THE CFA issue has been a divisive one for several years and the divisions spread to the volunteer ranks at State Upper House hearings in Hamilton on the proposal to split the CFA.
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CFA volunteers from south-west volunteer only CFA stations put a very different case at Friday’s hearings to that given by volunteers from stations that have both volunteer and paid firefighters such as Warrnambool and Portland.
Those from the integrated stations, who appeared with the paid CFA station chiefs, did not depart from the line that they got along fine with the paid firefighters at their stations.
That was disputed by Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) councillor Owen O’Keefe, of Winslow, who said he understood it was “no bed of roses” between volunteer and paid firefighters at integrated stations.
Mr O’Keefe said he knew of some volunteers who had left integrated stations and gone to volunteer only stations.
He said paid CFA staff were government employees and could be expected to support the government’s proposal to make the CFA an volunteer-only organisation and place paid firefighters in a separate body.
The difference in opinions prompted a blunt call from committee member metropolitan Labor MP, Shaun Leane, for hard evidence on why the volunteer only stations opposed the proposal other than it would “hurt their feelings.”
David Blackmore, from the Westmere CFA Group that operates east of the Grampians, said he did not agree with the proposal to second paid staff to the volunteer-only CFA.
“The CFA should have the ability to employ its own people,” he said.
Mr O’Keefe said he was also concerned the only way CFA volunteers could get a paid position under the proposal was to do the training for paid firefighters.
“If you have tremendous personal skills, you still have to come in through a station,” he said.
Another committee member, Labor MLC Jaclyn Symes, attacked Mr O’Keefe’s credentials as a defender of the CFA, citing a 2012 media report that he supported the former Liberal government’s funding cuts to the CFA.
Mr O’Keefe responded that 2012 was a long time ago and he could not recall the situation.