The ongoing dispute over restructuring the state’s fire service threatens to undermine the public’s confidence in the CFA, the organisation’s chief says.
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CFA chief officer Steve Warrington was in the south-west across the weekend meeting with brigades about the proposed fire services split.
He said it was time to stop the “blueing” and begin to mend bridges within the fire service.
“There are other parties talking that are taking the opportunity to put their own spin and their own view on it,” he said.
“Our people are listening to – it could be Liberal, it could be Labor, union, volunteer representation – they’re listening to other representative bodies, but it’s about hearing the truth from us.
“There’s a lot of mistrust and a lot of anxiety around the place. I think because when we started there was a view that volunteers would be removed, the powers of the chief officer would be removed, there was a view that the Metropolitan Fire Brigade would take over – all these different concepts and ideas – a lot of them actually haven’t eventuated.”
Under legislation tabled in the lower house last week, the CFA will remain a volunteer-only service, while paid firefighters would become part of the new Fire Rescue Victoria.
In responding to concerns the split would undermine good working relationships between volunteers and paid firefighters, Mr Warrington said that was already becoming a reality because of the long-running EBA dispute.
“We’ve been in dispute with political arguments now for some time... what I’m finding is that good relationship is starting to be eroded, or in some cases is eroded,” he said.
“We need to make sure the blueing stops. What the blueing has done is undermine the confidence at some locations. It has the potential, or maybe has, (undermined the confidence) of the public in our ability to provide a service.
“I think we need to put a stop to it and then we can start to mend bridges, or in some locations maintain… the staff-volunteer relationship.”
Outside of Warrnambool and Portland – the south-west’s only stations with both paid and unpaid firefighters – Mr Warrington said there would be little change if the restructure went ahead.
“From a community point of view, people in the community should see no change in service, in a sense, because they will still work side by side, they will still turn out together and support each other,” he said.
“For our career firefighters, in particular, over a period of time they will transition to a different looking uniform, a different organisation that will work differently. But the reality is, they will still work the same on a fire ground.”
Mr Warrington said not much would change for volunteer brigades.
“If I’m the captain of Koroit and there’s a fire at Koroit, house fire, grass fire, I’m in charge of that fire. If the Fire Rescue Victoria truck turns up, the captain of Koroit is still in charge,” he said.
“A lot of our people have been told that when the staff turn up the volunteers get downgraded, removed et cetera. That’s now no longer the case – that’s the big difference.
“We (the CFA) continue to exist and we maintain our powers, we maintain our responsibility, resources, equipment – everything remains the same.”
South-west volunteer firefighter representative Owen O’Keefe has expressed concern the split was a “rushed solution” done without consultation that would “ultimately break down the operational procedures”.