Right: NSW firefighters in harm's way: Australia's mostly-volunteer force now faces severe financial loss with the prospect of spending months fighting bushfires instead of earning a living.
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Arguments against paying volunteer firefighters
1. It is against the spirit of volunteerism
Opponents of volunteer firefighters receiving any form of payment claim that this is contrary to the spirit of volunteerism that informs the work of these firefighters and would weaken their motivation and morale.
This view has been put by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, who rejected the first calls for his members to be compensated for their work in the ongoing bushfire crisis, saying it would undermine the spirit of volunteerism vital to the RFS. Mr Fitzsimmons stated, 'Don't do the volunteers a disservice by suggesting that you're going to pay them, because then they're no longer volunteers... for goodness sake, let's not take away from the extraordinary spirit that is volunteerism that underpins all that is good in our society.'
New South Wales Emergency Services Minister, David Elliott, has also rejected the idea of payment as contrary to the spirit of volunteerism which drives the states Rural Fire Service. Mr Elliott stated, 'Anyone who is arguing we have to pay them doesn't understand the ethos of the volunteer in this country.'
Victorian Country Fire Authority (CFA) chief officer, Steve Warrington, has similarly claimed, 'We are always keen to explore opportunities to manage and reduce potential financial burdens on our members. However, it is my view and that of the CFA board that paying volunteers in general terms is not in the spirit of volunteerism.'
Sky News commentator Peta Credlin writing for The Daily Telegraph in an opinion piece published on December 28, 2019, praised this spirit of volunteerism which she believes typifies Australians. She stated, 'When we see a problem, our inclination is to think of others and want to help, to roll up our sleeves and deal with it.
We're renowned the world over as a nation of volunteers. We take it as a commonplace thing that volunteers patrol our vast coastline to save lives, put out fires and patch up storm damage but overseas, that's not how it's done. And we're better for it as a country.'
Credlin has reservations about paying volunteer firefighters because she believes it will damage their motivation and the quality of their commitment. She stated, 'Paying volunteers will change what they do and how they do it, forever. It will also change who they are.
The person who fronts their local fire brigade to sign up with no other motive than community spirit is different than someone who sees it as second paid job. As a long-time volunteer firefighter said to me when I asked him about paying volunteers, "the one thing that knits all of us together - and we're from all walks of life, different occupations, ages and backgrounds - is our desire to get in and help."'
Credlin elaborated, 'It's a common purpose and a level of selflessness that we disrupt at our peril. Of course, once volunteers are paid, we will never be able to not pay them. Once we pay one class of volunteers too - firefighters in this immediate debate - there will be calls for others undertaking similar life or death risk to also be remunerated; lifesavers and SES volunteers immediately come to mind. How long will it be before using a public beach in Australia then attracts a $10 fee to cover the cost of lifesavers?'
Credlin concluded, 'As many of our volunteers make clear, it is the stuff we do for love that defines us, not the stuff for which we are paid.'
There has also been concern expressed that if firefighters ceased to be volunteers and were paid than the wrong type of applicant might be attracted.
Mick Holton, the president of the Volunteer Fire Firefighters Association has conceded there was concern compensation may attract the wrong types of volunteers.
Mr Holton has stated, 'Sometimes when we have major fires, we get people coming out of the woodwork. Many have skills and are worthwhile participants. Others maybe not so.'
2. Volunteers do not want payment
Those who oppose financial compensation being paid to voluntary firefighters argue that it is not what those men and women performing this service want.
This view has been put by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS) commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, who has stated, 'Overwhelmingly in my decades of service and even getting around some of these fire grounds in the last few days, the volunteers don't want payment. It doesn't make them volunteers. They have given me that message loud and clear, again and again.'
The same view has been put by Brian McDonough, the president of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service Association. McDonough has stated that the 'vast majority' of his state's firefighters do 'definitely not' want to be paid for their efforts. The has stated, 'It's a volunteer organisation and we volunteer. It's really a quite simple response.' McDonough further stated, 'Ongoing payment for volunteers is definitely not a consideration.'
New South Wales Emergency Services Minister, David Elliott, has also indicated that volunteer firefighters do not want payment.
Elliott has stated, 'Anyone who is arguing we have to pay them doesn't understand the ethos of the volunteer in this country.'
A spokesperson for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Inspector Ben Shepherd, has stated, 'As a volunteer myself, the reason I did this was because I wanted to help my community, not for any financial gain.' Shepherd further noted that most volunteers would not want to be paid because it would detract from the reasons for which they take on fire fighting.
The Victorian Police and Emergency Services Minister, Lisa Neville, has similarly noted that Victorian volunteer firefighters and their association have made it plain to her that they do not want payment.
Neville has stated, 'I have committed to work with volunteer agencies about is there anything in the Prime Minister's announcement [pledging payment to New South Wales firefighters] that would be available for Victoria, but they have made it absolutely clear to me they do not believe there should be payments to volunteers - that this is not their second job, it's something they contribute their time and their energy to ... and it's not about payment.'
The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has similarly noted that his interim measure intended to compensate New South Wales firefighters (and others subject to arrangements made with the other state governments) has not been in response to requests from volunteer firefighters that they be paid and is not intended to institute a system of payment.
Morrison has stated, 'I haven't had volunteer firefighters say they want to be paid. I do know ... particularly for self-employed people (that) this is really starting to bite and really having an impact.
We have carefully worked through how best to deal with the issue of income loss that has been suffered as a result of people stepping up to defend their communities.'
3. The new scheme has not been equitably rolled out across states
The current scheme of payment for firefighters put in place by the Morrison government for the 2019/20 fire season has been criticised as too narrowly focused on New South Wales.
The Queensland Government has claimed that its firefighters were not considered during the development of the current scheme, while the Victorian government has also noted that it was not consulted as the scheme was being developed and that it will need to consider the ramifications of the federal government's proposal before deciding what position to take.
The Queensland Minister for Police and Corrective Services, Mark Ryan, has argued that the federal scheme should cover the whole country. Ryan has stated, 'Quite frankly, I'm sick of this Prime Minister being a Prime Minister for New South Wales only. He doesn't seem to ever think about Queensland.
For him to come out and announce that he's only putting a scheme in place for New South Wales Rural Fire Service volunteers and not a national scheme, I think is an insult to all of those hardworking Queenslanders who are not only out and about fighting fires right now in Queensland, but have in the past and in very recent times helped their colleagues in New South Wales.'
A similar point has been made by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Minister, Craig Crawford, who has stated, 'Suddenly, out of the blue...the Prime Minister comes out with this one, giving states very little time to actually analyse any detail before they [the government] come out and start hitting us, saying we're not going to accept, which was completely incorrect.'
Some Queensland firefighters have expressed concern that the arrangements that have been made for volunteers from New South Wales may not be applicable to those from Queensland.
Queensland's volunteer fire association has suggested that based on the New South Wales model, many Queensland firefighters would not be eligible for payment - including those who had travelled to help their interstate colleagues.
Rural Fire Brigades Association Queensland president, Ian Pike, has stated that payments can only be worked out equitably if a whole-country approach is adopted. Pike has claimed, 'It's something that's got to be looked at on a national level.'
Volunteers from South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania have travelled to the Blue Mountains and north coast of New South Wales to assist local firefighters.
Victoria has also complained about the lack of consultation. Victorian Emergency Services Minister, Lisa Neville, has stated, 'We are still trying to get our head around what the actual announcement is.'
The federal Opposition leader, Anthony Albanese, has criticised the incomplete nature of the arrangements currently in place to pay firefighters. Albanese has claimed that firefighters outside New South Wales need extra support now.
Albanese has stated, 'One of the things I know from being on the ground on the north coast, in Queensland, on the South Coast, is that many firefighters are travelling from interstate.
These fires don't recognise State boundaries and nor do firefighters, I've got to say. That's why it needs a national approach.'
4. Paying volunteers does not guarantee businesses will be able to release them
There are those who have expressed concern that making payments available to volunteer firefighters will not address the problem as the businesses which employ them may not be able to afford to let them go.
Former Fire and Rescue New South Wales commissioner, Greg Mullins, has argued that there will come a time when Australian businesses will simply not be able to afford to release their employees to fight fires.
Mullins has stated, 'As the bushfire season continues and volunteers keep requesting time off work their employers will start saying: "Hey we've got a business to run."'
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Shane Fitzsimmons, has stated that discussions were ongoing about 'what other things can be done to support and incentivise employers and small business...'
Mick Holton, the president of the Volunteer Fire Firefighters Association, has drawn attention to the problems faced by small business expected to support volunteer firefighters. Holton has indicated that he runs a small business of his own and has said he sympathised with some employers. He stated, 'It's not right for us to expect employers to foot the bill for firefighting. Some businesses do, and I take my hat off to them. If I had an employee duck out for a few hours to fight fires, I'd pay them of course, but I couldn't afford it day after day.'
In a letter to the editor published in the Tasmanian Advocate on December 31, 2019, Phil McDonald argued that small businesses might not be able to afford to release volunteers and then pay for their often-untrained replacements. He stated, 'What about the people who work for small businesses in the town; businesses that can't afford to pay for extra staff as well. The owners are doing their best just keeping the doors open.'
Richard Olsen, New South Wales state secretary of the Transport Workers Union has stated, 'The TWU is aware that many companies are reluctant, resisting our claims for provisions in agreements that cover emergency leave [to fight fires].'
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive officer, James Pearson, has said there is no 'hard and fast rule' about whether employers or the government should cover the cost of employees taking time off to volunteer as firefighters.
Pearson further added, 'A number of businesses already cover financially for employees who volunteer as firefighters, however, some small businesses in these communities are already doing it tough and would be unable to afford it.'
There is no requirement that companies release employees to do volunteer firefighting and some may not find it financially feasible to do so.
5. Paying firefighters could lead to the end of the volunteer organisations upon which Australia depends
Opponents of making payments to volunteer firefighters have argued that this is the thin end of a wedge that could see the dismantlement of Australia's extensive network of volunteer providers upon which it relies for many of services that Australians need.
When the possibility of providing financial compensation for firefighters was first raised with Australia's prime minister, Scott Morrison, he rejected the proposal, indicating that Australia depended on volunteerism for many of its welfare and emergency services.
While visiting an evacuation centre in Mudgee, Morrison stated that whether it was fighting fires, patrolling beaches, or supporting Meals on Wheels, Australia's system had and would 'always depend on having a large volunteer force to deal with these issues.'
Morrison repeated this claim in an interview with radio 2GB, stating, 'We will always rely around the country on our volunteer forces, whether it's on fires or surf lifesaving or anything else.'
Sky News commentator Peta Credlin, writing for The Daily Telegraph in an opinion piece published on December 28, 2019, has warned that paying volunteer firefighters will ultimately lead to their work being seen as paid employment with all the bureacratisation and increases in cost that this implies. Credlin has stated, 'While government might be gung-ho now and say paying them is a good idea, you can bet the cost will inevitably come back to us sooner rather than later in a "cost-recovery" manoeuvre.
Once paid, unions will get involved and demand the same rights as other paid workers - fair enough. So, there will be leave for this and leave for that and each time the pay deal is up for negotiation, be ready for union threats about strikes over the fire season unless demands are met.'
Credlin has further indicated that once this principle has been accepted among 'volunteer' firefighters it will spread to other groups of volunteers upon whom the country relies. Credlin has stated, 'It's a common purpose and a level of selflessness that we disrupt at our peril. Of course, once volunteers are paid, we will never be able to not pay them. Once we pay one class of volunteers too - firefighters in this immediate debate - there will be calls for others undertaking similar life or death risk to also be remunerated; lifesavers and SES volunteers immediately come to mind. How long will it be before using a public beach in Australia then attracts a $10 fee to cover the cost of lifesavers?'
The New South Wales Emergency Services Minister, David Elliott, has similarly claimed that once this supposedly one-off payment has been made it will become entrenched and will spread to other services currently manned by volunteers. Elliot has stated, 'If we pay one volunteer emergency services organisation we are going to have to pay them all. That would be a very difficult thing to do.'
An editorial published in The Canberra Times on December 31, 2019, offers a similar warning. Referring only to making payment to firefighters in New South Wales over the 2019/20 fire period, it suggests that this provision is not only likely to spread to the other states and territories but is also likely to become permanent.
The editorial states, 'This is a payment to volunteers and there will be enormous pressure now on the other states to make similar deals with the Commonwealth - and it will be enormously difficult to undo next year.'