Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Roberts, for those comments. Again, you raise what are very serious issues. They were obviously raised by volunteer after volunteer after volunteer, in particular at the Senate hearings but certainly also over a number of months now in relation to this agreement. You are right, and that is why we have this bill before the Senate. An enterprise agreement should not be able to include terms that undermine the capacity of volunteer emergency service bodies to properly manage their volunteer operations. That is the purpose of this bill.

More than that, one of the real concerns that I have, and one of the real fears that I have, particularly in relation to the impact of the dispute on the volunteers is the evidence that was given by the New South Wales fireys—and you would have heard this, Senator Roberts, in the Senate inquiry—that on the border a number of the Victorian CFA volunteers are so despondent they are now going across the border and saying, 'Can we come and fight with you?' Giving up on Victoria and going over to New South Wales. So, yet again, yes, you do articulate what are some real concerns that have been raised by the volunteers.

The CHAIR: The question is that the bill stand as printed.