The Metropolitan Fire Brigade sought an emergency cash injection to cope with the cost of its contentious pay deal, as fresh documents reveal the price of the deal could exceed Premier Daniel Andrews’ assurances to the public and Parliament.
Among the expenses dragging on the brigade’s budget are four-wheel-drive vehicles fitted with bull bars and tinted windows for the private use of hundreds of senior personnel.
Voluntary and paid CFA members with Premier Daniel Andrews and then-Emergency Services Minister James Merlino in 2016 after cabinet endorsed the controversial fire services reform package. Credit:Penny Stephens
A ministerial brief to Treasurer Tim Pallas from June 2020 shows the MFB needed an urgent $20 million top-up from a government contingency fund to cover immediate costs and wages.
“MFB has indicated that they require an urgent release of $20 million for 2019-20 from contingency by June 11, 2020, to ensure liquidity and payment of salaries by June 15, 2020,” the brief says.
The MFB’s request for additional funding was made days before the Country Fire Authority officially became a volunteer-only organisation and its former paid firefighters joined colleagues from the MFB in a new body called Fire Rescue Victoria.
The new figures, provided to the state opposition under freedom of information law, raise fresh doubts about how much the firefighters’ industrial agreement is costing taxpayers and for the first time reveal how much money the MFB sought to implement the deal.
In addition to the $20 million in urgent funding, the MFB also asked for an extra $40 million from the 2019-20 contingency budget to cover the costs of the 2016 enterprise agreement, and requested ongoing funding of a further $46.5 million from the contingency fund.
That figure is well above Mr Andrews’ assurances that the deal would cost $160 million over four years.
The 2016 industrial agreement ran to 396 pages and was packed with various clauses and schedules. Paid firefighters were to be banned from simple tasks, including pumping air into tyres or changing wheels unless it was an emergency. At least seven paid firefighters would be needed on the scene of every incident, and volunteers would be prevented from issuing orders.
The industrial dispute over the implementation of the deal has dogged the Andrews government for years.
The Andrews government between 2014 and 2019 attempted to resolve a protracted dispute involving the pay and condition of firefighters and the fire services reform bill. These negotiations left unresolved questions about the role played personally by Mr Andrews, members of his government and other MPs as they dealt with militant union leader Peter Marshall.
It was revealed only weeks ago that Victoria’s anti-corruption commission was finalising its probe involving dealings between the United Firefighters Union and the state government.
In its request for a Treasurer’s advance to release money from the government’s contingency funds for the 2019-20 financial year, the MFB noted $50 million was needed for allowances, including emergency medical response allowance, after-hours disturbance allowance, annual skills maintenance and public holiday accrued leave and $6.3 million for capital costs for items including private vehicles for senior personnel.
It also featured $2.3 million to cover expenses incurred in the previous year as the contingency funds requested in 2018-19 were based on estimates and were not enough to cover the actual costs.
The total cost of paying private vehicles for senior personnel is unclear, but the document reveals it has cost at least $6.3 million.
While senior public servants are often provided with cars, the number of employees in senior positions in Victoria’s fire service is much higher than at either Fire and Rescue NSW and Victoria Police.
Under each organisation’s enterprise agreement, commissioners, deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners and commanders receive a private vehicle that should not be used for emergencies or firefighting. There are 57 assistant commissioners in FRV compared with six in NSW and 16 in Victoria Police, and 237 commanders in FRV compared with 45 in NSW and 13 in Victoria Police.
The union successfully negotiated as part of the new enterprise agreement to create more commander positions, and each senior employee will receive an off-road capacity, diesel-fuelled 4WD with bull bars, tinted windows and first-aid kits.
Opposition Emergency Services spokesman Brad Battin with volunteer firefighters in 2016. Credit:Daniel Pockett
The state government did not clarify what the organisation’s annual budget was and budget papers do not delineate funding for MFB, CFA and Forest Fire Victoria.
But Mr Pallas and Mr Andrews had repeatedly told Parliament the cost of implementing the deal would cost $160 million over four years, despite a leaked CFA document in 2016 revealing could be in the order of at least $663 million.
Although the document made it clear the figure was not “final”, it was consistent with the numbers that were previously put to the Fair Work Commission, Treasury officials and the office of the former emergency services minister, Jane Garrett.
“[The Department of Justice and Community Safety] advised DTF [Department of Treasury and Finance] that MFB has incurred significant costs in implementing the 2016 MFB EBA and has depleted their cash reserves,” the Treasurer’s ministerial brief stated.
“In light of this, the minister is seeking an initial release of $20 million from contingency and will seek release of the remaining $38.867 million for 2019-20 and $46.502 million ongoing once MGB has provided additional information to verify the total costs incurred in implementing the [enterprise agreement].”
The Treasurer’s office did not clarify whether the MFB provided further information or if the remaining contingency funds had been released, but in a statement, a spokesman said: “This was not new funding – this was part of a previously planned and approved funding allocation that was held in contingency for costs associated with the MFB [enterprise agreement].”
Opposition emergency services spokesman Brad Battin said Mr Andrews had misled the community.
“Instead of wasting vital emergency services funding on political deals, this money should be used to protect Victorian lives, properties and communities,” Mr Battin said.
“The fire services were out of money to pay staff, no wonder so many local stations can’t upgrade their 30 year old trucks putting community’s at risk.”
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