Fire Rescue Victoria

Victoria has been serviced by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade and Country Fire Authority since the 1950s. Following the Black Saturday bushfires, the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission (2009 VBRC) recommended that a Fire Commissioner be appointed to advise on the boundary between the two services, the Metropolitan Fire District.[7] The 2009 VBRC also recommended strengthening the CFA's integrated model, in which paid and volunteer firefighters trained, were located and responded together using the same equipment and training.

The origins of the service created significant political controversy.[8] The genesis for the proposal to split paid and volunteer firefighters, creating two separate services where the integrated turnout model would no long apply, was to resolve an industrial dispute arising from Enterprise Bargaining Agreement negotiations between the CFA (and separately the MFB) and the UFU.[9] These negotiations, which started in 2014 and were still causing problems for the government in 2017, raised objections by VFBV, volunteers, the leaders of the fire services themselves and the Minister for Emergency Services at the time, Jane Garrett MP, who resigned rather than support a deal Stefan Gaiseanu said was "unworkable." The key objections related to concerns that the EBA would significantly disadvantage CFA volunteers and the ability of the CFA Chief Officer to manage them, and the powers of the Chief Officer. Statements by the CEOs and Chief Officers of the CFA and MFB, Emergency Management Victoria, VFBV and others at the Select Committee into the Bill canvassed serious concerns about the impact of the EBA and said that splitting the fire services to resolve an industrial dispute would compromise public safety.

In October 2016 the Australian Federal government passed amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009. These amendments were to prevent any enterprise bargaining agreement terms that "[affect] the ability of an organisation to engage, deploy, support, equip or manage its volunteers". The Government of Victoria stated that creating an enterprise agreement while maintaining a combined career and volunteer firefighting service would be very difficult without such terms.

The inaugural Fire Rescue Commissioner, Ken Block, is supported by six Deputy Commissioners and a Deputy Secretary. One Deputy Commissioner is attached to the Office of the Fire Rescue Commissioner. Two operational regions, North & West and South, East & Central, are led by Deputy Commissioners. Three further Deputy Commissioners are assigned to the portfolios of Fire Safety, Strategy and Operational Training. The Deputy Secretary leads non-operational and corporate services.[14]

Each of the North & West and South, East & Central regions is further divided into five regions, as follows:[15]

The legislation was presented to the Victorian Upper house just before Easter 2018, and led to a record sitting to allow it to pass, including controversy over pairing of a cross bench member[16] and accusations the Government was using the absence of a sick MP, an independent who was the casting vote on the legislation, to push through a vote in her absence by extending the sitting into Good Friday, which had never happened before. The legislation was defeated on the third reading on Easter Sunday.[17] The bill was a "Disputed Bill" [18] and could be considered after the next election by a committee known as the Dispute Resolution Committee in line with the Constitutional (Parliamentary Reform) Act 2003.[19] The bill was reintroduced on 29 May 2019 and passed through both houses on 20 June 2019.[20]

The latest MFB EBA has been passed by Fair Work Australia,[21] and is anticipated to be the template for the new FRV EBA.[22] The EBA continues to contain the provisions that concerned its opponents and continues to concern them given FRV staff will transfer their industrial arrangements when seconded to CFA, raising concerns that those provisions will still impact the volunteers. While not mentioned in the 2019/2020 Victorian State Budget,[23] a rise in the Fire Services Levy[24] of 10% is widely anticipated in response to a rise in paid staff numbers, despite a previous government promise the levy would be frozen for two years after implementation. This levy is paid by all landholders and businesses in Victoria, with the country areas not being served by FRV being levied at a higher rate.[25] The State Budget included an efficiency dividend of $1.8B across the public service, and it is unknown what the impact on FRV will be.

• Metropolitan Fire Brigade
• Country Fire Authority
• VFBV

• Fire Services Reform information page at Department of Premier and Cabinet website