The Australian
FIREFIGHTER
VOL 47 ISSUE 2 2010
PRINT POST APPROVED PP 543 451/00009
ARFF MISTRUST | ACTU PRES | SUPER RESPONSIBLE | IFFUA UPDATE
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The Australian Firefighter I 1
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BEST FIRE AFF 0810
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VOL 47 ISSUE 2 2010
The Australian Firefighter
ON THE
CAMPAIGN
TRAIL
CONTENTS
4 Contacts
5 Editorial
6 International news
7 National news
BIG GAINS IN
VICTORIA
TRUST LOST
AVIATION ISSUES 9
COVER STORY 16
8–15 Branch news
16–21 Cover story
22–23 Tribute
24–25 Out of touch
26–27 100 years
28–29 Vested interest
100 YEARS
LATER
30–31 Baby boomers
32–33 Super issues
34–35 Unions at work
TRIBUTE
36–37 Spring into it
38–39 Hot destination
40–41 Mild to maniac
GALLERY 22
CENTURY CELEBRATIONS 26
42 The last word
BEST FIRE AFF 0810
SUPER
ISSUES
UNIONS
AT WORK
RIVERS
THE INSIDER 30
SURVIVAL 32
GED KEARNEY 34
The Australian Firefighter I 3
CONTACTS
United Firefighters Union of Australia
United Firefighters Union of Australia
National
The Australian Firefighter Magazine
website: ufua.asn.au
410 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Australian Capital Territory Branch
Secretary: Jason Jones
Unions ACT, 189 Flemington Road
Editor: Dave Lane
email: editor@ufunat.esn.au
Design: Studio Pazzo Pty Ltd
Mitchell ACT 2911
mob: 0418504642
Ph: 02 6175 3434
Pre publishing: splittingimage.com.au
United Firefighters Union of Australia
Aviation Branch
Secretary: Mick Farrell
86A O’Shanassy St, Sunbury VIC 3429
Ph: (03) 9746 3722 Fax: (03) 9746 3766
Cover design: Andrew Cunningham
Advertising and publishing
Austral Media Group Ltd ACN 068 899 696
National Office
ufua.asn.au
63–71 Boundary Rd, North Melbourne VIC 3051
New South Wales Branch
Ph: (03) 9328 4226 Fax: (03) 9329 4633
Secretary: Chris Read
1–7 Belmore Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
Ph: (02) 9218 3444 Fax: (02) 9218 3488
Queensland Branch
Secretary: John Oliver
Level 1, 286 Montague Rd, West End OLD 4101
Ph: (07) 3844 0366 Fax: (07) 3844 0367
South Australian Branch
Secretary: Greg Northcott
148 South Rd, Torrensville SA 5031
Ph: (08) 8352 7211 Fax: (08) 8234 1031
Victorian Branch
Secretary: Peter Marshall
410 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Ph: 03 94198811 Fax: 03 9419 9258
Tasmanian Branch
Secretary: Richard Warwick
379 Elizabeth St, North Hobart TAS 7000
Ph: (03) 6234 9331 Fax: (03) 6234 9505
Western Australian Branch
Secretary: Graeme Geer
21 View St, North Perth WA 6006
Ph: (08) 9228 8122 Fax: (08) 9227 7822
Contributors
We welcome your contributions to The Australian
Firefighter Magazine. Make it a letter, story,
column, feature or even just an idea. Send us
you photographs too, but make them a minimum
of 120mm x 80mm at 300dpi. We like travel and
workplace stories, as well as personal profiles.
Email all to editor@ufunat.asn.au
Authorised by P Marshall
410 Brunswick St, Fitzroy VIC 3065
All material in The Australian Firefighter magazine
is subject to copyright and cannot be published or
reproduced without permission.
Opinions expressed in the magazine do not
necessarily reflect those of the Editor, the United
Firefighters Union of Australia, or the publisher.
Contributions are accepted on the basis that
the material is accurate and not defamatory. No
responsibility is accepted for error or omission and
every effort is made to verify submitted material.
It is not possible for the publishers of The
Australian Firefighter to ensure that advertisements
published in the magazine comply with all aspects
of the Trade Practices Act 1974; that responsibility
rests with the person, company, or advertising
agency submitting material for publication.
Aviation Branch
ufuav.asn.au
NSW Branch
fbeu.net
Queensland Branch
ufuq.asn.au
Tasmania Branch
ufutas.asn.au
Victorian Branch
ufuvic.asn.au
West Australian Branch
ufuofwa.net.au
National
President
Mick Farrell
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Firefighter Buying Guide and not to use it for the purposes of telemarketing and soliciting of donations. Any
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telemarketing list.
4 I The Australian Firefighter
Australian Capital Territory
Branch
ufuact.asn.au
National
Secretary
Peter Marshall
a
EDITORIAL
From the
National Secretary
From the
National President
ith state and territory governments imposing wage
restraint policies and spending clamps over the
last few years, achieving good collective agreement
outcomes for firefighters have been tough and sometimes
drawn out affairs. However, a combination of Members and
delegates hard work, skilful negotiations and unity throughout
the campaign have always delivered results that firefighters
can be proud of.
W
W
This has been the experience most recently in my home state,
where Victorian firefighters are about to benefit from a successful
campaign to defend workplace entitlements and conditions,
improve wages and seek further opportunities over the life of
new three year agreements. It’s been a very long and tough
process but thanks a highly
successful and visible
More Firefighters, Not Less
campaign by firefighters,
we have won two truly
progressive agreements for
MFB and CFA operational
Members.
These results could not
have been achieved without
the unity of the Members
and the dedication of our
delegates, the Branch
Committee of Management
and the Union’s negotiating
National Secretary Peter Marshall
team.
Victorian firefighters have also achieved a major gain with
Premier John Brumby announcing funding to employ 342 more CFA
career firefighters and 100 additional MFB firefighters. These are
very significant increases and indicate a major shift in government
thinking about fire service resourcing. It is a big step forward for
the protection of firefighters, the communities they serve and is a
turning point in the history of the UFU in Victoria, which is on the
cusp of its centenary.
elcome to a new edition of The Australian Firefighter.
There is no disputing that trust is a key element
of any relationship. However, when it comes to
the employment relationship, firefighters working to protect
Australia’s airports say they can’t trust their management to
‘do the right thing’. This has come about because AirServices
Australia / Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting management has lost
touch with the operational aspects of the job.
This unhappy state of affairs has revealed itself over issues
as diverse as sick leave entitlements, station cleaning, lawn
mowing, higher duties, equipment maintenance and training.
Enough is enough say the Members – you can find out the
details in the pages of this edition.
We also learn from the
new president of the ACTU
what the peak body for
Australia’s trade unions will
tackle across the next term
of the federal government.
Ged Kearney says the Union
movement still has a lot
of work to do to make the
national IR system fairer for
working people and their
Unions.
Issues includes the
need for a greater ability to
bargain across an industry,
National President Mick Farrell
sorting out ‘allowable
matters’ restrictions in collective agreements and increasing
the scope for arbitration when disputes are log jammed. Ged
also offers a view from the campaign trail during the recent
federal elections.
W
hard fought campaign and a close call. That was the federal
election campaign and despite the rancour, the long wait and a
nail-biting finish, the result is a better bet for all Australian workers,
firefighters included. The governing alliance under Prime Minister
Gillard will continue the transition from Howard era industrial
relations to a more modern and fair system where employee and
Union rights are better respected. This is a welcome result.
However, during its first term, Labor pressed ahead with
a version of workplace flexibility that could still have serious
consequences for firefighter staffing, rosters and hours of work in
the medium term. Let’s hope they will lend a more sympathetic
ear to our concerns this time around.
ith the global financial crisis and its impact still affecting
performance based superannuation returns, we ask
is your super fund looking beyond the short term and has
it learnt the lessons of the crash? Investment expert Helga
Birgden says if your fund is not taking up opportunities offered
by sustainable investment strategies, then your lifestyle during
retirement could be affected. We check out the big issues
facing super funds, including the impact of climate change and
environmental issues.
Our regular contributors are with us again this edition,
including Sir Murray Rivers, who undertakes a cost benefit
analysis of baby boomers. It’s not a pretty picture I’m afraid.
We also preview next year’s centenary of the Union’s Victorian
Branch, which began life at a meeting in a small room under
the stairs of a fire station on the edge of Melbourne’s city
centre.
PETER MARSHALL
MICK FARRELL
A
■
■
The Australian Firefighter I 5
NEWS
INTERNATIONAL
Growing stronger
The world economic crisis is putting
pressure on all employees and emergency
service workers are no exception. To help
Members better defend and improve their
workplace conditions and entitlements,
firefighter Unions from around the world are
building closer links.
Recently, the member Unions of the
International Fire Fighter Unions
Alliance (IFFUA) adopted a budget
for the coming year and a website
strategy that will see the Alliance’s
online presence become a
communications and document
sharing hub.
The strength
In a world dominated by the
international financial meltdown,
planet-wide climate change, the
threat of pandemics and growing
violence, there is strength in
global unity. “These issues don’t
recognise territorial borders,” says
Peter Marshall, UFUA National
Secretary, who is also IFFUA Chair.
“That’s why it’s so important for
Australian firefighters and the Union
to strengthen our international links
and build campaigns to protect
the workplace rights and safety of
firefighters wherever they may be.”
The UFUA is one of four firefighter
Unions representing more than
350,000 Members in five countries
that set up IFFUA in 2006. The
Alliance then commissioned an
investigation which identified another
70 Unions around the world that
also represent firefighters.
with equipment and training, and
er
safety on the job. “We also face longer
term challenges such as adapting to
climate change, which will affect the
work we do at wildfires and floods,
as well as our working conditions.”
Matt is General Secretary of the Fire
Brigades Union (FBU) representing
front line fire service workers in the
United Kingdom.
Multilingual – the new Global Alliance
newsletter speaks to firefighters and
their Unions across the world
to-task crew size study, that provides
scientific data supporting fully staffed
rigs,
– from the UK, the FBU’s Pathfinder
trials that focus on the provision of
fire cover,
– the US Fireground Survival program,
and
– the UFUA commissioned climate
change impact report.
The IAFF will also share details
about a new personal protective flat
pack that will provide firefighters with
state-of-the-art breathing apparatus.
This project is now entering the
manufacturing phase of development.
Local impact
The global financial crisis continues
to make its mark on most countries.
Christchurch firefighters tackle a fire in the city following the
In New Zealand, firefighters have
devastating earthquake in New Zealand in early September. The quake
learnt about a secret management
and a series of aftershocks caused serious damage, dislocation and
review of firefighter conditions. The
stress. Firefighter crews and USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) teams
NZ Professional Firefighters Union
contine to mop up, but with damage estimated to hit the $4 billion dollar
Secretary Derek Best says “the
mark, months and years of work are ahead to rebuild the city. New
employers are clearly well organised
Support structure
Zealand Professional Firefighters Union Vice President Peter Hallett
internationally; they meet together
IFFUA General Secretary Harold
says a number of Members may have lost or been left with severely
regularly and exchange and learn by
Schaitberger from the North
damaged homes but reports are still sketchy
their experiences. What the employers
American firefighter Union, the
pic: NZPA/David Alexander
propose in one country is quickly
IAFF, says the Global Alliance
adopted elsewhere.”
gives Members the ability to
Derek believes the International
exchange information and gain
Fire Fighter Unions Alliance (IFFUA) can help
Information source
fresh perspectives. “We all have unique
firefighters anticipate these attacks, learn from
Last year, IFFUA held its founding conference
experiences and approaches to problems
others’ experiences and be better prepared
in Vancouver, Canada. 25 delegates and 23
and challenges. By working together, we can
representatives from firefighter Unions across to defend what they presently have. “Its value
learn from our successful endeavors – and
or benefit is really the same as why individual
the globe gathered to establish connections
also our costly misjudgements – through
fi
refighters ought to belong to their own
and plan a course of action. Founding
information sharing and a support structure
National Union; there is Strength in Unity.” ■
members of the Alliance, the IAFF, FBU, UFUA
that goes beyond our respective boarders
and NZ PFU were joined by officials from
and also reaches down into the fire stations
firefighter Unions in seven other European,
that house our Members.”
GLOBAL ALLIANCE
Central American and the Middle East.
IFFUA Vice-Chair Matt Wrack says the
Find out more about the
With the recent adoption of the budget,
major issues for firefighters across the globe
International Alliance of
valuable information will soon be available via
include pay and long working hours, threats
Fire Fighter Unions from the
the IFFUA website. This includes:
website at iffua.org
to our jobs from neoliberal governments,
– a recently completed IAAF sponsored timeinadequate professional standards, concerns
6 I The Australian Firefighter
NATIONAL
Road ahead
National Office
decision
The UFUA National Executive met in
Adelaide in August and endorsed a new
financial strategy for the national Union.
“This includes the adoption of a sustainable
funding model that will enable us to
implement key recommendations of the
UFUA National Review,” says UFUA National
Secretary Peter Marshall.
The review was conducted by UFUA
legal adviser – and now the federal MP
for Melbourne – Adam Bandt. It analysed
the issues and challenges facing the
Union at national level and makes 30
recommendations about the structure and
role of the national Union.
New environment
“The Bandt Report gives the Union a concise
and practical blueprint for the years ahead,”
says Peter. The scope of the review included:
– the structure and role of the Union,
including the relationships between the
Union’s Branches and National Office,
– the strategic direction of the National
Office, including the support, coordination,
political and campaigning functions it
performs, and
– the governance of, and resources within,
the National Office.
“This review found a need for better
resourcing of the Union’s activities at
national level,” says Peter Marshall.
“With the National Executive supporting
the financial plan, we can now build the
National Office to meet the challenges on the
doorstep; it will be a powerful resource for
UFUA Branches and Members.”
National trend
The overall national and global context for the
Union’s review of its national role included:
– the ALP in power in Canberra with an
agenda for national industrial relations and
OH&S systems,
– an increasing interest on the part of some
states to hand their IR powers over to the
national government,
– the effect of climate change in Australia
and its likely impact on the work of current
and future firefighters over the next
10 – 40 years, and
– the growth of terrorism, the threat of
CBR and their impact on firefighter work
structures, including federal intervention
in – and funding of – fire services.
UFUA National President Mick
Farrell is also pleased that the Union
can now implement the Bandt Review
recommendations. “Employers are organising
nationally and developing joint strategies
and programs, so we have to match them
or the battle will be even harder,” says
Mick. “There are also those issues facing
firefighters that can cross state boundaries,
such as regulatory regimes and standards
for protective clothing and equipment. This
is where the National Office will be vital
in ensuring Members’ best interests are
represented in the coming years.”
Resource rich
The Bandt Review recommends that a new
National Office be established with a focus
on providing:
– guidance for Branches about the
transition to the emerging national IR
environment, as well as strategic advice
and assessments about the national
laws’ impacts, the risks they pose and the
opportunities they offer, and
– industrial and organisational plans to guide
the Union through this transition, to ensure
the wages, conditions or entitlements of
firefighters are maintained and improved.
“The National Office will add to its
resource base and expand its ability to
provide assistance to Branches for industrial,
legislative and campaign matters, particularly
to the smaller branches when they have to
deal with large-scale disputes,” says Peter
Marshall.
Information sharing will be the key to the
effective resolution of negotiations and
disputes in the future. With the impact of the
global financial crisis likely to be with us for
some time to come, bargaining is not going to
get any easier.
“The National Office will be better
positioned to take part in broader industrial
and political campaigns to advance the
interests of firefighters nationally,” says Mick
Farrell. “And as the global firefighters Unions
Alliance (IFFUA) grows, the UFUA will be able
to actively participate in the international
sphere as well.”
Close shave
With the ALP retaining control the government
benches in the national parliament, the threat
of WorkChoices making a return has receded.
“The ALP’s hold on power is wafer thin,” says
Peter Marshall. “But firefighters can be
relieved that we will not see in this term, the
use of regulation to attack workplace rights
and entitlements. Had the Coalition formed
government, this could have been a distinct
possibility.”
This is the second successive federal
election where industrial relations played
a key role in the campaign. The Liberals
committed to maintaining fair work laws and
not go back to WorkChoices, despite Tony
Abbot’s views about the much despised
Howard era industrial relations framework.
In his book titled Battlelines, Tony Abbott
remarks, “WorkChoices was a political
mistake, but it may not have been an
economic one.”
WorkChoices has now been rejected by
the people in two elections in a row. ■
UFUA NATIONAL
National President: Mick Farrell
Branch Secretary: Peter Marshall
Website: ufua.asn.au
email: officeadmin@ufuvic.asn.au
The Australian Firefighter I 7
NEWS
ACT BRANCH
New Appliances
The ACT Branch has been busy for some
time trying to get staffing and resources
issues addressed through various
consultation processes. This hard work
has started to show results recently and
recruitment will commence soon to boost
firefighter numbers.
The ACT Branch has been critical of the
processes used by the Emergency Services
Agency (ESA) to procure vehicles. The
UFU stance has been that the ESA Fleet
tail is wagging the dog and has failed to
prioritise purchases. An example is an ARGO
amphibious vehicle (derisively known as the
banana splits mobile by Members) that was
bought for the Ambulance service before
replacement urban pumpers for out of date
front line vehicles arrived.
New arrivals
Replacements for old vehicles are finally starting to arrive
consultation phase and will enter service
in 2011.
More firefighters
The ACT Branch strongly opposed the
findings of a review of station locations where
management had advocated going from
nine existing stations to seven stations. The
BCOM knew that this would be a disaster for
service delivery and firefighter safety.
Initially the BCOM were able to force
management back to nine stations but
mostly in new locations. This was still
unacceptable because the locations were
poorly selected and based on flawed
information. The UFU convinced the acting
ESA Commissioner and the Minister that a
peer review with strict terms of reference
was required.
This review has now been
concluded and it shows that 11
stations are required to cover
the ACT urban area within the
standards of fire cover. That’s
quite a turn around from the
seven stations proposed by
management. The UFU will be
meeting with the Minister this
week to determine the time
frame for the construction and
opening of the new stations
and recruitment of additional
firefighters.
A review of uniformed support
Night – or day – the new
personnel numbers is currently
appliances should enhance
underway and the BCOM are
safety and service delivery
confident of further increases
The good news is that the first of 5 Series
94 Scania based pumpers has arrived with
the remainder to follow before Christmas
2010. The vehicles appear capable and well
designed, so safety and service delivery will
be enhanced.
Three new heavy tankers have entered
service with all the modern crew protection
devices such as spray bars and burn over
shields. These tankers replace the 28 year
old Mercedes tankers that were in service
up until this year.
A new breathing apparatus support
appliance is in the final design and
8 I The Australian Firefighter
to firefighter numbers meaning further
improvements to community and firefighter
safety.
Training reform
The adoption of national competencies
through locally designed and tailored
courses and learning continues. By the end
of 2010, nationally recognised qualifications
up to Advanced Diploma will be available to
Members.
The UFU faced years of resistance to
training reform from some managers and
it is gratifying to see our Members working
hard to build and deliver a modern, relevant
and recognised training and qualification
package.
Changes at the top
The ACTFB appointed a new Chief
Officer, Paul Swain (formerly of the MFB),
in May 2010. So far he has shown a
willingness to consult and work cooperatively
with the UFU to achieve results that benefit
the community, Members and the
Brigade.
Significant challenges still face our
branch after years of divided management
and directionless leadership at executive
levels. Only time will tell if the new Chief can
make a difference for the better. ■
UFU ACT BRANCH
Branch President: Matthew Mavity
Branch Secretary: Jason Jones
Website: ufuact.asn.au
email: ufuact@gmail.com
AVIATION BRANCH
and the payment was halved, forcing the
Union to take steps to prosecute the case.
Now a third party will make the decision on
the application of the clause and therefore
the entitlement. This is not the best
outcome; it would have been much better for
the ARFF to honour its word.
Cleaning Fire Stations
Out of touch – the ARFF management style
In ARFF we trust?
During recent meetings with Members
at fire stations down the east coast, it
became quite apparent that one of their
major concerns – and Members have many
– is their complete lack of trust in Aviation
Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) management.
To put it in the vernacular, Members can’t
trust them to ‘do the right thing’. Discussing
this with them further, it became obvious
why; there is a perception that management
has lost touch with the operational aspects
of the job. There are tangible reasons for
this:
Our Members do not clean fire stations. They
have made it clear to us they have no wish to
do so any time soon.
In previous negotiations, AirServices
Australia (ASA) /ARFF have tried many
times to incorporate daily station cleaning
in industrial agreements; they’ve failed on
each occasion. Nevertheless, the ARFF did
convince some Hamilton Island Members to
clean their station even though there is no
provision for this in their CA.
Members were initially told there were no
cleaners available to do the job, a strange
Remote airfares
Australian Air Services’ ARFF has effectively
halved the remote airfare costs entitlement
for Cairns and Townsville. The possibility
of this arising was discussed by Members
and ARFF management in Cairns last year,
during a round of Australia-wide collective
agreement meetings designed to explain the
application of the new agreement, prior to a
vote being taken on the draft.
At the time, Members were concerned
that the ARFF was intent on misrepresenting
the custom and practice of the application
of this entitlement by using a change in the
wording of the relevant clause in the previous
collective agreement (CA), and despite the
payment of the full allowance across the life
of the 2005-2008 CA.
This payment-in-kind is reminiscent of the
Work Choices regime, where it was deemed
fine to pay workers with pizzas for working
overtime.
The cleaning ploy at Hamilton Island was
an obvious effort to undermine Members’
conditions of employment all around
Australia. By using Hamilton Island as an
example, the ARFF management has tried
to introduce fire station cleaning duties at a
number of other locations – and was actually
briefly successful at two.
Today, Members in Australia do not clean
fire stations, much to the chagrin of the
ARFF.
Alternative duties
This particular CA saw a change in sick leave
entitlements – from an ‘as-required’ provision
to a capped system which incorporated the
ability for Members to choose whether or
not to work alternative or light duties at the
station when on sick leave.
The clause in the CA is very specific.
“In circumstances where you are unfit for
operational duties, you and your manager
may1 agree to you performing suitable
alternative duties for that period, where it is
safe and appropriate to do so.”
Your choice
Oversize – the nature of ARFF demands
claim given Hamilton Island is a holiday
resort and all rooms require servicing. Later
on, management stated that yes, there
were cleaners available, but they were too
expensive and that the cost of cleaning had
not been factored into the budget. Again, this
is not the Members’ problem; it’s a concern
strictly for the employer.
Cut in half
TV & pizza payment
ARFF Management told Members in Cairns
to trust them. They said a mistake had been
made and assured all at the meeting this
would be remedied in Canberra; so there was
nothing to worry about.
However, the status quo did not prevail
Unfortunately, some Members on
Hamilton Island were deceived, trusted
ARFF management and agreed to carry out
the cleaning to assist the ARFF. They were
subsequently recompensed by having pay
television installed at the station.
Again, as the road show toured stations
around Australia in 2009, each time the
question was asked of ARFF by the Members
about this clause in the new agreement, their
representative replied that yes, trust us that
is correct; it will be up to the individual to
decide if they wish to work alternative duties
or not – if there are other duties available
within the Station’s work programme at that
time, of course.
Nevertheless, at times, the ARFF has
ordered Members in from sick leave to work
alternative duties against their will. This is
also a matter now to be prosecuted.
continued page 24
1 Our emphasis
pics: from the Melbourne airport
UFU AVIATION BRANCH
Aviation Branch President: Joe Stenhouse
Aviation Branch Secretary: Mick Farrell
Website: http ://ufuav.asn.au
email: ufuavat1@bigpond.com.au
The Australian Firefighter I 9
NEWS
NSW BRANCH
D&A Protocol
The Department is telling Members the
Joint D&A Protocol is out of date and
needs changing. This attack flies in the
face of reality, as the protocol remains
operative and legally enforceable. That
hardly makes it out of date.
And to add injury to insult, the
Department has failed to deliver formal
D&A training for a decade. All firefighters
know that training is the key to any
successful operation – and the D&A
Protocol says relevant training is critical
to its implementation.
The Union believes the protocol is a
fair, sane and reasonable way of dealing
with what is a complex health issue. It
should be defended, so the Union has
written to the Department calling for a
meeting of the Alcohol and Drug Safety
and Rehabilitation Committee.
10/14 for Lismore
After month long negotiations the Union
and Department have agreed to redirect
the four permanent Special Roster positions
that were previously scheduled for Ballina
to Lismore fire station. This will now move
Lismore to 10/14 permanent staffing,
beginning October 1. Batemans Bay, Cessnock,
Maitland and Nelson Bay will also commence
on the Special Roster on the same day.
Retained hours
& duties
It seems some Retained Members
have been told that the Union has
agreed to a reduction in the hours
allocated for authorised duties.
This is untrue; there has been no
agreement about reduced hours.
In fact the Union is pushing for
an increase of authorised hours
as part of the upcoming Award
negotiations.
The Union has also had a
document dropped on it detailing
duties to be performed by
Retained Members standing-by in
case of shortages at a retained
station. There has been no
consultation about a list of duties;
what’s in this document would
reduce the earning capacity of
Retained Members attached to a
Which way up the ladder – the firefighter promotional program
particular station.
was under challenge at diversity discussions
The only duties to be conducted
by Members who are standing-by
Diversity
are pumper and equipment checks,
general tidying after use, and reading In
The Union has met with the Department to
Orders, safety bulletins and other relevant
progress the development of a NSW Fire
brigade information.
Brigade Women’s Employment Strategy.
However, some of the proposals put up
represent major workforce change under the
guise of getting more women into the job –
they go well beyond the gender equity issue.
One idea floated was to replace the
Award’s promotional program structure
with promotion by merit selection interview.
This appears to have little to do with the
promotion of diversity and more to do with
the Department’s agenda to introduce
broad public sector processes on Members,
regardless of their appropriateness.
Win for Recruits
Dispatch is the UFUA’s national industrial and
campaign newsletter.Subscribe at ufua.asn.au
to have it delivered to your email inbox
10 I The Australian Firefighter
Following the Union’s win for Recruit
Members, in August the Department
retaliated by announcing it would require
all future recruits to hold a Medium Rigid
(MR) licence before commencing. It planned
to impose this, starting with the class
scheduled for later in September .
The Union went to the IRC and emerged
with a good result; the Fire Brigade will pay
this next group of 20 recruits to gain their
MR licence.
Country Inspectors
After a provocative attempt by management
to advertise vacant Inspector positions
in Dubbo and Wagga Wagga, the Union
imposed relieving bans for Inspectors. This
followed the Department’s decision to
ignore an Industrial Relations Commission
(IRC) recommendation to that the
advertisements be withdrawn.
Following the imposition of the bans and
the return of the dispute to the IRC, the
Union agreed to lift the bans in return for
the Department’s agreement to suspend
the vacancy advertisements pending the
resolution a matter currently before
the IRC.
PETER MARSHALL
UFUA National Secretary
MICK FARRELL
UFUA National President
■
UFU NSW BRANCH
Branch Secretary: Chris Read
Website: http://fbeu.net
Email: ufua@bigpond.com.au
QLD BRANCH
A nightmare in
the making
Queensland firefighters are well aware of
the rumblings and shakings accompanying
the Operational Management System
(OMS). It’s the next impending, ‘not quite
up to speed’ management tool which our
employers have been designing – in one form
or another – over the past 10 years or so for
themselves. Sorry, that should have read;
to assist operational staff in managing their
Total Station Workload (TSW).
It’s a nightmare in the making for our
Queensland Members.
This least awaited program called OMS is
meant to replace the current and apparently
falling-over program, the Queensland Fire and
Rescue Service (QFRS) Station Management
System (SMS). We’re lead to
believe that by its conceptual
design, OMS will provide
users with a multi functional
program, specifically designed
with every fire station’s needs
in mind.
The Union is tackling QFRS management over the OMS pic: matthayes
insist that predetermined percentages of
worked time be accounted for regardless,
and that Station Officers will enter them!!!
Assist or report
The OMS program apparently doesn’t allow
senior management to enter any type of
completed duty, program or expected tasks
Trial reaction
Total scrutiny
Sorry, no it doesn’t do that
very well at all. However,
what we do know it
does really well is, it will
significantly enhance the
QFRS senior managers’
ability to scrutinise every
little thing that firefighters
do during the day – on a
minute-by-minute time frame.
This information or reported
data will be available to senior management
in collated form, from any computer, at
any location, at any time, by the numerous
reporting mechanisms that are hidden
within in the program, accessible only to
management.
Sorry, the official line is apparently, that
this is not what senior management use
OMS for. Well then I ask, what do senior
officers peruse through report after report of
OMS for?
However, we do have senior managers
who are struggling to follow their own boss’s
directions. When instructed not to treat SMS
or the incoming OMS program as a time
management tool, the well hidden dinosaurs’
of the fire service suddenly re-emerge and
the all the fuss about? Well to put it simply,
previously we used a SMS program that
assisted the Station Officer in his duty
of delivering to the community the core
business of the QFRS. Now we have a
program which is specifically designed to
report up line on everything that is being
managed at station level on a minute-byminute basis.
OMS – a least awaited program pic: matthayes
for themselves into the system. OMS doesn’t
recognise them; why is this, I don’t know. It
seems that this program is only to report on
… whoops!!! – did I say that out loud again?
– I meant, to assist operational staff at the
fire station.
How did the UFUQ end up in this
predicament? Well it’s occurred over a period
of time; award provisions and enterprise
partnership agreements of the past have
innocently listed statements, for example,
“(c)ontinue to improve business performance
systems that assist in corporate governance and risk management and use data
and information provided by systems
to continuously improve the QFRS’s
performance”.
Sounds innocent enough, so what is
More importantly, what was
promised is not what has been
delivered – and shock horror, it
doesn’t work as it’s supposed
to. And for our Members in
the Far Northern Region, it
has been the cause of many
arguments, feelings of distrust,
dissatisfaction, anger and
frustration.
Someone always has to
go first and the Far Northern
Members were the unlucky
ones who got to trial it. It
goes without saying that our
Members in the Far North went
far beyond what should be
expected in their efforts to get this lemon
to work with their dedication and willingness
to improve the disastrous OMS program
that was inflicted on them. They stayed true
to their resolve, mindfully ensuring that the
same stressful, frustrating experience would
not be inflicted on their brother and sisters
across the state.
Alas, due to OMS inherent faults, they
could not get everything fixed or rectified in
time and now OMS has been rolled out …
continued page 12
UFUA QUEENSLAND BRANCH
Branch President: Steve Bunney
Branch Secretary: John Oliver
Website: ufuq.asn.au
email: ufu@ufuq.asn.au
The Australian Firefighter I 11
NEWS
SA BRANCH
Walkin’About
At 0630 hours on Fathers Day, September
5, our Members from Headquarters Station
assembled in Rundle Mall to support and
farewell Hawthorn football legend Shane
Crawford as he began his bid to run from
Adelaide to Melbourne in 12 days to raise
funds for Breast Cancer Network Australia.
In the days leading up to this, the Union
organised a donation of $1000 from our
Members. Olympic medallist and breast
cancer survivor Raelene Boyle also joined
other celebrities and hundreds of South
Australians to support Shane in his 760 km
That’s What I’m Walkin’ About run.
Big cheque
District Officer Peter Mason presented
Shane with the cheque in front of all South
Showing Shane the money – ( lto r) District Officer Peter
Mason, Station Officer Tim Catherwood, Shane Crawford,
Firefighter Mark Opie, Firefighter Corey Bradley
and Senior Firefighter Robert Fergusson
Shane thanked all South Australians for
their support and paid particular attention
to our firefighters. The Bronto fire appliance
then escorted Shane out of the city to the
base of the Adelaide foothills.
implemented at our last National Executive
Meeting held in Adelaide on the August 16.
This will now allow us to move forward with
the recommendations of the Bandt Review.
There is more information about the review
in the national news on page 7. ■
Enterprise
bargaining
Showing support for the run – (l to r) Firefighter
Corey Bradley, Senior Firefighter Robert Fergusson,
Firefighter Mark Opie, Raelene Boyle, District Officer
Peter Mason (at rear) and Station Officer
Tim Catherwood
Australians to kick start his fund-raising run.
District Officer Mason went on to tell all that
we are also supporting our own firefighter
Mick Tagell in his ‘Run Across America’,
where funds are being raised for burns units
across Australia and the National Fallen
Firefighters Foundation in the US.
QLD news continued
The Union has spent the last month
consulting with our shop stewards from
regional and metropolitan worksites
to develop a log of claims to take to
management in early October to initiate and
progress our next Enterprise Bargaining
Agreement.
This log of claims has now been
endorsed by our State Council and if
successful will see improvements in the
delivery of service to all South Australians.
National decision
The South Australian Branch is also
excited that a sustainable funding model
for the National Union was endorsed and
from page 11 ... to more regions. Slowly
National impact
and surely the complaints, the frustrations
and anger are starting to rise and filter
through to the State Office. We will be taking
action and have been consulting with the
QFRS on this issue. Firefighters are not
– and were not – meant be the sounding
board for a failed program trial, which it
seems, was inherently flawed to begin with
and in our opinion had been inadvertently
hijacked for senior management use.
What does this mean for our brothers and
sisters across this country? Unfortunately,
plenty, given a national management and
policy making organisation that is currently
flexing its might and inflicting its policies on
all state fire services.
It won’t be long before some clever
business manager may think that there is
a coin to be made by selling this purposely
designed reporting tool for management …
12 I The Australian Firefighter
A firefighter escort for Shane Crawford as he
leaves Adelaide, Melbourne bound
UFUA SA BRANCH
Branch President: Barry Luke
Branch Secretary: Greg Northcott
Website: ufusa.asn.au
email: info@ufusa.com.au
whoops!!!! – did I say that out loud again
– I meant, an Operational Management
System to every other fire service in
the country. Then perhaps, they could
start a competition between all the state
managers to see who wins the mostrecorded-time-at-work prize.
You read it here first folks.
REGARDS
STEVE BUNNEY
State President
UFUQ ■
TAS BRANCH
Progress made
Negotiations over a new Tasmanian
Firefighters Collective Agreement have
been progressing well. The old agreement
ended on June 30 and discussions with the
Tasmanian Fire Service (TFS) began in the
context of a tight state budget situation.
However, given commitments given to the
Tasmania’s firefighters by the ALP during the
state election campaign back in March, the
Union went into the negotiations with some
optimism.
“This time around it has
proved to be a most unusual
situation because the
employer is demonstrating
a never before seen – and
genuine – enthusiasm to get
an agreement made,” says
Tasmanian Branch Secretary,
Richard Warwick. “I can’t say
why; all I know is that they are
pressing ahead very strongly
to get an agreement made
finalised.”
as part of the negotiations. “You could
say this has been a difficult one for the
Union for a decade; it’s not uncommon
for communications and dispatch centres
to present all sorts of difficulties,” says
Richard Warwick. “But in the current
negotiations, we’re finally starting to get
some of those problems ironed out.”
The key outstanding issue relates to job
function – and settling on exactly what are
the Members’ core and no-core functions.
“We also need agreement on the sorts
Installation & servicing
In Tasmania, the Fire Service still employs
people to install and service fire protection
equipment. This has been privatised in
most other states and territories places
but because of the decentralised nature of
Tasmania, it’s proved necessary to have a
cross subsidy – from the towns to the bush
– to ensure regional businesses meet their
portable and fixed fire protection equipment
obligations.
“This area is another focus of the
collective agreement negotiations,” says
Richard Warwick. “For the Members who
perform this installation and servicing work,
their wages have needed serious attention
for some years; and we’re now hopeful of a
good outcome for them too.”
Campaign promise
During the election campaign
the ALP promised to keep
Tasmanian firefighters
wages in line with their
mainland counterparts. The
comparability formula is 100%
relativity of the average of
the first class firefighter rate
in each mainland state and
territory. Projections across
the life of the Tasmanian
agreement are then made
based on mainland EBs and
collective agreements.
“We’ve been waiting to
see the results of enterprise
bargaining negotiations
between the UFU, the MFB and
CFA in Victoria ,” says Richard.
“These have now just come
through, so hopefully we will be
able to move fairly quickly with the employer
to finalise the wages side of the agreement.”
Comms centre
A number of issues in the communications
and dispatch area also need to be settled
A new collective agreement –
employer support to settle soon
Deployments
100% relativity with mainland wages –
a government election commitment
of systems and triggers that are used to
ensure Members can cope with peak loads.
These are important issues for the Union
and discussions to resolve the points of
difference with the employer are coming
along well,” says Richard.
The third key area of concern for Tasmanian
firefighters that needs to be settled as part
of the current negotiations is deployment to
other areas. “It’s about the circumstances,
rules and conditions that apply when people
are sent on deployments, either further
afield in Tasmania, interstate or even
overseas,” says Richard. “The arrangements
to date have been ad hoc and inconsistent,
so we’re putting significant pressure on the
employer to agree to a clear cut set of rules
in advance of any deployment of that type
happening.”
Given the current rate of progress, the
Union hopes to have the new collective
agreement settled well before the start of
the bushfire season. ■
UFUA TASMANIAN BRANCH
Branch President: Vincent Males
Branch Secretary: Richard Warwick
Website: ufutas.asn.au
email: ufutas@southcom.com.au
The Australian Firefighter I 13
NEWS
VIC BRANCH
Sign off
Victorian firefighters are about to reap the
rewards of a successful campaign to defend
workplace entitlements and conditions –
and improve their take home pay.
The UFU Victorian Branch is nearing the
end of a very long bargaining campaign.
New three year collective agreements have
been negotiated and both CFA and MFB
management have signed-off on them.
15.4 over three
As this edition of The Australian Firefighter
Magazine goes to press, the MFB Operational
Staff Agreement has been voted up by MFB
Operational Staff and it will now be submitted
In an industrial campaign, unity produces results
“The new EBs provide real advances,
such as developing a special operations unit
in the MFB,” says Peter. “This recognises
the fact that the Metropolitan Fire and
Emergency Services Board has employees
who have attained specialist skills in the
areas of USAR, HART, CBR response, Marine
Response and Specialist Rescue. We have
agreed with the employer to review the
feasibility of combining such expertise into a
single specialist ops unit.”
built up significant momentum and public
awareness.
“The new Enterprise Agreements will help
to address a number of the concerns of
Victorian firefighters,” says Peter Marshall.
“In addition, thanks to a recent, truly historic
announcement by Victorian Premier John
Brumby, the lack of resourcing we have
fought to rectify over many years will be
addressed.”
When announcing the state government’s
full response to the Victorian Bushfires
Royal Commssion’s final report and
recommendations, the Premier announced
funding to employ 342 more CFA career
firefighters and 100 additional MFB
firefighters. “These very significant increases
indicate a major shift in government thinking
about fire service resourcing. They also mean
a big step forward for the protection of the
community and represent a watershed in the
history of the UFU in Victoria,” says Peter
Marshall.
Campaign results
Victorian firefighters applied the pressure,
took to the streets and achieved success
in EB negotiations
to Fair Work Australia for approval. The vote
by CFA Members for the CFA Operational
Staff Agreement is about to get underway.
“In addition to a 15.4% wage increase
for MFB and CFA operational Members over
the three year life of agreement, they will
also maintain their current conditions,” says
UFU Victorian Secretary, Peter Marshall.
“Minimum crewing, the 10/14 roster and
consultation provisions have been kept as is
despite strong pushes from the employers to
take away these and other conditions.”
With new agreements in place, Members
will be able to build new opportunities as well.
14 I The Australian Firefighter
In addition, the agreements provide more
equitable rostering provisions, relativity
adjustments for Leading Firefighter, Station
Officer and Senior Station Officers, plus new
allowances, and other provisions.
“These truly progressive agreements
could not have been achieved without the
tireless efforts of the UFU negotiating team
and the Branch Committee of Management,
and the unity of the UFU membership,” says
Peter Marshall.
Over the past months, UFU Members in
Victoria have taken to the streets a number
times to express their concerns about the
direction of the Victorian Fire Services and
the approach of management. Firefighters set
up stalls in marginal electorates and other
key locations in Melbourne and across the
state to highlight the threat to fire services
resourcing and community protection.
A good result for firefighters and all Victorians
Unity
The tireless campaigning by the Members
and their unity throughout the campaign
has delivered the success of the last few
weeks. The gains made will go a long way to
achieving the workplace safety and protection
firefighters deserve.
A full report about the 2009 Victorian
Bushfires Royal Commission’s final report
and the reactions to it can be found in the
Cover Story starting on page 16. ■
Historic gain
The campaign More Firefighters, Not Less,
One Fire Service focused on threats to
minimum crewing and other concerns.
Coupled with some larger rallies and
campaigning on the internet, the campaign
UFU VIC BRANCH
Branch President: Dave Hamilton
Branch Secretary: Peter Marshall
Website: ufuvic.asn.au
email: officeadmin@ufuvic.asn.au
WA BRANCH
Assessment fix
This last 12 months has seen replacement
personnel to a department of a Western
Australian Fire Service discover that
literally thousands of assessments
provided by firefighters were packed in
boxes, stuffed in cupboards and generally
laying about unmarked and collecting
dust. Some had been in this position for
three years or more. Firefighter increments
and recognition of service had not been
identified as a result.
This was a result of chronic underresourcing of a training facility by an
organisation that is not committed to the
principles of learning or ensuring that
Chronic under-resourcing of a WA firefighter
training facility left thousands of assessments
incomplete and gathering dust
professional firefighters at all ranks receive
training and qualification levels that might
actually equal or rival that of other Australian
fire services.
Unless of course, you are one of the
chosen individuals who conform to a morally
corrupt and managerially inept corporative
group of bureaucratic, crony-istic, indecisive,
inefficient ‘yes’ men.
Underestimated
Contrary to the widely held belief of the
civilian administrators that firefighters are
generally lazy and, while stupid, are able to
lift heavy things, they have underestimated
– through their own arrogance – that ‘firies’
can always be relied upon to bite the bullet
and correct wrongs, no matter what the task,
when it is required.
Not only did a team of firefighters mark
all outstanding assessments, taking over a
thousand hours, they also developed a more
common sense approach to administrative
WA management at work – design faults at the
new Perth fire station
procedures, and upgraded existing training
resource materials. They even developed
other resources that hadn’t yet been
produced, rectified the ‘recognition of
prior learning’ process for some others
that had laid stagnant for over two years
and introduced many other innovations to
process.
Along the way, these same firefighters
provided ‘third party validations’ so that
firefighter skills held by individuals wanting
to be Officers could be recognised and so
that an interstate educational provider could
facilitate the education of these personnel
for five units of Competence in the Public
Safety Certificate IV.
Curriculum and very little real fire science
exists in the public safety training package
competencies. We’ve seen an evolutionary
and incremental change to the educational
landscape of career firefighters – by design.
The UFUA Western Australia Branch
though pressure applied by some highly
motivated and intelligent firefighters
pressured the fire service to develop a
mapping document that looks at:
- recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in
previous education,
- recognition of current competency being
used on a daily basis, and
- credit transfer from other training related
education and certification, standing
operating procedures, maintenance training,
incidents, analysis of gaps that may exists
and ways to fill those gaps, and more.
New certificate
These same firies produced, after nearly
500 hours of work, a document that maps
career firefighters with five years experience
in a Career Fire Service to the Public Safety
Certificate III course.
Not cert
The outside provider was called in
because in the attempt to dumb down
this fire service, the organisation and its
administrators discontinued a certificate and
diploma level program back in 1995. They
have not provided for the ability of any of its
firefighters to gain a level any higher than
Certificate III since.
The fact that they still cannot provide a
full Certificate IV without the help of another
institution is conclusive proof of their
attempts to water down the significance of
education for career firefighters.
Auswide lessons
There is a lesson in all this for every other
fire service in Australia.
Be very careful and scrutinise every move
your training departments make. Ensure
your training and education is maintained,
otherwise higher levels of career education
will be lost. Much of the fire science has
been discontinued already with the AFC
WA firies can always be relied
upon to bite the bullet
Work is continuing toward the recognition
of firefighters that require Certificate IV. While
we hope to achieve this, it will not be easy.
Many gaps will become evident because of the
legacy of that designed dumbing-down process
that has created a less educated workforce.
In its wisdom, the UFUA WA Branch has
seen this and it is this foresight that firies in
the West need to be thankful for.
continued page 27
UFUA WA BRANCH
WA Branch President: Kevin Jolly
WA Branch Secretary: Graeme Geer
Website: ufuofwa.net.au
email: ufuofwa.net.au/contact.html
The Australian Firefighter I 15
COVER STORY
Big Vic gain
442 more CFA and MFB firefighters
At the end of July, the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal
C
i i released
l
d iits finall report, apologies
l i were
Commission
delivered and cries of ‘never again’ echoed across
the state. The lengthy inquiry quizzed hundreds of
witness, produced thousands of pages of evidence
and delivered two reports containing scores of
“modest and targeted” recommendations. Then,
16 I The Australian Firefighter
after a month of community consultation, the Brumby
d iits ffull
ll response to the
h R
government announced
Royall
Commission’s findings and proposals, including
a plan to employ hundreds more firefighters to
protect the state. It’s a great result for the UFU and
the Victorian Members who campaigned so hard for
better protection for firefighters and the community.
s
y
T
he Victorian government will employ
342 more career CFA firefighters and
100 new MFB firefighters. In addition,
its $197.5 million fireground response
package will focus on renewed efforts to
link CFA and DSE radio networks, fix CFA
communications black spots and improve
aircraft dispatch. These are among the long list
of measures detailed in the government’s full
response to the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal
Commission’s (VBRC) final report.
“This is a historic announcement by
the Victorian Premier John Brumby,”
says UFUA Victorian and National
Secretary, Peter Marshal. “We are very
pleased the government has not only
acknowledged the lack of resourcing
we have fought to rectify over so many
years but has also committed the
money to address the problem.”
Victorian firefighters have been
waging an intense Save property, Save
lives, Save 7.7 campaign to highlight
the state’s dangerously understaffed and
under resourced fire service. “Members
are to be congratulated for their unity
and campaigning efforts to highlight
to communities the lack of emergency
service cover in their neighbourhoods,”
says Peter. “We now have the
government prepared to act and fix the
problems, and that’s a massive win for
our Members.”
bundling technology. It has also shied away
from two other high-cost – and politically
sensitive – proposals; the buy-back of properties
in high risk areas and forcing property sellers
to first obtain a bushfire protection rating
assessment for their dwellings.
Structural change
In all, there are 67 recommendations in the
Royal Commission’s final report, and for
and take charge of situations similar those
experienced on February 7 last year. This means
there will be one person in charge, not three
different chief fire officers.”
In mid August, Craig Lapsley, a former deputy
to retired CFA chief Russell Rees was appointed
Victoria’s Chief Fire Services Commissioner. Mr
Lapsley’s links to firefighting go back to his very
early days – he grew up in the Bendigo
fire station.
Levy to go
The Victorian government will act on
most of the VBRC’s recommendations,
including a significant increase in
fuel reduction burns, more checks
on powerlines in risk areas, improved
warnings systems and community
refuges. More money will also be spent
on permanent and seasonal DSE firefighters
funded under a Land and Fuel Management
package.
The funding of the state’s fire service will
also be overhauled with a property-based tax
to replace the Fire Services insurance levy
that helps pay for the MFB and CFA at the
moment.
However, the government will not
implement a number the VBRC’s major
recommendations. It will not replace all
overhead power lines in bushfire areas with
safer alternatives such as underground or cable
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission
final report says Victoria’s multiple agency structure caused
resource allocation failures during last year’s bushfire crisis
firefighters, key proposals relate to structural
change, including operational improvement
and reform. The UFU says the structural
reform proposed for Victoria’s fire services
should be supported to help address the lack of
communication and duplication that occurred
on Black Saturday. The Commission found
that no one person was in charge on the day
and recommended a new independent Fire
Commissioner be appointed to oversee the state’s
firefighting operations on days of significant fire.
When the VBRC released the report, UFU
Victorian and National Secretary Peter Marshall
said “this person must have operational expertise
Chapter 10 solutions
The final report of the Commission came nearly
17 months after bushfires that produced the
worst disaster in recorded Australian history. For
firefighters, a key section of the report is Chapter
10. Titled Organisational Structure, it details the
need for operational improvement and reform,
options for change, the implications of a new
structure and funding proposals.
The UFU’s submission to the Royal
Commission put the case for a single fire
authority for Victoria. It detailed the impact
of the multiple agency (MFB, CFA and the
The Australian Firefighter I 17
COVER STORY
DSE) structure, the unnecessary
duplication and inefficiencies, along
with the resulting systemic failures
that lead to loss of life and property
on Black Saturday. The Union
argued that a single fire service
would result in increased flexibility,
more effective resource allocation
and an increased financial base.
However, in their final report,
the Commissioners recommended
the three Victorian agencies remain
in place with the Fire Services
Commissioner overseeing a number
of their functions and taking
control when conditions become
highly dangerous. This, at least, is a
step in the right direction.
Century old structure
While the Royal Commission’s
final report did not recommend
amalgamation of Victoria’s fire
services, it does make some
observation about the dated nature
of the structure. It reminds us
that “(t)he Fire Brigades Act 1890
established the organisational
structure of brigades that is still in
effect today.”
This 120 year old structure was
sorely tested on Black Saturday.
At the high end, “(t)here were
serious deficiencies in the top-level
leadership arrangements as a result
of divided responsibilities, and the
full potential of the operational
capability that was available was not
exploited because of differences in
processes and procedures,” remarked
the Commissioners.
Despite this, they do not
recommend a wholesale restructure
of Victoria’s firefighting agencies.
They conceived the new Fire
Commissioner as a leader working
to better integrate the activities
of the agencies and improve
interoperability; “the occupant of
the new position would also perform
the role of State Controller under
Victoria’s emergency management
framework.”
18 I The Australian Firefighter
THE ABC OF EVIDENCE
T
he Victorian Bushfire Royal
Commission’s senior lawyer
says the Commission’s final
report omits important evidence.
Jack Rush QC has told the ABC
he thought the report was “pretty
slim” and that he had hoped for
more – “a more thorough record
and analysis of the evidence.”
Mr Rush says “the report could
have been more significant in the
sense of identifying some very
important evidence that doesn’t
make its way into it.” He also
wanted more substantiation of the
conclusions the commissioners
reached.
Jack Rush argues the stay-or-go
policy is fatally flawed because
people will not leave early and
says voluntary evacuation can
work. “I think the evidence was
overwhelming that it can apply in
Victoria,” he told the ABC.
How useful?
Dr Danielle Clode is a fire
researcher at Melbourne University.
In a report for ABC Radio National’s
Science Show she asks, just
how scientifically useful is the
Royal Commission’s report? Not
very useful at all is Dr Clode’s
conclusion.
“The research reports from the
Commission are all still preliminary
and incomplete,” she says.
“There is a long way to go before
this research is fully analysed,
subjected to scientific scrutiny
and good enough to be published
or used as evidence. Scientific
evidence that is, not just legal
evidence.”
Danielle Clode draws a
comparison with the 1986
Chernobyl nuclear power plant
disaster in the Ukraine and the
Haiti earthquake earlier this year
to demonstrate how few genuine
scientific research results have
come from the investigation into
Black Saturday. In the 18 months or
so since the disaster she’s counted
three scientific papers published;
18 months after Chernobyl there
were 250 and there are already 25
on Haiti. A year and a half after the
1983 Ash Wednesday fires, there
were a dozen scientific papers
available.
No more money
“Fire research generally is prone to
being locked up in massive reports,
unpublished, unscrutinised and
often poorly implemented. And the
Royal Commission seems to have
made this tendency even worse,”
says Dr Clode.
It seems that now that the
Commission has completed
its work, money for completing
and publishing the scientific
research has run out. “The Royal
Commission findings are not,
unfortunately, the answer, but just
the beginning of the questions,”
says Danielle Clode.
READ DR CLODE’S FULL SCIENCE
SHOW COMMENTARY VIA
HTTP: //TINYURL.COM/29R4BXH
Shortcomings
How well an outside
commander will deal with the
ingrained managerial hierarchies
of the three fire agencies is yet
to be tested. And despite some
change that began after the
Royal Commission released its
interim report last year, there is
still a lot of work to be done.
Management failings and
lack of information sharing
put lives at risk says the report.
“Under the acute conditions
on Black Saturday, too much
emphasis and firefighting effort
was devoted to ‘putting out the
fire’ and not enough to ‘putting
out the information’.”
The Commission concluded
that the three fire agencies,
as currently structured, did
not collectively contribute to
their maximum potential on
February 7 last year. There
were serious failings that
limited the agencies’ ability to
comprehensively fulfil their
responsibilities.
Appointment
problem
Victoria’s multiple agency
structure, with each body’s
territory and authority defined
by separate legislation lead
to information blockages,
information and systems
access problems, as well as the
duplication of resources and
allocation failures during last
year’s bushfire crisis.
The report notes that “the
appointment of Incident
Controllers reflected which
agency had legislative
responsibility for the fire –
DSE on public land and the
CFA on private land. This was
supported by a longstanding
practice by the agencies but
did not always result in the
most appropriate person
ACT firefighter and
committed UFUA
Member David Balfour
was killed while on
duty in the Victorian
bushfire zone east
of Marysville in the
days after Black
Saturday. Serious
structural reform of
Victoria’s firefighting
services is needed to
ensure firefighter and
community protection
being appointed.” The Commissioners noted
there are substantial differences in the training
and accreditation of CFA and DSE Incident
Controllers despite both being required to do
the same thing.
More questions
Despite the problems caused by the
current three agency structure, the Royal
Commissioners said they did not find any
of the expert opinions on structural reform
compelling. Nevertheless, in contrast to the
state government view that structural change
is not needed, the Commissioners say an
alternative structure for Victoria’s fire agencies
is required.
However, it says now is not the time for
a single fire service, although there could be
benefits in adopting a structure that allows
for a greater degree of integration in the
future. In the meantime, “modest and targeted
structural reform is needed as a catalyst for
change and to tackle the identified operational
shortcomings…” The commissioners say
further reform could be considered after a
review in about three years time.
STAY OR GO?
T
he Chair of the Victorian Bushfires Royal
Commission says it is wrong to interpret the
Commission’s comments about the stayor-go policy as backing those who would stay to
defend a house in any circumstances.
“We’re saying it would be a disaster for that
to continue,” Bernard Teague told the ABC.
However, the final report of the Commission
says the basis of the stay-or-go policy is sound
and that staying to defend a house from bushfire
remains a valid choice. The Commissioner said
that decisions should be based on preparedness,
the vulnerability of other people in the house, the
severity of conditions and bushfire threat.
The alternatives to stay-or-go proposed by
the Commission’s legal team included following
overseas practice in locations like California
where voluntary evacuation is the primary
response to bushfires.
However, a wholesale dumping of stay-orgo was rejected in the final report, given the
challenges posed by a total evacuation approach.
“Do you evacuate the whole of Bendigo because
fire is impacting upon it? There are too many
problems in going down that track,” said Mr
Teague.
The Commission says emergency evacuations
should be considered when they would provide a
greater level of protection for those facing threat
from bushfire. The report also recommends
community refuges be designated in areas of high
bushfire risk – and a name change, from stay-orgo to prepare-act-survive.
READ THE FULL ABC INTERVIEW WITH
THE COMMISSIONERS VIA:
HTTP: //TINYURL.COM/35QLO6L
Labels and territory
The Commission also suggests:
- the ‘Country Fire Authority’ label is
out of date and badging the CFA as the
‘Community Fire Authority’ would be better,
after consulting all concerned of course,
- the value of the CFA integrated model
remains suitable in urban areas, including
The Australian Firefighter I 19
COVER STORY
-
-
in larger regional cities, but needs further
review,
responsibility for positioning of Melbourne’s
metropolitan fire district boundary should
be with the Fire Commissioner and be
reviewed no more than once every three to
five years,
the buck should stop with the Minister for
Police and Emergency Services,
the Emergency Services Commissioner role
should return to an auditing role, and
the insurance based fire services levy should
be replaced with a property-based levy.
The challenge
The CFA nor DSE should not be immune
from change say the Commissioners; “neither
volunteers nor current administrative
arrangements should be used as excuses for
not making the changes needed to improve
performance.”
Confusion, lack of leadership, accountability
failure, structural impediments, policy
and planning gaps, as well as legislative
and governance issues all caused major
problems during Victoria’s bushfire crisis
last year. Firefighters – and the public – are
justified in asking if the Chief Fire Services
Commissioner will be a fix or just a patch.
While the organisational structure that failed
Victorians on Black Saturday remains largely in
place, Chief Commissioner Lapsleys’ job will
certainly remain a challenge. ■
The Victorian government told the Royal
Commission that structural change for
Victoria’s fire services is not needed
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
FIGURES AND SOURCES
THE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE VICTORIAN
BUSHFIRES ON FEBRUARY 7, 2009 SAT FOR 155 DAYS
OF HEARINGS AND RECEIVED EVIDENCE FROM MORE
THAN 400 WITNESSES. ITS FINAL REPORT CONTAINS
67 RECOMMENDATIONS.
THE BLACK SATURDAY BUSHFIRE IN VICTORIA WAS
THE WORST IN RECORDED AUSTRALIAN HISTORY.
173 PEOPLE DIED AND 414 WERE INJURED. 7,562
PEOPLE WERE DISPLACED WHEN 450,000 HA BURNT,
DESTROYING MORE THAN 3,500 STRUCTURES. ITS
TOTAL COST TO VICTORIA WAS SOME $4.4 BILLION.
THE 2009 VICTORIAN BUSHFIRES ROYAL COMMISSION
INTERIM REPORT CAN BE DOWNLOADED VIA
HTTP://TINYURL.COM/M5SSD3
THE FINAL REPORT CAN BE ACCESSED VIA
HTTP://TINYURL.COM/2A93GV3
20 I The Australian Firefighter
T
he Bushfires Royal Commission was
less than kind in its comments about
the performance of key players not
only during Black Saturday but since. The
Commissioners:
- said they were disappointed the state
government’s less than speedy response
to a number of issue raised in the VBRC’s
interim report released in August last year
with 51 recommendations, including policy
changes for refuges and evacuations,
- criticised both former CFA Chief Officer
Russell Rees and DSE Chief Officer Ewan
Walker, saying they “should have done
more” to provide organisational support,
-
-
-
state-wide planning and community warnings
on the day,
considered the approach by the then Chief
Police Commissioner (and Victorian disaster
plan coordinator) Christine Nixon “left much
to be desired”,
viewed dimly the failure of those in authority
to consider the potential advantages of
declaring a state of emergency (or raising
the issue with the Premier),
assessed the state control arrangements
for level 3 fires as inadequate, and
expressed alarm that Marysville is being
rebuilt “without reference to the mitigation
of bushfire risk”.
The 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission
Final Report Reaction
After the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission handed down
its final report on Saturday July 31, here’s how the response
to its 67 recommendations and the impact of Black Saturday
panned out across the following month:
Sunday August 1 – Victorian Premier John Brumby publicly apologises for the failings of the state’s
emergency response on February 7, 2009,
– Former Victorian Police Chief Commissioner and Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority Chair
Christine Nixon admits to learning “a lot of lessons” and apologises for
her actions on Black Saturday
Monday August 2 – the Premier gives in-principle support to 59 of the Commission’s 67
recommendations for change but says he is still not convinced by proposals for a new tax
to fund fire services, costly power line upgrades or property buy-backs
Tuesday August 3 – the State Government begins community consultations on the
Royal Commission’s recommendations,
– the Opposition pledges to support legislation for a bushfire ombudsman,
– power company SP AusNet rejects allegations of negligence in relation to the Black Saturday
bushfires
Wednesday August 4 – Emergency Services Commissioner Bruce Esplin says he will
stay on in the job
Thursday August 5 – Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) Chief Fire Officer Ewan
Waller apologises for his failings on Black Saturday
Monday August 9 – Premier Brumby gives the strongest signal yet that the government will not
bury existing power lines in fire-prone areas
Tuesday August 10 – a special sitting of Victoria’s Parliament is held to debate the findings of
the Bushfire Royal Commission’s final report,
– the Opposition says the Government’s community meetings are an exercise in spin
Friday August 13 – Victoria’s Bushfires Royal Commission senior lawyer Jack Rush QC says
the report omits important evidence and could have been more significant and thorough,
– Former Hawthorn Football Club President, Ian Dicker is appointed head of the
Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority
Tuesday August 17 – former CFA Chief Officer Russell Rees officially apologises for his
role on Black Saturday
Thursday August 19 – Craig Lapsley, Emergency Management Director, Victorian Department
of Health and Human Services is appointed Chief Fire Services Commissioner
Friday August 27 – The Victorian government releases its full response to the VBRC’s
final report, promising 442 more CFA and MFB career firefighters.
The Australian Firefighter I 21
TRIBUTE
On the run
For 16 Australian firefighters running across the United States it is a tribute to
the firefighters who died in the terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre in New
York on September 11, 2001. The Tour of Duty team are also running to remember
all their colleagues who have died in the line of duty. They’re raising money and
will donate it hospital burns units and firefighter support foundations in the US
and Australia. The Aussies have been joined by 20 American firefighters and other
emergency
service workers
on their hot
and tiring 31
day, 7,500 km
epic summer
journey. As
The Australian
Firefighter
Magazine goes
to press they
are just days
away from their
goal, Ground
Zero on 9/11
A month
th after
ft starting,
t t
the runners will cross the Brook
September 11, to arrive at Ground Zero in time for a special 9
time the first aircraft was crashed into the South Tower o
22 I The Australian Firefighter
cross the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, at 6.00 am on
me for a special 9/11 ceremony at 8.46 am. This was the exact
he South Tower of the World Trade Centre attack in 2001
The Australian Firefighter I 23
WORKFRONT
MANAGEMENT
AV I AT I O N
Mow over
Aviation Members will recall the dispute
we had earlier this year with the ARFF about
lawn maintenance around fire stations. In the
lead up to this dispute, we learnt that at some
stations, Members were tractor slashing training
grounds, trimming trees, weeding, planting,
and poisoning. This of course was a concern
in itself.
The agreement we finally achieved was that
Members would mow and water lawns only; all
other work was to be carried out by contractors.
Further, lawns were to be maintained only
within the ‘immediate vicinity’ of the station
because, (a) we were unsure about the area of
lawns at every station in Australia, and (b) so as
to ensure Members could respond within the
required CASA response times.
After that agreement was reached, the
lawn maintenance ban was lifted by us in
good faith but the ARFF again reneged on the
agreement, insisting that the area to be mowed
was the entire leased area. Once again, the
trust extended by the UFUA to the ARFF was
broken and this matter is still unresolved at one
station because of that breach of trust.
Fly in fly out
A long climb required – to restore Aviation Members trust in management
Out of touch
Airport firefighters can no longer trust their
management to do the right thing. UFUA Aviation Branch
Secretary Mick Farrell continues his review of ARFF
management practice
from page 9 ... Aviation firefighters continue to
tell the Union of their dissatisfaction with Aviation
Rescue Fire Fighting (ARFF) management
attitudes and practice. The Category 10 activity
roster is another case in point.
The ARFF’s expansion into Category
10 level stations played a large part in
the development of the current collective
agreement (CA). Part of that progression was
the agreement by the parties to develop a roster
that would be attractive to Members already
working the Category 9, 10/14 rosters.
The roster developed was called the ‘activity
24 I The Australian Firefighter
roster’ and, as a sign of good faith, we requested
the ARFF to implement it at Sydney ARFF,
even though the guidelines were in a collective
agreement yet to be certified. The ARFF agreed
and in so doing demonstrated an amount of trust.
However, after CA certification, when it
was time to implement the roster at Melbourne
ARFF, management reneged on the previous
undertakings and endeavoured to introduce
another, very unpopular, type of roster. After
much heated debate and many meetings,
Melbourne now has the roster agreed to and
certified in the CA.
The conditions of employment for Members
at fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) stations, was drafted
especially for – and is now included in – the
2009-2013 CA . Nevertheless, management
ignored the good will entrusted to them
by the Membership and subsequently
drafted documents with lesser conditions of
employment. They have pressured Members
to sign them, saying if inferior conditions of
employment are not accepted, their positions at
FIFO stations will be in jeopardy. We also now
wait to prosecute one of these cases.
Cracks aplenty
There are many more examples of why Aviation
Members consider ARFF management to be
out of touch. Here are just a few more:
- MK 8 vehicles with chassis cracks,
- the hand-over /take-over routines at 10/14
Stations,
- broken training assurances, and
- the misuse of Cert. IV firefighters acting up
in SO positions.
The Morita ASV is another classic example.
To gain their cooperation, Members were
told it was for evaluation only. Then the
ARFF brought it on-line, ignoring Members’
complaints and all expert advice on the issue.
Now we have to use an untested
vehicle with a theoretical and
untested operational plan for
deployment.
propensity to burn back or flash back. Certainly,
it is important that the new foam is more
New tests
New trust
challenges
The ARFF is now asking all of us
to trust it with the introduction
of the new Solberg RF6 foam. We
sincerely hope they have finally got
it right because we are not about to
extend any further trust; Members
are telling us “enough is enough!”
Operational use foam must
comply with International Civil
Aviation Organization (ICAO)
standards and needs to be the
best available. Because the ARFF operate at
bare minimum staffing levels, there cannot
be any possibility that foam coverage has a
by the old Ansulite foam. If not, Members
will be left unnecessarily exposed and that is
unacceptable.
Can’t trust ARRF – the Union plans its own tests
environmentally friendly, as the ARFF states,
but also it must provide firefighters with – at
very least – the same level of protection provided
We plan to test the Solberg RF6 against
the ARFF’s claims; we will use recognised
testing procedures. If it comes up
trumps, this will be a good result. If
not, and the ARFF insists that Solberg
RF6 be used, the Union will conduct a
concerted campaign about our concerns
with the new foam. I anticipate this will
include, as an absolute and immediate
necessity, that the ARFF reassess their
strategies, tactics and staffing levels as a
consequence of their failings.
Our Member’s safety is always
paramount; we do not trust the ARFF to
ensure this is the case with the deployment
of Solberg RF6.
MICK FARRELL
Secretary UFUA Aviation Branch
■
The Australian Firefighter I 25
WORKFRONT
CELEBRATION
VICTORIA
One hundred years later
The Union’s Victorian Branch celebrates a centenary next year. It’s been a Century
of Struggle for the UFU since Victorian firefighters first met to set up their Union
I
n 2011, Victoria’s firefighters and the UFU will
celebrate a hundred years of Union protection
for professional firefighters in state. The United
Firemen’s Union of Victoria came into being on
January 22, 1911 when a group of firefighters met
in a small room under the stairs of the old Eastern
Hill fire station.
“Keeping the Union strong is essential if
firefighters’ workplace entitlements,
conditions and rights are to be well
protected,” says Peter Marshall. “The
arrival of our centenary will allow
Members to acknowledge the Union’s
achievements, celebrate our solidarity
and plan for the struggles ahead with
renewed energy.”
At the UFU’s first meeting, 173
Members signed up. MFB management
reacted very quickly to the news,
putting pressure on firefighters to tell
what was going on with the Union.
George Tuck, the UFU’s first secretary,
told Members not to talk to these
management ‘nosey-parkers’ as “no
good could possibly come of it”.
Strength in unity
A few months after the Union’s
formation – and affiliation to the
Melbourne Trades Hall Council –
firefighters, their brass band and Union
banner were among the 35,000 strong
crowd at the eight hour day march
through Melbourne.
“These were small beginnings for
the Union,” says Victorian Branch
Secretary Peter Marshall. “And for
the first couple of decades our elected
officials went about their tasks rather
quietly. By the late 1930s, firefighters
had won reductions in work hours
– to 108 per week! These oppressive
conditions spurred on a new
generation of recruits to adopt a more
serious approach to industrial campaigns.”
Divided state
The duplication of Victoria’s fire services with its
two fire authorities, the MFB and CFA, began
in the last decade of the 19th century. In 1890,
the Fire Brigades Act created the Metropolitan
Fire Brigades Board (MFB), which replaced 56
volunteer brigades in Melbourne, and the Country
Fire Brigades Board (CFB) that
absorbed nine County Fire Districts
across the state.
Nearly fifty years later, the Royal
Commission into the disastrous 1939
Black Friday fires recommended a
single authority for Victoria. Another
season of serious bushfires in 1944
renewed the pressure but the state
government ducked the issue again
and decided to establish the CFA
instead. The UFU has campaigned
continuously for more CFA career
firefighters and a single fire service
for the state. A most significant
breakthrough was achieved recently,
when after yet another Royal
In the early decades of the twentieth century, Melbourne firefighters were
Commission into a bushfire tragedy,
proud participants in the city’s annual Labour Day marches. At the time this
that of last year’s Black Saturday, the
photograph was taken, firefighters were entitled to only three days’ annual
leave. A weekly day-off was at the discretion of the Chief Officer. Thanks
Victorian government announced
to the Union, firefighters’ workplace conditions have improved out of sight
funding to employ 342 more CFA
since those days pic: Melbourne Fire Services Museum
career firefighters.
New focus
1940 saw the start of what legendary UFU Victoria
Secretary Bill Webber described as “the infamous 30
year war of industrial strife” that was triggered by
changes in MFB management and tactics.
26 I The Australian Firefighter
The Union and its elected officials refocused
their approach to working conditions, health
and safety, wages and training. From then on,
Victoria’s professional firefighters and the UFU
have campaigned tirelessly for the conditions and
entitlements that now protect firefighters and the
communities they serve.
“Not only did we wage that ‘thirty year war’
When the UFU
was formed in
Victoria, steam
power and
horse carriages
were some of
the tools of the
firefighters’
trade
pic: Melbourne
Fire Services
Museum
over hours and wages, we also fought the Kennett
government’s attempt to strip away our conditions
and just a few years ago, we challenged the Howard
government which tried it on again,” says Pater
Marshall. “Through all these struggles, the UFU
stood strong and our Members remained united to
see off the challenges.”
Celebrations
To highlight the Victorian Branch’s
centenary year, a dedicated newsletter
will be published every month
detailing the significant events that
influenced the Union’s growth and
activities across each decade. The
first edition will be distributed in
September.
On January 30, next year, a
special celebration to mark the
centenary will include a procession
through Melbourne’s streets and a Union family
day in the Treasury gardens. More events will be
held throughout 2011, including the Centenary
Gala Ball and the launch of a book detailing the
UFU’s rich history of struggle and achievement
for Members. There will be more details in future
editions of The Australian Firefighter Magazine. ■
WORKFRONT
WA
Firefighter training – the lessons
In WA, when firefighters uncovered assessments incomplete, but stacked away and gathering dust, they
sprung into action. Their work not only helped firefighters gain increments and recognition of service
but it also produced new learning materials and resources for their colleagues. The Union’s WA Branch
completes the story with a plea for action across the nation
National standards needed
All firefighters need to be cognisant of a national move to dumb down career firefighters so that
they lose their relevance. Why fire and emergency service authorities have an agenda to do this is beyond the comprehension
of most but it is very apparent that the specialisation of all aspects of fire combat is being watered down. Maybe this is so
that a more homogenised emergency service worker can be developed, a sort of a jack-of-all-trades but master on none.
We need to push, via the National Union, for standardised organisational education across Australia. We must further
educate ourselves through tertiary and university studies while embracing institutions such as the keepers of fire science
knowledge at the Institute of Fire Engineers (IFE) or the Fire Protection Association (FPA).
Do this and we will stay relevant. We will also remain a force to be reckoned with against a corporate mentality that,
despite all the evidence, demonstrates particularly every summer across Australia how relevant we should be that, ‘firies’ are
able to do more than lift heavy things.
continued from page 15
UFUA OF WA BRANCH
■
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The Australian Firefighter I 27
POLITICS
POWER PLAYS
CHARLES LIVINGSTONE
There are more ways than one to govern pic:stock.xchng_franz
Vested interest, power politics
Will the federal election result force more cooperation and less political game-playing
from our elected representatives? Charles Livingstone checks the lie of the land
M
ost Australians have a healthy disregard
for politicians and their promises. The
disillusionment we mostly share about
politics was well and truly evident in the recent
federal election, with the result that, more than two
weeks later, a decision on who can govern had yet
to be made.
It also seems that most people are fairly happy
with that situation. Despite the occasional outcry
from some industry organisations, arguing that a
hung parliament is bad for business, most of the
population seems happy to have produced a result
requiring some degree of co-operation for effective
government. As the Independents have pointed out,
the ‘two dogs barking’ pattern of Australian politics
produces little light and much wasted heat.
It does produce colourful headlines of course,
28 I The Australian Firefighter
and the symbiosis between journalists and
politicians may well explain much of the reason for
oppositional politics in this country and much of
the western world.
New thinking
However, it is far from the only way to govern,
and the examples of Scandinavia and much of
Europe, where coalitions of often highly disparate
parties are regularly assembled, demonstrates
that highly progressive and successful nations can
arise in situations of relative political uncertainty.
Indeed, the rigid party discipline we are used to in
Australia is itself unusual. In both Britain and the
United States, from both of which we drew our
constitutional DNA, party discipline is much
less rigid.
Perhaps in Australia the people have come to
the collective view that we should and can force the
party system into a new way of thinking, free of
the vested interest of political operators and their
factional machinery. Many supporters and members
of both the Labor and Liberal parties would agree.
Labor’s factional structure is well documented.
The Liberal Party’s factionalism somehow slides
under the radar but there is no doubt that much
of the reason for their relative lack of success at
state level over recent years has been the in-fighting
between factions.
The numbers
The NSW party is notoriously dominated by a hard
right faction, encouraged under the previous federal
government and pre-selecting often unelectable
candidates in order to retain their factional base. So
it’s not just the ALP that offers factional politics;
both major parties would benefit from a more open
and inclusive membership base. It is undoubtedly
the case that neither party has more members
nationally than many AFL clubs. Hardly an
inclusive base from which to govern the country!
The whole Australian polity would also benefit
from a careful examination of the way vested
interests operate. We all have some degree of vested
interest, of course. John Howard was highly expert
in appealing to the vested interests of millions of
voters, developing the packaging of middle class
welfare into a fine art. On a host of issues, Howard
was able to craft a policy position that responded to
the collective electoral power of key groups.
In a sense, vested interest is intrinsic to politics,
and the parties we elect are a reflection of the
dominant interest.
VESTED INTEREST
OPERATES CONSTANTLY,
AND FREQUENTLY WITHOUT
REGARD TO THE ELECTORAL
CYCLE. BIG TOBACCO … HAS
PROVIDED A TEMPLATE
Mining influence
Yet we do seem to be in danger of losing control of
the political process to the power of some highly
influential and well resourced interest groups. In the
United States, the gun lobby through the National
Rifle Association is notoriously able to undermine
gun control legislation by using a twofold, carrot
and stick influence; political donations to many
individual members of Congress to support their reelection, and vigorous and well funded opposition
to those who propose measures it doesn’t support.
The result is that no serious candidate dare propose
any measures for gun control, with consequences
we hear about regularly.
In Australia, we lack a well-organised gun lobby
but we still have our fair share of well-resourced
vested interests operating constantly at a political
level. Even the most rudimentary analysis of the
recent history of the mining super profits tax
demonstrates that the government was forced into
a highly public back down, involving a change of
prime minister, arguably in direct response to the
self-interested campaigning of the fabulously well
resourced mining industry.
Whether that industry then proceeded to support
the opposition party at the subsequent federal
election we can not know until sometime next year,
because our donation disclosure laws don’t require
such revelations until well after the event.
Cash incentive
But vested interest operates constantly, and
frequently without regard to the electoral cycle. Big
tobacco (who still donate to the coalition, although
Labor, to their credit, don’t accept their donations)
pic: stock.xchng/datarec
has provided a template for how some of the other
‘dangerous consumption’ industries can delay
public health reforms and confuse the public about
relevant issues almost endlessly.
Just such a process has been in train for a
number of years in the gambling industry, where
despite overwhelming evidence of considerable
harm and little evidence of real economic or other
benefits, the Australian poker machine industry
continues unabated to enjoy spectacular profits.
Cash-strapped state governments are only
too happy to go along with this, the NSW and
Victorian treasuries both pocketing about a billion
dollars per year as their share of this system for
extracting cash from those who can least afford it.
Illusory benefit
The demands of Andrew Wilkie, that this harm
producing poker machine industry be restrained by
a ‘pre-commitment’ system (allowing gamblers to
decide in advance how much they wish to spend),
demonstrates the power of vested interest in yet
another way. The government has readily accepted
his proposition because it seeks to continue in
office. Fair enough, we might say. Yet interestingly
this idea, when floated by the Productivity
Commission in its 2010 report on gambling, was
not seized upon by the Government.
In fact the Government response was to toe
the gambling industry’s line and mutter about the
many benefits of gambling, such as employment
and facilities. That these benefits are largely illusory
(as the Productivity Commission argued very
convincingly) matters not at all in such debates.
Rich and powerful industries operate under their
own rules of perception and political response, at
least until the rules change as they did after the
2010 election result.
Chance for reform
If we are really lucky, the 2010 election will give us
an opportunity to begin the process of restraining
the power of vested interests to influence our public
life. Reform to political disclosure laws, proposed by
the Rudd government, but defeated by the coalition
with the support of Senator Fielding, is well and
truly back on the agenda. This may also extend to
reform of the laws around political advertising and
influence peddling by recent former Ministers, as
well as the myriad other ways there are to hijack the
political agenda in defiance of the public interest.
From the political imbroglio of 2010 may flow
a fundamental reform of at least some aspects of
Australian political life. We can but hope! ■
CHARLES LIVINGSTONE IS IN THE DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH SOCIAL SCIENCE AT MONASH
UNIVERSITY.
The Australian Firefighter I 29
POLITICS
THE INSIDER
S I R M U R R AY
Baby boomer threat
They’re out there, they’re still voting and as far as nuisance value goes, they are
the global benchmark say Sir Murray Rivers
G
reetings, fellow distinguishing
persons.
Putting aside the various
rural Rejects from Central Casting – the
Honorable Independent members for Self
Interest – who at the time of writing are
trying to work out who they want to ruin
this colony for the next three years, I want
to discuss a greater danger; a cabal, who in
my learned opinion represent the greatest
danger that our society has ever faced –
the Baby Boomers.
The word nuisance, ladies and
gentlemen, comes from the verb nuire,
from the Latin nocere, ‘to harm’. I want
you to hold onto that verb ‘to harm’,
because harming things is something the
Baby Boomers have done a fine line in
under their watch; harming themselves,
the environment, other countries and
particularly their children’s future.
Idle hours
More than any other generation in this
colony’s history, Baby Boomers have
cornered the market on being not just a
national nuisance but a first class, global
nuisance. I argue that Baby Boomers continue to
be a right royal pain in the social arse. And if there
is a single reason as to how they have become such
outstanding pests, it is this: as a generation they
simply had far too much time on their hands.
Spare time is the kerosine on the fire of idleness;
it is the hand that drives disruption. Baby Boomers
have indulged themselves in a way that no other
generation in this colony ever has. What have they
done for this colony? Absolutely nothing. And as we
all know – the only thing wrong with doing nothing
is that you never know when you’re finished.
Having indulged all their lives, now on the verge
of retirement, they are expecting to be indulged
further. The simple fact is: Baby Boomers never grew
up. They have all remained Peter Pan and Wendys.
Put simply, once this group understood their
capacity to remain children and to create nuisance,
for the Baby Boomer, there was no looking back.
30 I The Australian Firefighter
The simple fact is, baby boomers never grew up pic: stock.xchng/trolf
Blameless
And the one thing about Baby Boomers is; they do
know exactly who they are. After all, Baby Boomers
have spent the better part of their adult lives
‘discovering themselves’. While Rome burnt, the
Boomers fiddled. Fiddled while the environment
was collapsing around them; played with themselves
while the financial crisis crept up on the world.
They did this because they’d been told they
could; sitting as they all did on the couches of
expensive shrinks and other assorted witch doctors
and medicine men, believing they needed their
heads read. Well, they were right about that. They
paid a premium for the quacks to tell them what
they wanted to hear; that all their failures in life
derived directly from their parents. Baby Boomers
weren’t guilty for their marriages breaking up or
leaving the planet on a drip feed in the emergency
ward.
Tom Jones sang ‘No. No Not responsible’ – no
surprise that song was a smash hit in the 60’s.
Marginal leverage
What should be frightening the socks off the young
is that the BB’s are all on the verge of retirement.
Then, they can be a serious nuisance twenty four
hours a day, seven days a week. In other words,
when it comes to being a national pest – you ain’t
seen nothing yet.
Let’s look at the statistics - if not the facts.
Australia has 5.25 million baby boomers; they
own almost 35 per cent of Australia’s trillion dollar
superannuation assets and they hold half of the
nation’s total household wealth. As the saying goes
– use it or lose it. Watch them use it, every last,
selfish cent.
Take for example, politics. As a group, Boomers
are now so powerful politically, if a Baby Boomer
even sneezes in a marginal seat, politicians trip
over themselves to wipe their nose or provide an
ambulance.
What other generation could have taken John
F Kennedy’s immortal line, “ask not what your
country can do for you but what you can do for
your country” and turn it into their own motto,
“ask not what we can do for our country but what
can our country do for us”.
hope never to set eyes on again, in exotic countries
they hope never to return to.
And Golf. Golf was designed to keep Boomers
in their senior years from wandering around the
streets causing trouble. I hate to think what will
happen when all the Boomers retire. It won’t be
safe to drive down a street in this country. Apart
from the fact that the roads will be clogged with
Boomers in wheel chairs and every car-park space
will have a ‘P’ painted on it, there is simply not
enough golf courses to keep the Boomers out of
trouble.
All spent
Going down swinging
As for financial responsibility or looking to the
future, forget it. The province of the Boomer is
the holiday in Provence and Tuscany, the Venice
Biennale, winter in Noosa, Bali and Thailand,
towing dangerous caravans across the Nullabor and
cruise ship holidays where they meet people they
1EXXMWSYV
ZEWIGXSQ]LIVS
Matt went in for a vasectomy on Friday afternoon,
and was back at work on Monday morning.
People say Australia is in danger of becoming
a nanny state. There’s a reason for this. Baby
Boomers have to be forced to behave properly,
they are far too indulgent and ill-disciplined; they
need someone managing their crib, otherwise
they’ll crawl from it, hit the playground and do
what they do best – cause trouble, cause mischief
and be a bloody nuisance. Clearly, Boomers have
to be saved from themselves.
In conclusion, my advice to the young of this
colony is this; if you want action on climate change
hop onto eBay and buy yourself a boat or relocate
to the mountains. Same thing if you are expecting
an inheritance – sorry, it’s gone.
Best bet
Here’s my tip; if you want to own a house in
the future, go down to Randwick racecourse on
Saturday and put all your pocket money on Race 3,
‘Watangi Hanover’. Back it with your ears pinned
back because that’ll be as near to an inheritance as
you’ll ever get from your Boomer parents.
Keep squirting,
SIR MURRAY RIVERS QC (retired)
■
A former distinguished Victorian Supreme Court
judge, Sir Murray’s contribution to the nation’s
public life continues as a great and very distinguished
Australian
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The Australian Firefighter I 31
LIFE
SURVIVAL
HELGA BIRGDEN
Big issues
Super issues
Is your super fund looking beyond the short term
horizon? Has it learnt the lessons of the GFC? Helga
Birgden checks the lie of the land
S
uper funds are meant to be in it for
the long term and to be on top of
a wide range of risks to protect our
savings. So, are they acting in our best interests?
And are they smart enough to look over the
short term horizon and invest sustainably?
Importantly, can they deliver investment
returns when it is time for us to collect the
cash? In short, are the people looking after our
investments up on the big issues?
In the aftermath of the global financial
crisis, super funds should now be reconsidering
traditional investment and how they allocate
our money to investments. Some super funds
are now acknowledging they were caught
out in recent crashes. So, is it now the time
for them to consider Environmental, Social
and Governance (ESG) issues as real risks to
investing?
A report on this subject released by
international law firm Bruckhaus, Deringer,
Freshfields found that:
Stern Review on the Economics of
Climate Change, noted that super funds
in Australia should be aware of the “new
industrial revolution”. New investments such
as wind, solar, water, forestry, clean and green
infrastructure that help to reduce carbon
can offer long term investors a sustainable
return.
Despite the unpredictable nature of individual
events like this, there are forward looking
indicators that super funds can ask for:
- updates on health and safety standards,
- reports on the operational risks, such as deep
oil-water extraction,
- checks on governance of operations,
- evidence of proper oversight of risk
management implementation,
- exercise of voting rights and engagement
with all companies,
- compliance with environmental, social and
governance global standards,
- reporting by investment managers on these
issues in the portfolio, and more.
- super fund trustees are obligated to explain
the fund’s guidelines on responsible
investment and to what extent social,
environmental or ethical considerations are
taken into account, and
- investment consultants and investment
managers face a very real risk of being sued
for negligence if they ignore ESG factors
within investment decision-making.
Global warning
It is widely acknowledged that a big issue
affecting our economy is the environment and
more broadly climate change. What is less
certain is the impact on super funds and how
they can best prepare for its challenges, both
from a risk management and return perspective.
Could climate change be an area of
economic opportunity? Sir Nicholas Stern, an
ex-World Bank economist and author of the
32 I The Australian Firefighter
Surviving the GFC – your super fund can do it without harming the planet
The environment /climate change
impact potential is still not fully factored in
as a genuine risk to our savings. For example,
we have seen recently how environmental
issues can impact on a company’s reputation
and returns; BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil
spill in April this year saw a 50% fall in its
share price by June 30. The price since then
has been volatile, the company has had to set
up a compensation fund of approximately
£20 billion, it stopped dividend payments
and the clean up took BP much longer than
anticipated.
With the growing impact of resource
scarcity – and the ongoing global effects of
pollution on the quality of water, air and arable
land – we need to know our super funds are
equipped to look out over their own short term
horizons to help ‘future proof ’ our investments
against any impact from these big issues.
The money
Many studies have been undertaken on the
vexed question of whether there is a penalty for
incorporating ESG risks into investment decisionmaking. Two overview studies Mercer has
undertaken1 indicate there is a material effect from
such factors and, on balance, show that factoring
in ESG risks can contribute to an enhanced
investment return over the long term period that
super funds typically invest our savings.
For example, one study we reviewed used a
governance index constructed from the incidence
of 24 governance rules at 1500 companies
during the 1990s. The study found that
companies with corporate governance rules that
enable stronger shareholder rights earned higher
Sustainable Investing (SI) strategies. NS
means choosing not to invest in certain
companies for ethical reasons, for example, in
land mine manufacturers. The average five year
annual return for SI strategies was 17.9%, while
for NS strategies it was 13.2%. These results
stand up well against traditional investment
performances measured by two mainstream
indices: the S&P 500 at 13.4% and MSCI
World with 14.9%.
Closer to home, Table 1 sets out the
The demand
Super funds do have the capacity to invest
using forward looking indicators to build
ESG into their management of our money.
This is the way they can both protect us from
downside risks and take up new opportunities
to create a cleaner environment and more
sustainable economy. However, as super fund
members we need to demand that they do so.
Many studies have demonstrated that
Manager/Fund
1 Month
(%)
Rank
3 Months
(%)
Rank
1 Year
(%)
Rank
AMP Capital Sustainable Future
BT Institutional Aust Sustainability
BT Institutional Ethical Sector Trust
Challenger Socially Responsive Share Fund
ING Sustainable – Aust Share Trust
Perennial Socially Responsive Shares
Perpetual Wholesale Ethical
Vanguard Sustainability Leaders Australia
Warakirri Charitable Select Equities
Warakirri Pensions & Charities
Median
5.7
4.5
4.7
5.0
5.5
2.5
3.6
4.2
4.6
4.6
4.6
-7.1
-5.8
-6.1
-5.6
-5.7
-7.5
-6.9
-5.6
-6.9
-5.1
-6.0
9.9
9.3
8.3
11.0
10.7
10.1
31.2
9.9
11.4
(1)
(7)
(4)
(3)
(2)
(10)
(9)
(8)
(5)
(6)
(9)
(5)
(6)
(2)
(4)
(10)
(8)
(3)
(7)
(1)
(6)
(8)
(9)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(1)
(7)
(2)
3 Years
(%pa)
Rank
-7.6
-5.0
-5.6
-10.5
-2.8
-6.1
-2.0
-4.2
-1.1
10.1
5 Years
(%pa)
Rank
(8)
(5)
(6)
(9)
(3)
(7)
(2)
(4)
(1)
5.7
5.4
7.0
1.5
8.2
5.5
10.0
5.9
7.3
-5.0
(6)
(8)
(4)
(9)
(2)
(7)
(1)
(5)
(3)
5.9
Table 1: Australian Share products that factor in some form of ESG consideration – 2009–2010
Source: Mercer Australian Shares Survey, SRI universe to end of July 2010
returns, were valued more highly and had better
operating performance. A performance-over-time
analysis showed that a portfolio consisting of the
top 10% of the governance index outperformed
the bottom 10% of the index by a statistically
significant 8.5% per year.
Superannuation Funds
Perpetual WFS Perpetual’s Ethical SRI
Optimum Pers Super Perpetual Wsale Ethical SRI
Optimum Corp Super Perpetual Wsale Ethical SRI
MLC MKey Super – Perpetl Ws Eth SRI
MLC MKey Bus Sup – Perp Ws Ethical SRI
ING OA Per Sup-ING Sust Inv-Aust Sh
ING OA Per Sup-ING Sust Inv-Aust Sh NEF
ING Integra-ING Sustainable Inv-Australian Shares
performance of Australian Share products that
take some form of ESG factors into account
in their process. These factors do vary from
product to product. It is interesting to note
that one of these products, Perpetual Wholesale
Ethical also outperformed all mainstream
applying ESG strategies can deliver positive
investment returns across the time super
funds have our money. Enjoy, not destroy is
the message; by convincing our funds to go
down the ESG path, we can take the cash
when it’s time to collect knowing that we have
1 month%
3 month%
1 year%
3 year%pa
5 year%pa
-6.00
-5.43
-5.43
-5.60
-5.60
-7.34
-7.39
-7.36
1.58
2.26
2.26
2.06
2.06
-3.90
-4.05
-3.94
44.17
56.16
56.16
48.55
48.55
17.85
17.09
17.69
-2.47
-2.31
-2.31
-2.80
-2.80
-2.75
-3.37
-3.26
9.58
8.87
8.87
8.85
8.85
8.56
7.89
7.88
Table 2: Eight Australian superannuation products that factor in some form of ESG consideration
Source: Data supplied by Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd, Ethical Investor June/July 2010, Issue 92, pp 46-47
ESG compared
Another analysis of the impact of ESG considerations on returns sampled 805 global funds with
$100 million or more under management and
performance records of five years plus.
The sample was subdivided into two
groups, Negative Screening (NS) strategies and
Australian Shares funds surveyed across 12
months to the end of July 2010.
Table 2 lists eight superannuation products
that take some form of ESG factors into account
in their process. The factors also vary from product
to product. They are ranked on performance from
highest to lowest over five years.
contributed to the solution, not remained part
of the problem. ■
HELGA BIRGDEN is Acting Global Head
of Responsible Investment for Mercer
1. The Mercer website is at
http://mercer.com/ri
More information can also be found at
http://responsibleinvestment.org
The Australian Firefighter I 33
LIFE
DIRECTIONS
UNIONS
Unions at work
The ACTU’s campaign against WorkChoices defeated
the Howard government. But much remains to be done
to protect workplace entitlements and rights
With the outcome of the federal election still in the balance, ACTU President
Ged Kearney runs through the Union movement’s to-do list for the next three years
A
s the new ACTU President, it is an honour
to be joining Jeff Lawrence in leading
Australian Unions as we continue to
provide a voice for workers and their families.
Over the last three years with the Labor
government, the Unions have helped achieve
industrial reforms that see better protections
for workers, fairer workplace rights and a stable
economic outlook as we emerge from the global
financial crisis.
In that first term we pretty much were
buried in legislative reform, dealing with award
modernisation and OHS harmonisation. These
were intense and time consuming activities. We
made progress, and are certainly better off than
under WorkChoices, as we now are not slaves to
AWAs, have better unfair dismissal laws, a fairer
mechanism for setting the minimum wage and an
independent industrial umpire.
IR plans
Of course we don’t have everything we want yet
and still have a lot of work to do.
34 I The Australian Firefighter
Modern awards began operation on
January 1 this year. It is well known that some
awards resulted in reduced pay and conditions
for workers in certain industries. But the March
executive meeting of the ACTU endorsed an
action plan to prevent employers from using
award modernisation as an excuse to cut
workers’ pay.
We will be vigilant to ensure wages are
maintained or improved and will seek preemptive take home pay orders where necessary.
This is now possible, after Unions raised concerns
and the Labor government used regulation to
strengthen the legislation.
While the Fair Work Act is a step forward
for workers, we have to continue to build on
the reforms. Our main areas of focus will be
improving the bargaining process, including
access to industry or multi employer bargaining,
improving the currently restricted ‘allowable
matters’ in EBAs, and providing arbitration for
unresolvable disputes, especially for the low paid,
and improved right of entry conditions.
OHS
The OHS harmonisation is a process that seeks
to line up the OHS laws across the country;
currently they differ vastly from state to state.
The risk with such a process is that the lowest
common denominator is made the benchmark.
We are concerned that the proposed new laws
will actually undermine standards, putting workers
at risk.
We are fighting for laws that give workers a say,
make employers responsible, empower health and
safety reps, respect the role of Unions, and enable
workers and Unions to take court action. We are
urging Unions to take up the call through our
Don’t Risk Second Rate Safety campaign.
Equal rights
One major concern for Unions at present is that
fact our comrades in the construction industry are
subjected to a separate set of laws from the rest
of the workforce, laws which reduce their rights.
These laws criminalise legitimate industrial activity
and deny building workers the right to silence. All
HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING
workers should have the same rights. Australian
Unions remain as determined as ever to see these
unfair and unjust laws abolished.
Ged Kearney had
barely begun as ACTU
Pay equity
As I write this, I don’t know which party will end
up leading this country. We are caught in the abyss
of a hung parliament. For Unions, there are a great
many issues in the pipeline that will either see the
light of day, be supported or indeed die completely,
depending on who is running the country.
The Pay Equity case is an important test
case currently being run by Unions representing
workers in the social and community sector. It
is unacceptable that in the year 2010, and in an
economy as advanced as Australia’s, women in
female dominated industries are paid less than
men. The outcome of the pay equity test case will
require support from not only the states but also
the federal government to help fund a positive
outcome. It is pretty doubtful that an Abbott
government would provide such assistance.
Super
The Labor government has also committed
to improving superannuation for all workers.
Currently the superannuation guarantee paid by
employers is 9% of wages. Labor has committed
to increasing that to 12% over the next few
years. This is an important and necessary reform,
particularly for the low paid and women who are
chronically under-superanuated. Superannuation is
one of the three pillars of an adequate retirement,
along with the pension, and personal savings. Tony
Abbott said he would not support an increase.
The increase in superannuation was to be
funded in part through the minerals resources rent
tax. This is a tax to be imposed on the billion dollar
mining industry, where huge profits are made
and a pitiful amount of that income, made from
Australian resources, goes back into communities
via tax. We all pay our fair share of taxes and the
mining industry must do the same. Tony Abbott’s
election campaign was heavily supported by the
mining industry because he has promised not to
introduce the tax. He wants his corporate buddies
to continue making the billions for themselves.
Senate
Whatever party forms government we will, as of
next year, have the Greens controlling the Senate,
which will serve as a watchdog for any Tory
shenanigans, and hopefully, support and strengthen
progressive policies should Labor be able to take
the lead.
President when
Prime Minister Gillard
switched the nation to
full-on election mode.
Ged spent a hectic few
weeks delivering the
ACTU president
Ged Kearney – the
campaign continues
I
was, like many others, out campaigning
during the elections. This offered me
the privilege of meeting with hundreds of
workers in many different types of jobs from
all around the country.
In those few weeks, I visited trucking
yards at dawn for breakfast with drivers,
served sausages for lunch to nurses and
orderlies in hospitals, and dropped in on call
centres, railway stations, building sites and
factories. Everywhere I went, I met decent,
hardworking people whose aspirations are
simple, yet so often unfulfilled.
They want a secure job, a job at which
they can earn enough to provide for their
family without forfeiting precious time. They
want to be safe at work. They want to be
respected and consulted by their employer.
They want productive and satisfying work
that they have some control over, and
that encourages them to learn new skills.
They want to be treated fairly and women,
equally, They want their workplace to be
environmentally and worker-friendly.
Need to join
The Union movement has a responsibility
to these workers. I reckon there are great
times ahead for us in the Union movement
and what we stand for and we have to grasp
Whatever the outcome, Australian Unions will
continue to support workers; we will campaign and
fight for workplace rights no matter who is in power.
In the very near future, we at the ACTU will
be calling on you and every other Union Member
Trade Union message
to Australia’s voters
those opportunities.
The Australian Nurses Federation (ANF)
where I’ve come from, is a campaigning
Union that builds on values that are
important to our Members; those of
social justice, of professional advocacy
and leadership, and of course industrial
outcomes.
We know that Unions can be places
that make you feel secure, productive and
proud. I want every Australian to know that
and I want them to feel the need to join – to
feel part of a movement, a movement that
makes changes for the better.
Ask the people
My message is this; if you want to know
what’s best for jobs, for public services, for
our industries, ask the people that work in
them, speak to Unions and their Members.
No matter who forms the national
Government, Unions will continue to
represent our nearly two million Members
and the nation’s ten million workers. We
will hold the Government to account for its
workplace policies, ensure our industrial
relations laws do not go backwards, and
further advance our rights at work.
We will remain vigilant. We will not
let up.
across the nation to help continue the campaign
on social, moral and industrial issues. Together, we
can hold government to account on all accounts!
Yours in solidarity
GED KEARNEY ACTU President ■
The Australian Firefighter I 35
LIFE
EATS
MANNIX
Meat Ball Salad – tasty when warm or cool
Spring into it
A change of season brings volatile weather, so choose
dishes that taste good either way says Chef Mannix
W
hen the weather becomes
unpredictable, planning a meal can
be a challenge. Here are three dishes
that are at their best either hot or cold.
Tasty balls salad
These are ‘old school’ meatballs, fried up and
served in a salad bowl where all other ingredients
are round; olives, tomatoes, mozzarella and …
well almost. OK, so the salad leaves are the odd
ingredients out.
With basil and oregano going into the
dressing, I season the meatballs differently. Just
parsley and oregano are great; or try basil and
fennel. You can crumble a spiced sausage in there
instead of the pancetta. Or make it all feel very
grown up and swap the milk for red wine and add
some diced porcini.
Likewise, with garlic in the balls, I opt for
36 I The Australian Firefighter
minced or diced shallot in the dressing. Use your
regular olive oil for the cooking the balls but
break out the sensational stuff for the dressing.
You won’t be sorry.
The goods:
You’ll need the following for the meatballs:
1 cup olive oil
450g lean ground / minced pork
55g pancetta or bacon, finely diced
½ cup fresh white bread crumbs
4 tblspns milk
3 eggs
2 tblspns grated parmesan
2 cloves garlic
½ tspn salt
pepper
½ tspn cayenne pepper
½ tspn ground / dried sage
½ tspn ground fennel seeds
flour for dredging,
and for the salad:
about 6 big handfuls of salad greens –
romaine lettuce, spinach, rocket / arugula,
a little radicchio –any or all
a handful of old-school stuffed green
olives
1 cup cherry tomatoes
12 bocconcini / baby mozzarella
1 cup crimini / button mushrooms
1 red capsicum
12 pepperoncini / sweet spicy peppadews
(varieties of capsicum),
while the dressing requires:
1 tblspn minced shallot
1 tblspns minced red pepper/ capsicum
1 tblspns finely chopped fresh basil leaves
½ tspn dried oregano
½ tspn salt
pepper
¼ cup white wine vinegar
¼ cup very good olive oil
pinch sugar.
2 red capsicums
1 baguette
olive oil
lemon
flour
2 eggs (beaten)
breadcrumbs.
Snack or entre – bite into the baguette
To prepare the meatballs, soak the breadcrumbs
in the milk (or try slicing the crust off an old
focaccia roll, dice it and blitz it ... instant
breadcrumbs!). Mix in the meat and diced
pancetta / bacon and add all other ingredients
(except flour and olive oil). Mix by hand.
Place about one cup of flour in a bowl; shape
the balls gently (30 – 40 mm each) and roll
lightly in flour, then place on a board lined with
foil or wax paper. The mix will create about three
dozen balls.
Heat the oil (about 12 mm deep) in a large
skillet. Gently place the meatballs in the oil; you
may have to cook them in two batches. Make sure
the balls are cooked through, then remove the
meatballs to a plate lined with a paper towel and
allow to cool slightly.
For the dressing, chop, dice or mince the
shallot (substitute with scallion or red onion),
garlic, capsicum and basil. Put into a measuring
jug or bowl and add oregano, salt and a pinch of
freshly ground pepper. Add vinegar and oil and
whisk to emulsify / incorporate. Taste it; then you
might want to add a pinch of sugar. Tart it up
with a splash more vinegar, soothe it down with a
splash more olive oil.
Build the salad this way: slice the red pepper
into thin discs and place around the perimeter
of the salad bowl and pile the mixed leaves in
the middle. Arrange all those lovely, round, bitesized balls on top: the meatballs (hot / cold),
the tomatoes, olives, pepperoncinis, mushrooms
and mozzarella balls. When feeling particularly
generous, I’ll splash out on a big, fat ball of
burrata and place it in the middle instead of small
bocconcini. Pour the dressing over everything
and serve.
This is really one of my instant favourite
meals. Serve it at a party or downscale it for a
weeknight dinner.
Total time: about 40 minutes.
Zucchini Pepper &
Haloumi Baguette
This fried zucchini, grilled red pepper and
haloumi open sandwich could be for starters or as
a stand alone light meal.
You will need:
250g halloumi cheese
2 zucchini
Set out three wide bowls or dishes. Sprinkle
flour into one, pour the beaten eggs into another
and the breadcrumbs in the third. Trim the tops
and bottoms off the zucchini, slice them into ½
cm long strips, sprinkle lightly with salt and let sit
for a couple of minutes. Heat some olive oil in a
large skillet and preheat the oven to 180c.
Pat the zucchini strips dry with some paper
towel, dredge through the flour, dip in the egg
and coat with breadcrumbs. Fry until golden on
each side (add more oil to the pan if necessary),
place on a paper lined oven dish and pop in the
oven to keep warm.
Add the baguette to the oven to warm, then
slice the capsicum into one cm rounds and place
on the outer edges of the skillet to fry. Slice the
halloumi into ½ cm wedges, dredge in flour and
fry for a couple of minutes on either side in the
skillet.
Split the baguette, arrange the fried cheese,
zucchini and capsicum on top and serve with a
drizzle of oil and a squeeze of lemon!
Apricot Tart – just to top it off
Apricot Macaroon Tart
This is a perfect dessert solution whether it’s
warm, cool, wet or dry. Serve warm with ice
cream on a rainy night or cold with a cup of tea
on a sunny afternoon.
The goods:
450g dried apricots
1 cup boiling water
½ tspn baking soda
¼ cup Amaretto liqueur (or orange juice)
pinch nutmeg
125g butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup plain flour
VIDEO MANNIX
If a picture is worth a thousand
words, a ‘how to’ video is worth a
few thousand more. To see Mannix
in action in the kitchen, log on to
YouTube at youtube.com/user/
mannixeats to see recipes like these
built before your very eyes.
½ cup ground almonds
2 eggs, separated
pinch salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup coconut
½ cup flaked almonds
Pre-heat oven to 200c. Chop the apricots
into rough chunks, place them in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the baking soda over them and then
pour the boiling water on top. Set aside while you
make the pastry.
Cream the butter, sugar and egg yolks in a
mixing bowl. Add the flour, almond meal and a
pinch of salt and beat until combined. If mixture
is stiff, loosen it up with a couple of teaspoons
of Amaretto (or water). Spread the pastry dough
over the buttered base of the baking pan and pop
in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes, reduce heat to
175c and bake a further five minutes.
While the pastry is baking, prepare the apricot
filling and macaroon topping. Blend or process
the apricots and their liquid, add the Amaretto
and a pinch of nutmeg and combine.
Beat the egg whites in a spotless mixing bowl.
Add a pinch of salt and when the mixture has
foamed and doubled in size, start adding the
sugar a little at a time. Beat 3-5 minutes until the
meringue looks glossy. Fold in the coconut.
Spread the apricot mix over the warm pastry,
then top with the macaroon mixture. Sprinkle
with flaked almonds and bake a further 20
minutes, or until topping has browned.
Time: 20 minutes active, 35 minutes baking.
Hot or cold, just the thing for spring!
■
Visit http://thelovebite.com for day to
day suggestions and to find out more about
Chef Mannix, a Melbourne lad now living in
Los Angeles.
The Australian Firefighter I 37
LIFE
BREAKS
D AV E L A N E
Hot destination
Holidaying in India before the monsoon breaks has its
advantages but the temperature isn’t one of them, as
Davo reports
“
W
e’d better make tracks to the Taj
Mahal,” said Maria. It was just on 7.00
am, the temperature already in the
high 30s – that’s Celsius – and we were in Jaipur,
the capital of the western Indian state of Rajasthan.
That meant a journey to Agra, where the
world’s most famous marble monument adorns
the banks of the Yamuna River; it lay about a
half day train ride away to the east . “How about
tomorrow,” I asked, thinking of letting another
stinking hot and humid day slip by beside the hotel
pool. “We haven’t been to Jaipur’s world famous
revolving restaurant yet.”
A deal done, so later that morning, before the
temperature climbed too far into the forties, we
choofed on down to the station to book a ticket for
the next day’s early train.
Seared
The great thing about being in India just before
the arrival of the monsoon is that the competition
for hotels, trains, planes, taxis, auto-rickshaws,
elephants or horse-and-carts isn’t anywhere near
as intense as when the weather cools and the
(international) tourist numbers rise. That means
38 I The Australian Firefighter
hotels beds are relatively easy to find and you
really don’t need to plan things too far in advance
to secure your preferred travel option to the next
destination.
However, if you live in Australia-south-ofthe-Brisbane-line the downside includes the
raging forties, pools of sweat and the risk of severe
dehydration if you plan to do anything outdoors
between sunrise and sunset.
It was late May and we hadn’t really planned
to be on the north Indian plain at this time of the
year. Our major destination was the coolish climes
of the high Himalaya, but we were also adamant
we would not leave the subcontinent without
seeing the Taj. A good plan, we thought, at least
until we had dropped out of the snowy peaks and
seared our lungs with the first in-breath outside the
Delhi airport building.
Bazaar experience
It was hot! But being beggars for punishment,
we thought a slight detour to the magic of Jaipur
might be in order before checking out the majesty
of the Mughal tomb and a quick escape across the
equator back home.
The Om restaurant – some 50 metres above
street level and turning slowly – served up splendid
vegetarian fare, delivered with skilled but not over
attentive service in just over the hour it takes the
floorboards to complete a full revolution. The
twinkling lights of the city and surrounds were …
well twinkly. However, Jaipur is better viewed at
ground level, fossicking around the alleys of the
Pink City, its bazaars, the Palace of the Winds and
the honeycombed façade, the armory obsessed
City Palace and an 18th century astronomical
observatory, the Jantar Mantar. All excellent, apart
from the Jaipur touts, who are notorious for their
insistent style and abrupt approach when engaging
potential customers.
The scorching temperature weren’t enough to
deter us from a trip out of town to the northern
hills to the old palace and fort at Amber. The
prospect of an elephant ride kept us going. Luckily
we got there early, as the pachyderms clock off by
mid-morning during the hot weather.
Tracks go west
Fabulous colours, great dress sense, heaps of
souvenirs including plenty of dodgy jewellery; but
now it’s Thursday and we approach the Jaipur
station in time for the 6.10 am train to Agra.
There seems to be much more than the usual
confusion in the entrance hall and we soon learn
why – all trains have been cancelled!
Overnight, the local Gujar minority group
had ripped up the train tracks. Their recent
demonstrations for a fairer go had been met with
a somewhat typical political double-cross and
then an even more typical heavy handed approach
by the Rajasthan constabulary. Protestors were
now dead in the streets, so it was unlikely there
would be a resumption of normal services in the
near future.
Blocks in place
In just short of an instant, the planes were full,
while the buses had also stopped running. We were
on a tight schedule, so teaming up with another
Amber fort and palace – a work always in progress
to stand still and where its occupants conduct
themselves at a certain pace – except of course
for the slightly anxious occupants of a Mahindra
Scorpion SUV (an offspring of the Willys jeep
Indian assembly line) lurching – stop-start fashion
– across the countryside, as the driver sought to
find out from the locals which roads were still open
and which actually lead to a way out of the state.
After a long haul we stopped for a bite in
Rohtak. No Om restaurant this one
– a hole in the wall – but remarkably,
as one of our Indonesian travelling
companions observed, “even the flies
left when the food arrived.” Hot,
bothered but at least not fly-blown,
we were approaching Delhi as the
sun dropped behind the smudge that
goes for a horizon in India’s capital.
A long way from the Taj Mahal.
46 and rising
Agra and environs have other worthwhile spots
to look over. Just up the river there’s the fort.
And about 40 km out of town there is Fatehpur
Sikri, another Mughal empire capital, this time
from the 16th century. And as for the non air
conditioned bus, the mercury nudging 47 and
burns on the soles of the feet … well, that’s
another story. ■
Taj at last
The Taj Mahal – serenity in a crowd
couple also caught at the station, we negotiated a
hire car. We had to move fast as the protestors were
setting up road blocks around the state.
Our bargaining position was weak, so the
price was hefty. It continued to grow as we were
forced to evade the mushrooming roadblocks
by travelling further afield, northwest towards
the desert and then in an arc to Delhi. As the
temperature climbed, so did the intensity of the
discussions with the driver who kept turning off
the aircon to save fuel.
Flies exit
There was an upside to all this – it came in the
form of an intense tour of the backblocks of rural
Rajasthan. This is a land where time appears
A rest and recovery later, the
Rajasthani troubles were now
round-the-clock coverage on
television news channels. Our
detour and the worried faces on the
TV reminded us of the difficulties
of keeping this nation together,
with its nearly two billion people,
35 state and territories and enormous ethnic,
religious and cultural diversity. The extraordinary
thing is that despite the tensions, it hangs
together as a vibrant (if corrupt) democracy.
Oh – and the Taj? Well, we got there, by train
(from the other direction) and what can you say? All
that can be written has been – countless times over.
However, I can confidently report that in addition
to the sublime beauty that defeats even the most
intense throng of visitors, the heat shimmer creates
another – surreal – dimension. Not to be missed.
Jaipur transport – lacking horsepower but plenty
of grunt in reserve
WHAT’S WHAT
Getting there: with the Aussie dollar up you can
find a flight to India from as low as $AUD$1,300
or $AUD1,500. Qantas flies direct from Sydney
to Mumbai. Air India begins direct flights from
Melbourne to Delhi on November 1. There are plenty
of (cheap) flight choices if you don’t mind going via
Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur.
Indian domestic airlines are numerous and generally
reliable, at around $AUD60 to $AUD150 a leg
depending on the comfort level you require. Trains,
particularly the sleepers, are of course slower but
much more fun.
The Australian Firefighter I 39
LIFE
PLAY
MICK O’REGAN
Mild to maniac
When September comes around, even those barely committed footy fans come
alive. So keep an eye out, says Mick O’Regan
pic: stock.xchng_adamsphoto
T
hey’re out there, in almost unimaginable
numbers, and they’re on the move. They
emerge like bears from their hibernation
caves, sniffing the sporting wind and smelling
something they like. It’s the Finals!
Suddenly vast numbers of merely casual footy
fans shrug off the highs and lows of weekly games
and go a bit feral. Their team has made the eight and
now it’s become do-or-die, glory or despair, boasting
or blaming. Now it’s time to pull on the club colours
and take up the fight. The scarves and beanies
that were lying dormant in wardrobes and car
boots are dragged out, cleaned up and put on. The
regular season is over and home-and-away games
are replaced by the weekly roulette of September
football. The barely committed are about to evolve
into a barracking horde. So watch out!
Let loose
Of course, this is when the established teams
can flex their muscles. In the ranks of the AFL,
40 I The Australian Firefighter
Collingwood fans begin to pour from every crack
and crevice of society. The black-and-white army
swells at the prospect of an elusive flag. 1990 seems
a long, long time ago. And people around for
the previous premiership have all celebrated their
fiftieths. But the sap is rising again and the latent
Collingwood types who you mistakenly thought
cared little about footy reveal themselves as rustedon fans.
They lean into arguments about the relative
merits of players, denying their ‘fair weather friend’
status to the real diehards who sneer and demand
to know how many times they endured the cold
and wet of an afternoon in the stands. How many
battered copies of the Football Record lie crumpled
under the front seat of their car?
Needless to say even the casual convert is
welcomed come finals time. The Black and White
army isn’t discriminatory and anyway it’s the more
the merrier when it comes time to belt out Good
Old Collingwood Forever. They can be hard to
take if you’re not among the chosen, er … selfchosen that is.
One eye pie
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against
individual ‘Pies fans. One-on-one in a neutral
environment they can verge on the reasonable.
They speak in sentences and occasionally listen.
But it all changes in September. Now everything
becomes black and white. Shades of grey are for the
ignorant and the uncommitted. Collingwood in
the finals adds a completely new dimension to our
national sporting life. And they’ve got the numbers
to prove it.
Imagine, all you youngsters, what it was
like 40 years ago to be among the 121,696
people at the ‘G’ who saw Carlton defeat their
fierce Collingwood rivals. Forget the (thankful)
development of an all-seat stadium for a minute
and imagine the roll and crush of Bay 13 at the
old MCG. Of kids standing on empty VB cans to
get a better look over the sea of shoulders. Of slow
crawls from crowded car parks where half the cars
draped scarves from windows while the other half
endured it.
Go figure
THE TRULY GREAT MAGPIE SIDES, LIKE
THE ONES WHO CREATED THE JEALOUSLY
GUARDED RECORD OF FOUR CONSECUTIVE
PREMIERSHIPS, ARE FROM ANOTHER AGE
ALTOGETHER
Then of course there are those other Collingwood
Grand Final. Rather than a decade or two
stats, where the past fifty years has yielded slim
Murray this year. In the National Rugby League
of sporting history, clubs like St George-Illawarra
pickings. 1958 and 1990 – now just outposts of
there are clubs who seem to have appeared in the
and South Sydney boast more than a century.
distant delirium. The truly great Magpie sides, like
last few moments. The Gold Coast Titans, the
the ones who created the jealously guarded record
North Queensland Cowboys and even the Brisbane So when the big red ‘V’ on the jumper of the
Dragons comes roaring into the finals with a great
of four consecutive premierships, are from another
Broncos are products of the recent past. Sure,
player list and a veteran coach,
age altogether.
none other than the man who
Of course, they’ve been
made the Broncos Wayne Bennett,
some memorable losses when
Find links to firefighter campaign, industrial, training and OHS
the fan base growth goes viral.
Collingwood have come so
news – updated weekly. Subscribe to Dispatch and OH&S Alert
It’s similar at South Sydney
close, only to fall to the dreaded
newsletters or download a copy of The Australian Firefighter
and – as I write with one game to
Colliwobbles. (This is where fans
magazine. The UFUA national website is at ufua.asn.au –
go – they’re a chance to make the
who don’t follow Collingwood shift
it’s worth a regular visit
eight this season. The Rabbitohs
a little in their seats, adopt a more
and The Dragons in the rugby
triumphal pose and begin to remind
league finals! The two teams who
everyone listening that the ‘Pies go
between them hold a third of
to pieces around this time of year).
all the Premierships ever won –
Collingwood delighted in getting
Rugby League royalty, if ever the
that monkey off their back 20 years
game decides to lose its republican
ago when, finally, the Fantasy ’58
streak.
column in one of Melbourne’s inner
The Union online
suburban local newspapers had to
be given a new title.
But in 2010, the team that
everybody else loves to hate is in
the mix in a big way. The stumble
against Hawthorn in the final
round no doubt sent a shiver up
the collective B&W spine, but
Collingwood this year have the
form to allay fears.
Club song
Team of Tonys
Coach Mick Malthouse has
moulded a team that doesn’t rely
on stand-out performances from
just a few individuals. The work is shared and the
pressure relentless. A team full of Tony Shaws is
possibly pushing it too far, but you grey-haired
types will know what I mean. I wouldn’t be the
least surprised if Smith Street erupts into a twotone carnival should Collingwood win the final
game of the year.
There’s a little bit of the same north of the
they’ve all got loyal bands of followers to hold the
banner and sing the club song, and Brisbane has
half a dozen premierships to show for their efforts
since 1988.
The foundations
But even that pales a bit in comparison to the
buzz when one of the foundation clubs makes the
So this year in both the major
codes (sorry soccer fans but I
think you’ve still got a way to
go), the big guns will fire. Well,
they’re supposed to at least. That’s
obviously part of the wonder of
sudden-death football; it throws
up results that defy the odds.
Sides can steam into the last
few games and look set to take
the finals apart, only to stumble
and crash out. But from here it’s all
anticipation and if your team has
made the cut, there are few better sensations than
the unsullied hope that this year, please, please this
year, you’ll be one of those fans belting out the club
song as the confetti bombs fire and that Cup gets
hoisted into the air. ■
MICK O’REGAN is the ABC Radio National’s
online editor, former presenter of the Sports
Factor and a passionate sports enthusiast.
The Australian Firefighter I 41
THE LAST WORD
TERRY PETERS
Healthy Initiatives
The Northern American summer has produced massive fires that are causing
significant health issues well beyond the fire zone. Here’s where information
helps, says Terry Peters
A
s Canadian firefighters start to gain
control of wildfires during what has been
another devastating fire season, health
concerns are raising the awareness of not only the
firefighters on the frontlines but of every other
Canadian as well. Wind and weather conditions
have played havoc in some parts of the country,
including places that have had no direct contact
with wildfires. Suddenly,
they find themselves
prime targets for serious
health hazards due to the
lingering smoke.
Smoke from the fires in
British Columbia wafted
into the neighbouring
prairie provinces of
Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Smoke from fires in
the province of Quebec
spread across from the
opposite direction. For
many Canadians, even the
brightest sunny days have
been darkened by a haze
of smoke.
away, make it a point to tell the people we protect
what we as firefighters already know.
The killer
We know it is seldom the fire that kills us – it’s
the smoke. In fact, we will most likely get some
form of cancer first, and then die slowly. Sure, the
public is at risk too but by all accounts they will
Info packages
In addition to making this stance, many
Canadians started to have a greater appreciation
of the firefighters fighting these devastating
fires. Local Unions in conjunction with their
departments provided information bulletins
that seemed to have had a very good influence
beyond the fires, while at the same time filtering
positive feedback into their
own local fire brigades.
Commonsense
initiatives that have proved
to be beneficial in gaining
public support include the
use of information packages.
These list some common
concerns and facts about
the dynamics of brush fires,
how they can be prevented
and where to find updated
information, such as on web
sites and the like.
Need to know
In addition, it doesn’t hurt
to list the hard facts about
enforcement in regards
Fear factor
to causing wild fires.
Information can help fix the problem – before it occurs pic: iStockphoto/richardgoerg
Air quality reports were far
The Province of British
from encouraging; in fact,
Columbia has a no-nonsense
people who were in the direct path of the plume,
experience nowhere near the dangers we face on a
rule that brings heavy fines of up to $1 million
even thousands of kilometres away, were told
daily basis, either in the forests or at structures in
along with three years jail time for careless
to remain indoors to avoid prolonged exposure.
towns, cities and the suburbs. This is one of the
people who have been found responsible for
Suddenly, the public was experiencing one of the
many reasons why we lobby for cancer legislation.
their actions. The full operational costs for the
greatest dangers of our occupation and they not
It is important to continue to educate the
containment of a fire could also be sought.
only didn’t like it, they became trapped and fearful
public at every opportunity, even when they are
This is all good information that people
of it as well.
fearful. Let the truth be known that they need to
need to know when they are thinking of no one
As firefighter, resources and adequate staffing
help us so that we can help them. Understanding
but themselves. It brings their minds right back
are always on our minds – but seldom on anyone
our common concerns is beneficial; information
to where it should be, preventing the problems
else’s. That is, until they feel threatened themselves,
based on facts will always help any effort we make
before they begin. ■
and even more so when no one is there to assist
to protect ourselves while we do our jobs. Do not
them. They simply feel helpless. So colleagues,
be afraid to pass along our research for lobbying
TERRY PETERS
when things finally settle down and you continue
campaigns and if we need to take opportunities
Fire Fighter Exchange Participant
to cough up the smoke that, of course, is a lot
to address comments about the hazards of our
Powell River British Columbia Canada
thicker at the base of the fire storm than further
terrypeters@telus.net
occupation, do it!
42 I The Australian Firefighter
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