Treasury Budget Proposal affects all Rural Fire Brigades in Queensland The Rural Fire Brigades Association Queensland (RFBAQ) has had confirmation from the office of the Treasurer and Minister for Trade that the proposals for next weeks’ budget will see massive increases in the amount that landholders will be charged across the 93% of Queensland that are protected by Volunteer Rural Fire Brigades. A new levy will come into force that will see all landholders in Rural Fire Brigade Areas now pay an additional $90 on-top of their existing Rural Fire Levy. This means that many Rural Fire Brigade Areas will now be paying more for a volunteer service than most country towns will pay for their existing Red Truck Auxiliary services with a lower provision of service delivery. An example would be that in a country town such as Kilkivan, which is currently serviced by a Red Truck with part time staff who are able to provide internal structural fire support and road crash rescue, will pay $90 per year. However, the neighbouring Rural Fire Brigade Area levy will be $90 + $25 for a solely volunteer service that is currently not allowed to provide road crash rescue or internal structural firefighting. The office of the Treasurer and Minister for Trade has also informed the RFBAQ that none of the new levy will go to funding local volunteer Rural Fire Brigades as that is an arrangement between Local Government and the local Rural Fire Brigade under the Local Government Act. For Rural Fire Brigades who do not currently receive a Rural Fire Service levy, the $90 will also be enforced with none of the funds going to the local Rural Fire Brigade. In addition to this, the office of the Treasurer and Minister for Trade has informed the RFBAQ that Local Government will have to continue to fund local SES units, as none of this funding is to be allocated to the SES. Rural Fire Brigades in Queensland comprise 34,000 volunteers in over 1,400 brigades who in times of disaster not only support their local communities, but also the wider Queensland community through hazard reduction burning, fire-fighting, flood clean-up and cyclone response; and it is through volunteers in the yellow coats, riding the yellow trucks that this state is able to defend itself from all of the hazards that endanger the whole Queensland community. The proposal from the office of the Treasurer and Minister for Trade will instigate the belief that this new levy in addition to the current levy is a ‘fee for service’ and this will impact on volunteers devoting their valuable time to their local volunteer Rural Fire Brigade. Emergency management helicopters do not provide hazard reduction burning, neither are Emergency management helicopters able to hose out flood affected properties; volunteers, either Rural Fire or SES provide these services, and any proposal that negatively impacts upon Rural Fire Brigades or SES Units would need to be seriously reconsidered before the State Budget is handed down next Tuesday. The RFBAQ believes that recommendation 81 of the Malone Review into the Rural Fire Service Queensland is the most appropriate way in which Rural Fire Brigades should be funded in an ongoing and sustainable way in Queensland. (link to Malone Review here). The RFBAQ have already received a large number of complaints from Rural Fire Brigades, Volunteer firefighters and members of Parliament relating to these budget proposals, and calls on Cabinet to review the proposal that will have a detrimental effect on Rural Fire Brigades across the whole of Queensland.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 05:00:02 +0000
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