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

I rise to close debate on the Fair Work Amendment (Respect for Emergency Services Volunteers) Bill 2016, and I thank all senators for participating in the debate.

Today the Australian Senate has the opportunity to stand up and protect our volunteer firefighters—the men and women who put their lives on the line to ensure that our communities are safe. The government has introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Respect for Emergency Services Volunteers) Bill 2016 because we are committed to doing what we can to protect Australia's emergency services from a hostile union takeover.

Australia's proud tradition of volunteer firefighting is under threat. The actions of the United Firefighters Union have placed the Victorian Country Fire Authority in the position of having to choose between the best interests of its brave volunteers and conceding to the demands of the union. Unfortunately for the tens of thousands of proud volunteers of the CFA, the Victorian government and Mr Shorten and Labor have taken sides against them. I would like to acknowledge the tens of thousands of volunteers of the Victorian CFA, some of whom have even travelled here today, who have had the courage to stand up and to take a stand against what is not in their best interests.

This is a necessary amendment to the Fair Work Act. The amendments will protect volunteers from interference by third parties who seek to misuse enterprise bargaining agreements made under the Fair Work Act to dictate the management of firefighting and state emergency services organisations that rely on the selfless goodwill of volunteers in order to carry out their functions. These amendments will ensure that enterprise agreements cannot include terms that limit the ability of a firefighting or a state emergency service body to manage its volunteers. The Fair Work Commission will not be able to approve agreements that include such terms, and any such terms in an agreement will be legally ineffective.

The amendments will also give organisations that have a history of representing selfless volunteers of emergency service bodies a voice before the Fair Work Commission. The change recognises that volunteers have a right to be heard and that their concerns are relevant to the wellbeing of all Australians they seek to protect and serve.

These two targeted amendments to the Fair Work Act are needed because the proposed enterprise agreement represents a very real threat to the CFA's ability to manage its volunteers. The proposed EBA would, for example, interfere with the CFA's chain of command; require, unfortunately, volunteers to wear different uniforms to paid firefighters; prevent volunteers from running education programs unless paid firefighters are unavailable; and give the union an effective veto power over a range of matters, including the CFA's internal policies.

As we have heard from speaker after speaker, the previous leadership of the CFA dared to speak out about this injustice. The former chief executive of the CFA called the agreement,' destructive and divisive'. The former board of the CFA said it 'allows the UFU operational and management control of the CFA'. For their courage in speaking out and opposing the deal the entire CFA board was sacked by the Victorian Labor government. The chief executive resigned in protest and Labor's own emergency services minister lost her job as well.

The Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, knows what this deal means for the volunteers in Victoria. It is his home state. He should be standing up for the 60,000 men and women who selflessly, year after year, ensure that Victorians—in one of the most fire prone states in Australia—are protected. And yet what has he done? It has been articulated in the Senate today: he has opposed us every step of the way.

These amendments have been carefully drafted to apply only to firefighting and state emergency services bodies that are established under statute, use volunteers and are covered by the Fair Work Act. They will not impact other volunteering organisations—for example, Surf Life Saving Australia or the Salvation Army. They will not affect safety management bodies that do not meet the new definition of 'emergency management body', such as the police or paramedics. The amendments are simple, they are targeted measures and they are vital to ensuring that the volunteer firefighters in Victoria can get on with what they do best—that is, protecting all Victorians.

I am very alarmed by new reports contained in the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Association submission to the recent Senate inquiry into the bill that CFA volunteers close to the New South Wales border have been contacting New South Wales brigades inquiring about membership. This presents a clear and present danger to Victorian communities, and it shows just how urgent it is for the government and the Australian Senate to provide the volunteers with the assurance they need to remain as members of the Victorian CFA. Firefighters are vital. It does not matter what state you come from in this place—I am from Western Australia—firefighters, community volunteers, are vital for the safety of our communities. And there is a need to ensure that all firefighters, both volunteer and paid, remain united in protecting our communities. The government has been very clear in its desire to ensure that the amendments only address issues that have arisen in the current context of the actions of the United Firefighters Union in Victoria.

Can I also be very clear here: this is not the fault of paid firefighters. Neither volunteer nor paid firefighters could function effectively without the support of each other in large country towns and on the suburban fringe. This interrelationship—and anybody from a small community knows this—and the way they operate together in tandem is typical of the way small communities operate, but it is also crucial that this relationship is not disturbed in the future. The connections built by volunteer organisations allow communities to thrive, prosper and defend themselves. A volunteer ethos needs nourishing. A volunteer ethos is something that, as members of the Australian Senate, we should all be so proud of. We should be supporting and we should be doing everything in our power to ensure that that ethos is never compromised. A CFA that does not reflect respect or acknowledge volunteers will be a much diminished institution.

On this side of the chamber—and I thank the many crossbenchers for their commitment to the volunteers in Victoria—the government is proud to support emergency services volunteers and the communities they protect. Because of time, I will cut my remarks short and commend the bill to the chamber.