Our Projects
The ACTVBA undertakes a range of projects to support the health and well-being of its member volunteer firefighters, both through their brigades, and individually as required.
Photograph by Brett Vey taken at the Charley’s Forest-Nerriga Fires 21-22 December 2019
The 2019-2020 Australia Bushfire Season Commemorative Book - A Volunteer Firefighter Perspective
The 2019-2020 bushfire season in Australia was unprecedented. The volunteer firefighters of the ACTRFS worked tirelessly through a devastating and unrelenting season, both at home and interstate. The VBA formed a book committee and worked for over a year to produce a limited edition, hardcover photo-journal coffee table book, Ablaze, which reflects the work of our ACTRFS volunteer firefighters from Queensland, throughout NSW, and in the ACT during the 2019-2020 season.. The book is for sale from our website and also by invoice to actvolunteersbrigades@gmail.com. All proceeds go to support our volunteer firefighters.
‘A Great Days Work’ - three volunteer firefighters from the ACTRFS Molonglo Brigade returning from the Charley’s River-Nerriga fires in December 2019. Photograph by Brett Vey.
Revision of the ACT Volunteer Brigades Rules
The ACT VBA Constitution (or its Rules) were last updated in 2013. The VBA is in the process of consulting with its members brigades, who in turn are responsible for consulting the volunteer firefighters within their brigades, to ensure that the purpose and goals of the VBA can best support and serve our volunteer firefighters.
‘In the Thick of It’. Photograph by Jacob Lemmey taken at the Charley’s Forest-Nerriga Fires in December 2019
A new VBA Website
The VBA has designed this website which is designed to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for all things volunteering for our ACT Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighters and our member brigades. Our website is very much a work in progress. If you would like to contribute photographs or stories or if you have any suggestions for improvements or inclusions please email us at actvolunteerbrigades@gmail.com.
‘A Dangerous Business’. Photograph by Sean Lang
Presumptive Legislation for our Volunteers
Presumptive legislation is legislation which is intended to reduce fights about certain worker’s compensation claims. This particular legislation provides that where firefighters who have worked for certain periods as firefighters are diagnosed with certain prescribed conditions, primarily some types of cancers, it will be assumed that those conditions were caused by their firefighting service. In such cases, the firefighter will be entitled to workers compensation without having to prove the connection between their firefighting work and their illness.
It was the VBA’s intention to explore the introduction of presumptive legislation for our ACT Rural Fire Service volunteer firefighters in 2020. We are please though that the need for this work has now been negated by the November 2020 final report into the review of the firefighter provisions of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (SRC Act)
The final report was provided to the Commonwealth Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations. The Commonwealth government has accepted the report’s recommendations and intention that key stakeholders will be consulted in the implementation of the recommendations, including amendments to the SRC Act.
The review recommended:
The qualifying period for oesophageal cancer be reduced from 25 years to 15 years;
The current list of prescribed diseases at subsection 7(8) of the Act should be expanded to include malignant mesothelioma with a qualifying period of 15 years;
The Attorney-General’s Department should continue to periodically examine the available scientific literature to ensure the list of prescribed diseases remains consistent with current science, with a particular focus on female reproductive cancers, malignant melanoma and lung cancer in non-smoking firefighters;
Lung cancer (whether in smokers or non-smokers) should not be included in the list of prescribed diseases;
The firefighter provisions of the SRC Act be extended to persons taken to be employed by the Australian Capital Territory by operation of a declaration made under subsection 5(15) of the SRC Act (volunteer firefighters); and
Comcare should continue to investigate measures that provide more timely access to compensation for claimants under the firefighter provisions…..