Jason Wood (La Trobe, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also stand to speak on the Fair Work Amendment (Respect for Emergency Services Volunteers) Bill 2016. After listening to the member for Melbourne, it is obvious that he is representing the Greens, who realise there are no CFAs in the seat of Melbourne. He has never been to a seat like mine, La Trobe, where nearly every suburb has a CFA, and the CFA volunteers are absolutely furious with what is going on. CFA volunteers are a huge part of my community. They have protected us for so many years and have also been there at times of tragedy, such as the devastating 1983 Ash Wednesday bushfires, where sadly we lost 12 CFA volunteers from the Narre Warren and Panton Hill crews. Those fires destroyed many houses and took 75 lives. I still recall the day, as a 16-year-old, seeing the fires first start in Belgrave South as I was catching the bus home from Upper Ferntree Gully tech. My father fought in those fires and is still a member of the Ferny Creek CFA. Our CFA volunteers are so good. They fight fires not only locally and interstate, but also internationally. Each year they go and assist other countries.

Despite this, Daniel Andrews wants to give control of the CFA to the UFU. At this point it is important to fully understand the implications of the United Firefighters Union proposal of the enterprise bargaining agreement. At the behest of the UFU, Premier Andrews is pressuring the CFA to sign an EBA. The EBA would undermine volunteers and the CFA's operations. For example, clause 35.4 means that paid firefighters can only report to another paid firefighter, except during level 3 incidents—around one per cent of annual incidents. Clause 41.1 means that union agreement is required before the CFA can make a change to policy. Clause 77.5 means that seven paid firefighters need to be dispatched before other paid firefighters commence firefighting. Schedule 20 means that union agreement is required on what uniforms are worn by volunteers and that paid firefighters must have uniforms that are visually distinguishable from the volunteers. I have heard some people say, in defence of the UFU, that the EBA has a clause 7A that says:

The role of volunteers … is not altered by this Agreement.

However, this is more of a motherhood statement. This clause does not override, and is fundamentally contradicted by, a number of other clauses. The specific clauses will override a general clause such as clause 7A.

So far for the CFA these proposals by the UFU have meant the Victorian emergency services minister Jane Garrett, a Labor minister, resigned to support the CFA volunteers. I did not hear the member for Melbourne say that! The CFA's chief executive and chief fire officers also supported the CFA and resigned. The highly respected Lucida Nolan, whom I know through her role as a deputy commissioner at Victoria Police, resigned because she said this would lead to the destruction of the CFA. The CFA board, who staunchly opposed this EBA, were sacked by the Andrews government. John Schurink, who was a board member, is also captain of the local Ferny Creek CFA. He was sacked neither for being a bad CFA member, nor for being a bad board member; he has a very highly distinguished career. He was sacked for standing up for other CFA volunteers.

Because of this, and in recognition of the importance of CFA volunteers, the Prime Minister announced during the 2016 election campaign that he would amend the Fair Work Act in order to protect volunteers. We had to do something. I also thank Minister Greg Hunt for his role in this intervention. Also, during the election campaign it was great to have Michaelia Cash, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service, and the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, visit my electorate. When Julie Bishop visited Belgrave, in my electorate, we had probably 300 CFA volunteers attend that rally, including Emerald SES. Members opposite say it is all a coalition stunt and this is pushed by the coalition, but the CFA volunteers want our protection and our support. It is a shame the Labor Party do not feel the same way.

How does the coalition propose to fix this problem today? The bill will simply add to the definition of 'objectionable term' in section 12 of the Fair Work Act to prohibit objectionable emergency management terms. An 'objectionable emergency management term' is a term which will prevent an emergency services body being able to properly manage its volunteer operation—and, as I said, our volunteers are good enough to go and fight fires overseas, so surely they are good enough to look after themselves—and terms which are contrary to the relevant state legislation covering these bodies. This will mean that an enterprise agreement can no longer undermine the capacity of emergency service volunteer bodies to properly manage their operations. This simple amendment will apply only to firefighting and state emergency services organisations in Victoria, the ACT and the Northern Territory because they are covered by the national workplace relations scheme.

So, despite the criticisms I have heard from staunch unionists, it is not right to characterise this as interfering in a state matter. The proposed EBA is made under the Fair Work Act, a federal law, but it would directly contradict the Victorian firefighter act, a state law. So this small amendment to the Fair Work Act will prevent the Victorian government using federal law to undermine its own state law. Without the federal parliament passing this amendment, the CFA volunteer base model would be severely undermined. This would threaten the safety of communities, cost taxpayers and erode Australia's great tradition of volunteerism and community spirit, which beats strong in my electorate of La Trobe, and that is why I strongly support this bill.

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