VOLUNTEER Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) District 23 president Garry Nash is calling for an inquiry into the state's fire services following a damning report from the state monitor.
The Victorian fire services monitor Niall Blair recently released his report revealing systemic issues presenting as a significant barrier to progression of actions jointly led by CFA and FRV.
Mr Nash, who has decades of experience with the CFA, has called for a bipartisan Legislative Council Inquiry so volunteer and professional firefighters are listened to so it can be reformed into a workable entity by the government.
"This needs to be done soon rather than waiting for a disastrous fire season or another Black Saturday where people are killed and communities are devastated," he said.
"The CFA Fire Chief should be in charge of the CFA, not being controlled by government or a union."
Concerns in the report include high level vacancies in the CFA that have resulted in brigade level volunteers not receiving dedicated operational support and leadership they need to ensure preparedness and readiness.
In 2023/24, CFA experienced a deficit of, on average, 17 senior operational leaders (i.e. commanders and ACFOs) each week, equating to 11 per cent of CFA’s operational workforce.
At its worst, CFA experienced a deficit of 33 operational positions (i.e. 20.6 per cent of its operational workforce) for one week in 2023/24.
"CFA reports that the vacancies have resulted in impacted CFA districts, groups, brigades and volunteers not receiving the dedicated operational support and leadership they need to ensure operational preparedness and readiness," Mr Blair reported.
"CFA also reported that the vacancies are impacting on CFA’s ability to maintain operations against its statutory obligations and provide safe systems of work in relation to fatigue management of its seconded workforce.
"The challenges filling vacancies and non-relief is a complex, multi-faceted issue that pre-dates the reform and is likely caused by a combination of factors.
"This includes personnel and organisational culture issues, staff being on medical leave, FRV’s ageing workforce, implementation of the secondment model, and FRV’s enterprise agreement and related corporate policies.
"FSIM has seen evidence of correspondence from CFA to FRV in 2023/24 raising concerns about the scale of the vacancy and non-relief issues experienced by CFA and acknowledging FRV’s efforts to address these issues."
CFA and FRV established Fire Services Operational Committee (FSOC) in 2021 to identify and promote collaboration and interoperability opportunities and to strengthen working relations between the two agencies and FSOC has six subcommittees.
However, the monitor reported that FSOC did no progress any work against a formalist workplan in 2023/24.
"FSIM has been advised that FSOC responded to ad-hoc issues instead," she said.
"In this reporting period, FSOC and four of its subcommittees did not have a workplan.
"In addition, FSOC and one of its sub-committees cancelled up to six meetings this financial year due to key personnel not being available to meet."
The fire services implementation monitor (FSIM) was established as an independent entity in July 2020 and he monitors and reports on agencies’ progress to deliver relevant actions in the Fire Services Reform Implementation Plan and assesses the effectiveness of agencies’ actions.