Volunteers’ place at CFA must be defended

And how will they do this? By making changes to their award and working conditions which would come at the detriment of all Victorians and lead to the demise of the CFA, an organisation that is widely respected.

If the multimillion dollar union deal is approved, we will see massive hikes in the Fire Services Property Levy (FSPL) for farmers, businesses and households.

Every Victorian household pays the FSPL, which funds most of the CFA’s budget, and farmers, businesses, and other Victorians can’t be expected to pay for the excesses of the union’s demands.

The VFF is urging Premier Daniel Andrews and Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett to remain opposed to the deal.

The deal would give the UFU much greater powers over CFA resources and decision making.

We’ve heard from recent media reports that the union is demanding seven paid career firefighters must be on every fire-ground as part of the deal.

This, frankly, is alarming, and risks sidelining and undermining volunteers.

Volunteers are out there putting in their time, heart and soul, checking over stations and trucks each week, attending road accidents and fighting bushfires.

It would be demoralising for everyone if the union gained greater powers over CFA resourcing, given it’s a volunteer organisation.

Given the majority of the state’s farmers are CFA volunteers, I’d like to remind everyone that it’s volunteers who deliver the surge capacity needed to fight the state’s major fires – such as Black Saturday.

The Victorian Government has an obligation to stand up to the unions to ensure we don’t have to pay the cost of their outrageous demands.

A motorcade of more than 400 CFA vehicles travelled through the city of Melbourne last weekend and laid flowers for the organisation on the front steps of Parliament House.

There was an outpouring of public support for the CFA in their fight to maintain the volunteer fire service.

The VFF is behind them 100 per cent!

- Peter Tuohey, VFF President