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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES (VOLUNTEER CHARTERS) AMENDMENT BILL

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 29 November 2012.)

Mr VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart) (10:57): I stand to wholeheartedly support the member for Morphett in his moving the Fire and Emergency Services (Volunteer Charters) Amendment Bill. He is an active CFS member, as am I, and I declare that interest up front. I speak as the member for Stuart and as an active CFS volunteer. I also speak, in this instance, really on behalf of the 15,000 or so emergency services volunteers who work across our state, from the CFS, the SES, the ambulance service, the Coast Guard, etc. This is a very important bill that the member has put forward because what it is trying to do is get the government to keep a commitment that it has already made.

Back in 2008, the Emergency Services Charter was signed by the Premier, the Minister for Emergency Services, the Minister for Volunteers, the Commissioner for Fire and Emergencies, the South Australian CFS Chief Officer and the President of the CFS Volunteers Association. Part of that charter was that it would be reviewed whenever any of the agencies thought it was important to do so or after four years, whichever came first.

One of the reasons this is so important is that the charter has actually been broken by the government. It was broken by the government when it formed the Community Safety Directorate without properly consulting with all the emergency services groups. I am sure the government would say that it did consult, but the reality is that the consultees do not believe that it was done properly and they totally disapprove of the way the Community Safety Directorate was formed. They are very disappointed in how it came together. They are very disappointed in the fact that they do not believe their views were listened to; they think they were just ridden over.

This is not actually a debate about the Community Safety Directorate. This is actually a debate about trying to hold the government to account, which is exactly what the member for Morphett is trying to do here and it is exactly what the emergency services volunteers want done. It is one thing to come and sign a charter and say, 'Yes, we will be fantastic partners. We will do everything that we are meant to do and you can trust us', but years down the track when they find that that is not what the government did, and so clearly that is not what the government intends to continue to do, the government has made that charter essentially invalid from its own perspective.

What the member for Morphett is trying to do here is to bring some legislation in that would enshrine exactly what the charter—the agreement—is meant to do in legislation, so that all parties then would actually be bound by legislation because the government being bound by the charter has clearly not been enough for the government. So, that is what is happening here; not asking for any more or any less commitment than the government has already made, just trying to find a way to force the government to keep its commitment.

It is important for a few reasons. Obviously, having governments keep their commitments is important for the obvious reason, but the other very important reason is, as I mentioned before, there are about 15,000 emergency services volunteers working across our state. Nobody press-gangs them into this. Nobody makes them contribute their time. Nobody has any capacity to force them into service to their friends, neighbours, communities and the state in the way that they provide it, so if they cannot trust the government, they are naturally going to be less inclined to continue to participate. Having a system in place through legislation, which seems to be unfortunately necessary because the charter is not enough, is hopefully going to give those volunteers some comfort, give those volunteers some reason to continue to contribute, because if they cannot trust the government to keep the agreement that it has made with them as volunteers, then naturally enough they will start to drop off.

We all know these days it is tough enough as it is to get volunteers to come forward, whatever it might happen to be, whether it is in a caring capacity or an emergency services capacity or whatever it might be, but we do not need added pressure on that problem provided by the government not keeping its word. That is why the member for Morphett is putting this forward. That is why I support his motion. That is why the opposition supports his motion and that is why the emergency services organisations support the motion.

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (11:02): The Fire and Emergency Services (Volunteer Charters) Amendment Bill comes to the house with the strong support of the Liberal Party and it does so for a range of reasons and I applaud the member for Morphett for bringing it forward. I know the member for Morphett grew up in a firefighting household and is a CFS volunteer to this very day and it is certainly a contribution that so many people across our community make and they do so as volunteers. The volunteer service that they provide is of a very high level of standard to the point where we actually ask our volunteer CFS firefighters to serve in MFS stations when there is a significant event, as there was recently in the north with the toxic fire that called upon many resources of the MFS across South Australia to that event. I know that CFS volunteers from my own electorate in Norton Summit and other brigades were called upon to serve at the Beulah Park MFS station that day.

I am privileged in Morialta to have a significant number of CFS volunteers serving in brigades including Norton Summit-Ashton, Athelstone, Montacute, Cherryville and Basket Range, and I am very pleased that, according to the redistribution of the boundaries that has happened recently, I am getting to know some of the volunteers at Cudlee Creek and Paracombe as well.

They do a significant service to their community and they do so without seeking much. They certainly do not seek money. They require, obviously, some support to enable the activities that they serve to take place and so something like this bill, which recognises the support that those volunteers give, is very important. It is very important because, firstly, it provides a reassurance to them that they are taken seriously, their efforts are respected and not maligned or denigrated in any way, and the way that the government has handled the CFS Volunteers Charter over the last five years has not been satisfactory.

We know that the SA CFS Volunteers Association has been unhappy about the government's lack of consultation on the community safety directorate and other issues. The CFS Volunteer Charter was signed in 2008 by the Premier, the minister for emergency services, the minister for volunteers, the Fire and Emergency Services Commissioner, the SA CFS chief officer and the president of the CFS Volunteers Association. Four years after that date it was required to be reviewed by the agreement of all parties.

The government committed itself to consultation. Nevertheless, a charter is only worth how the agreements are put into place, and when the charter is not taken seriously by all sides, then clearly it is not sufficient. This bill seeks to formalise the relationship. It would put the relationship that is talked about in the charter into legislation by amending part 2 of the Fire and Emergency Services Act. It would insert a new section 58A and through parliamentary recognition of the South Australian CFS Volunteers Charter, the parliament would recognise that the South Australian Country Fire Service is first and foremost a volunteer-based organisation in which volunteer officers and members are supported by employees in a fully integrated manner.

They are not subservient to the paid employees. It is a partnership between government and volunteers, people contributing significantly to their community. It is something that has already happened elsewhere. In the Victorian Country Fire Authority Act 1958, their volunteer charter has formal recognition through the legislation and I do not see why we cannot do the same for our CFS volunteers here in South Australia.

The principles and relationships between volunteers, the government, the South Australian CFS and the South Australian CFS Volunteers Association clearly need this formal recognition. I think it will hold this government to account. Of course, as of 16 March next year, we hope that there will be a Liberal government, which through its very nature—

The Hon. C.C. Fox: The 16th?

Mr GARDNER: The 16th is the day after the election. I am assuming that unless the minister has other plans, the reins of power would not be handed over until after the declaration of the poll.

The Hon. C.C. Fox: I was thinking of a birthday.

Mr GARDNER: Of a birthday? That would be two weeks later, of course. Thank you for your assistance. I stand corrected. What would that be—30 March perhaps, we might see a new relationship, with a new government.

The SPEAKER: Oh, well before then.

The Hon. C.C. Fox: I would just like to make that clear: I was discussing a family birthday, not anything else.

Mr GARDNER: I am very pleased to hear it. You may expect a birthday card, minister.

Members interjecting:

Mr GARDNER: I fear that we are digressing from the point and so I will return to the point at hand. The support for these volunteers will of course happen under a Liberal government in the way that it should, but in the meantime we think that this piece of legislation will ensure that any government, even a Labor government, will be able to deal with CFS volunteers in a cooperative and productive way. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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