Fears of Brisbane bureaucratic takeover of rural firies 'right on the money'

In her response to RFBAQ concerns about metropolitan management of rural issues, Ms Boyd said she was confident "in those rare cases where a decision is made to remove a volunteer, that due process will be followed, with any affected volunteer afforded natural justice and the decision open to judicial review".

Mr Choveaux said that indicated the RFBAQ was "right on the money" with its assessment that for the first time, the Fire and Rescue commissioner will be able to directly sack a member of a Rural Fire Brigade, and that its reading of the draft legislation was correct.

It's one of a number of reasons the 26,590 volunteers that are members of brigades are being asked to contact their MPs to urge them not to sign off on the legislation.

The RFBAQ management committee wrote to the minister in late January, rejecting the draft amendments to the Fire Service Act 1990 as 'a bureaucratic power grab', saying they deviated from independent recommendations to establish a Rural Fire Service as a separate entity, promised by the Palaszczuk government last October.

"The KPMG Review into the QFES found that 86 per cent of corporate services went to the Fire and Rescue Service, and only 6 per cent went to RFS," the letter said.

"KPMG also identified that this happened as corporate staff identified with the Fire and Rescue Service and that this was a cultural challenge that needed addressing.

"This draft legislation flies in the face of the government's own report and policy."

Ms Boyd told the RFBAQ she was aware the proposed Bill would include a provision that allows the Commissioner to appoint volunteers, and justified it as being consistent with the appointment of State Emergency Service and, when established, Marine Rescue Queensland volunteers.

She said this would address the issues RFBAQ has raised "on numerous occasions" regarding the legal status of brigades and volunteer protections.

"The Miles government is determined to ensure that every person who volunteers to keep their community safe should have the same level of protection," she said.

"The advice from QFES is that maintaining the status quo will continue to leave volunteers vulnerable and that the proposed legislation will ensure that protections enjoyed by other volunteers are also available to rural fire brigade members.

"Further, every volunteer should feel safe volunteering in their brigade, and where unacceptable behaviour is exhibited, such as bullying and harassment, the Chief Officer, RFS and Commissioner QFD should have the ability to directly address these issues to keep the volunteer safe.

"Additionally, I am advised that currently senior brigade members are liable for addressing these behaviours. This is another example of volunteers not having appropriate protections under the current system."

Mr Choveaux has previously described the changes to the draft legislation as an urban power grab.

"There's nothing in the legislation about enforcing landholders to reduce their risk - there's nothing new in this that is good," he said.

"What it means is that you'll need to be qualified to be incident controllers, so you won't be able to run your own fires.

"Volunteers are being excluded on purpose, not through negligence or ignorance - they are choosing to do this."

Ms Boyd said she was informed that suitability to control an incident was, and will continue to be, a matter for the Commissioner, or delegate, of the Fire and Emergency Service and the Rural Fire Service.

Mr Choveaux said the RFBAQ had been able to mobilise a huge amount of support in 2015 to change what it saw as discriminatory cancer coverage for volunteers, and would do so again if necessary.

"We're encouraging our members to get onto their MPs to tell them this is bad legislation that won't defend their communities," he said.

"In 2015 the parliamentary committee process received more submissions than anyone could remember.

"That showed volunteer firefighters do have community support.

"We may have to do that again, remembering that there's a state election coming.

"We are just not going to stand for the legislation as it's drafted - it will mean the end of rural fire brigades."