By DANE LILLINGSTONE
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg visited Stanthorpe on Friday to discuss new legislation with volunteer firefighters.
Under a new Bill presented to Parliament by the Palaszczuk government, volunteer firefighters would have to attend 150 fires within five years to be covered for 12 specified cancers they may contract in the course of duty. Paid firefighters would only need to attend one fire to be covered.
This quota has not gone down well with the volunteers – or Mr Springborg, who is pushing the LNP’s Bill that would cover the insurance of full-time, part-time and volunteer firefighters with no need for a quota.
Mr Springborg said he was at a loss to explain the differences in the two Bills.
“I can’t fathom it. When we were in government, we got the same department, we got the same advice and how they’ve come to a completely different conclusion is beyond me,” he said.
“This is peace of mind for firefighters. It automatically covers a dozen forms of cancer, these are rare, but nevertheless we believe they are generally attributed to the work that these guys do.
“We can’t work out if it’s just money or pigheadedness, it just doesn’t make any sense.”
The main concern for the volunteer firefighters was the fact that most of them agreed it would be hard to match the quota with one of them mentioning that if you attended one fire a month, it would be a big year. Under the proposed legislation it would require them to attend at least two and a half fires a month for five years to be covered. One of them also said that Stanthorpe had the highest fire rating in Queensland.
Roni Bau has officially been a volunteer firefighter since 2002 and says its time they were taken care of properly.
“We don’t feel like we’ve been looked after. I think they could do better for us, we have to fight for everything we want,” he said.
“Start looking after the volunteers, the official figure (of volunteer firefighters) is 35,000 and we look after 92 per cent of the state, we just want a little more respect.”
Mr Springborg said that he would just like the government to be fair.
“It sends the wrong signals to our firefighters that they aren’t valued in what they do in keeping the community protected,” he said.
At one point one of them said “we’re here for our community” as they all nodded unanimously in agreement. That’s why they do it.
