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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2007-10-18 Daily Xml
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COUNTRY FIRE SERVICE VOLUNTEERS

The Hon. S.G. WADE (14:25): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Emergency Services a question about volunteers.

Leave granted.

The Hon. S.G. WADE: The Victorian, New South Wales and Western Australian governments have promulgated charters in similar terms recognising the contribution of volunteer firefighters. I understand that Queensland is about to do the same. When it does, South Australia will be the only mainland state without such a charter. The Country Fire Service Volunteers Association has been lobbying for some time for South Australian volunteer firefighters to be afforded the same respect. Most recently, on 25 September 2007, the association wrote to the minister, conveying its eagerness to pursue the signing of a volunteers charter. In that letter, the association quoted a letter from the minister to a large number of volunteers who had written to her requesting that the charter be signed. The letter states:

The SAVFBA were advised that the charter they presented was not appropriate for South Australia in the circumstances. It was inconsistent with the provisions of the Fire and Emergency Services Act (2005) and was in conflict with the Advancing the Community Together Volunteer Compact.

This claim of inconsistency is not supported by the CFSVA legal adviser nor by the fact that the proposed draft is substantially in accord with the draft approved by the Crown Solicitor's Office. In any event, the association has indicated its willingness to negotiate any inconsistencies or conflicts. It is hamstrung by the fact that neither the minister nor her office has advised what the inconsistencies and conflicts might be. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can she advise the council in what ways the draft volunteer charter is inconsistent with the provisions of the Fire and Emergency Services Act?

2. In what ways the draft volunteer charter is in conflict with the Advancing the Community Together Volunteer Compact?

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Correctional Services, Minister for Road Safety, Minister Assisting the Minister for Multicultural Affairs) (14:27): I think a few months after I became a minister, or towards the end of that first year, members of the association approached me with the idea of having a volunteer charter for just the CFS. I said that I was not opposed to it in principle and thought that perhaps it might be a good idea to have a sector wide volunteer charter. They went away with that but came back and thought that it was not. Since that time, we have been endeavouring to progress a charter—myself to start with, and Euan Ferguson, the chief officer of the CFS, Vince Monterola, the SAFECOM board and, subsequently, the SAFECOM advisory board, which, of course, is representative of our volunteers in South Australia.

I requested the chair of that board to organise a working party to sit down with the volunteers and ensure that a charter that was acceptable to everyone would be presented to the board and then, of course, to me. I was very disappointed ultimately to hear that, without any reason, the association withdrew from those negotiations, when I understood that a charter was ready for everyone to have a look at. Since that time, I have written to the association (as far as I know, it does not have a legal adviser because, of course, the government funds the volunteer association) and again indicated my support in principle for a volunteer charter, if that is what it wants, for just the CFS, even though the state has a Working Together Partnership, on which the Minister for Volunteers worked very diligently with the Premier in our first term in office.

If that is what the sector wants, I have indicated all along that I am very happy to see a charter. They need to tell us what was wrong with what they came up with. They have refused to go back to the negotiating table. I have asked the board (and, obviously, it has very good intentions for everyone concerned) to work it through. So, I have invited them again to at least take it back to the board. They are very happy to listen to you. The chair of the board expressed her disappointment that they had withdrawn from the negotiations, and we are simply now waiting for the association to go back and say, 'We are not happy with this.' I have also said to the chief officer, 'Please engage anyone else you want to bring in.' The Office for Volunteers is also happy to work with them. However, in the end, they have to say, 'Yes, we want to proceed with it,' and go back to the board. I repeat that I am happy with the principle of a charter.

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