Fears that new fire legislation will disempower rural brigades

He and his management committee have given a withering thumbs down to draft amendments to the Fire Service Act 1990 released in January, describing them as 'a bureaucratic power grab'.

He said the legislation, if implemented, would lead to upheaval and discord similar to that fracturing the Fire Services in Victoria, and totally rejected it.

Among the problems the RFBAQ sees is that the draft laws stipulate that the only person qualified to become Commissioner of the new Queensland Fire Department, that comprises both the Fire and Rescue Service and the Rural Fire Service, must be from Fire and Rescue.

"This is like legislating that the only person who can be the head of Queensland Health is a surgeon," Mr Choveaux said.

Other concerns included that the Fire and Rescue commissioner will for the first time be able to directly sack a member of a Rural Fire Brigade and decide who can or cannot be a brigade chairperson, treasurer or elected office bearer.

"This is completely unacceptable and is not legally supported, as brigades are unincorporated associations that moderate their own membership," he said. "The QFES has been adamant in its pursuit of being able to sack a brigade member since the botched introduction of Blue Card, and previously attempted to amend the legislation to achieve this end."

A new role of Chief Fire Officer, who would report directly to the commissioner on service delivery, integration, best practice, innovation and research, would only be chosen from the Fire and Rescue side of the department.

One that would directly concern firefighters out in the field is that an incident controller in the future could only come from people with expertise in large scale structural fires and bushfires, specialist and technical rescue, response to disasters and hazmat.

"This means that, going forward, all incident controllers can only come from Fire and Rescue; not Rural Fire, where most large incidents happen," Mr Choveaux said. "This one section completely disempowers landholders and brigade members who understand how fire moves through the environment."

Mr Choveaux has advised Premier Steven Miles and Fire Minister Nikki Boyd that the RFBAQ totally rejects the legislative proposals, saying the out-of-date current Act, while it didn't empower rural brigades, was preferable to an "unprecedented power grab by a small clique of Brisbane-based senior Fire and Rescue bureaucrats".

The minister didn't respond to the scorching criticism, and a spokesperson said only that "the reforms to the way fire services are delivered in Queensland follow independent recommendations and recognise the unique and important way that QFES firefighters and rural firefighters contribute to emergency responses".

They said a range of stakeholders were being consulted before the legislation was introduced into parliament and all feedback would be considered.

"The Minister has met with Mr Choveaux and the office has provided him with an open invitation to meet again."

A similar non-committal response was received from a Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson, saying that all submissions would be considered as the amendments progressed in the legislative process.

Queensland's rural firies called for a fire service restructure in 2020 after a vote of no confidence in the current format.

In October 2022, the RFBAQ rejoiced in the news that a state government frontline response reform package would establish the Rural Fire Service as a separate entity, with its own dedicated budget, describing it as 'home rule'.

At the time, Mr Choveaux said that "after consistent, unwavering advocacy we have achieved 90 per cent of our model".

"Where we are going is a Rural Fire Service that has a Chief Officer, a separate and empowering Rural Fire Service Act, a separate Rural Fire Service budget, a Rural Fires board, and the autonomy to choose the number of regions and districts that are needed to service the brigades," he said.

Last week, Mr Choveaux said initial conversations and meetings with Deputy Police Commissioner Stephan Gollschewski had been positive but that since the departure of the permanent QFES Commissioner Greg Leach in late 2023 and the appointment of an acting Commissioner from Fire and Rescue, the draft legislation had substantially and drastically changed.

One of the commitments to the RFBAQ from then-Minister Mark Ryan was a Rural Fires Board, but Mr Choveaux said that had been 'watered down' to an advisory committee.

He was also critical of the seven-day timeframe given to RFBAQ president Ian Pike to consult with the association's membership and supply a response.

The RFBAQ will be writing to all political parties in coming weeks, asking them for a written commitment to Rural Fire becoming independent, "to get away from the toxic culture of entitlement that can produce such self-serving draft legislation".

It has also urged Mr Miles and his Cabinet not to sign the Authority to Introduce the draft legislation to Parliament.