Mr Barnett said that was nothing compared to the 1970 tankers that will require replacing and did not receive a single extra cent.

Emergency Services Minister Jaclyn Symes’ office said the government had delivered “record funding for our fire services” and that “every dollar of these quarantined amounts is put back into the agency it has been given to — they are not funding cuts”.

The Victorian Minister for Emergency Services, Jaclyn Symes. Picture: David Crosling

Meanwhile the UFU is strangling the CFA, leaving it at times without 20 per cent of the career commanders and assistant chief fire officers it needs, according to Victoria’s Fire Services Implementation Monitor’s latest report.

All CFA career staff must be seconded from Fire Rescue Victoria, which in turn must gain union approval on every aspect of how those CFA commanders and assistant chief fire officers are managed – from occupational health and safety reporting to disputes, grievances and relief management.

Implementation Monitor Niall Blair said the “consult and agree” clause in FRV’s enterprise agreement with the UFU was “impeding agency interoperability and contributing to operational challenges such as the vacancy and relief issues experienced by CFA”.

Mr Blair said “in 2023-24, CFA experienced a deficit of, on average, 17 senior operational leaders (Commanders and ACFOs) each week.

“This equates to 11 per cent of CFA’s operational workforce. At its worst, CFA experienced a deficit of 33 operational positions (20.6 per cent of its operational workforce) for one week in 2023-24.”

He said the vacancies had resulted in “CFA districts, groups, brigades and volunteers not receiving the dedicated operational support and leadership they need to ensure operational preparedness and readiness”.

Niall Blair.

The CFA also reported the vacancies were affecting its ability to maintain operations against its statutory obligations and provide safe systems of work in relation to fatigue management of its seconded workforce.

Yet it appears neither Emergency Services Minister nor Premier Jacinta Allan are willing to break the Labor-aligned UFU stranglehold over the fire services.

The CFA, whose media comments are closely managed by the government, aired its frustration by stating “vacancy and non-relief capacity continue to be raised with FRV,

Emergency Management Victoria” and the department.

“(Yet) ongoing patterns of vacancies and non-relief have continued to be experienced.”

FRV is contractually required to supply 96 operational commanders and 45 ACFOs.

Mr Blair said his office had also received evidence of industrial action impacting CFA activities, particularly in co-located stations.

“This influence is hindering the completion of key actions underpinning the implementation plan, impacting operations and damaging the culture of the agencies and morale on the ground.”

Mr Barnett called on Premier Allan to intercede and “commit to fixing the issues and dumping the failed secondment arrangements that handicap Victoria’s largest fire service”.

“The Victorian Government must commit to restoring the CFA chief officer’s direct control of his operational workforce and full performance management of his chain of command,” Mr Barnett said.

Mr Blair was appointed four years ago to monitor the Allan-Andrews government’s forced merger all Metropolitan Fire Brigade and CFA career staff into FRV, along with 38 CFA stations.