SA Firefighter

Am with Pip
We have the least affordable housing in the world (or so the papers tell us)
so leave without pay for extended ops isn't an option for many vols.

Leave with pay hits the employer with a double whammy - paying their employee for work they are not doing, plus losing the income that employee should have been generating. Want to spend 5 days in Qld or NZ shovelling mud & debris???... do it on your own time & expense.

High time the community started paying for the service it expects through an income support system like ADF reserves or similar.

Given that :

1. the function of a departmental CEO is to apply the will of the Parliament to
the department as expressed by the responsible Minister ... (not the will of the
employees/volunteers who actually staff the department)     and

2. our responsible minister now is Kevin Foley, who has a rep as a bully, but
seems to be the only pollie who speaks straight english rather than spin, and
has already stated "find savings"...   and

3. The example set by the Keith Hospital protesters who believe that funding
running costs by raiding employee super contributions & long service
entitlements is not a morally acceptable funding model.

Methinks Mr Nettleton is in for an interesting ride. As are we.

Word back from recent Group meeting/s is that he isn't particularly interested
in meeting people further down the chain of command - like Group & Deputy Group
Officers. Might simply be a case of Generals command brigadiers, who command
colonels, who command majors, who command captains, etc, etc.. but generals like
to know which majors are 'trustworthy', and which are 'difficult'...

Anyway, 'tis early days yet. We watch. We wait. We see.

Zippy's idea of one fire service mag has possible merit. We get to see the
permo's issues. They get to see ours. Saves a few bob, and opportunities perhaps
for UFU & CFSVA to find more common ground?

ABC radio are calling it a code red day....We must be in Victoria...

Lowest common denominator prevails...
Cataston... Castatro... Castrato... Code Red.   

Theres no one being threatened by anyone in Germany a set of rules is applied using risk and response based criteria as to whether a full time station needs to exist and if the model says yes then a full time station WILL be created no ifs buts or maybes.

I was actually thinking in the opposite direction - if the matrix says the risks
don't warrant a full-time station... 

The payments to employers system sounds similar to ADF reserves.
Proof it can be made to work if the political will is there.
Government is still transferring part of the cost of emergency response onto employers,
but not as severe as here.  At least employees aren't picking up the tab.

How does Hamburg Fire Service handle payments to self-employed ?

cheers

does any other pedant her think it illogical that Low - Extreme refer to the
difficulty of controlling an outbreak of fire (the original intent of the system) while Catastrophic refers to the possible impact.

Time to re-think all the words perhaps?

....It costs???  I thought there's a standard contract in regards to the SAGRN..  This sounds quite odd.

Don't know about the new contract between DAIS & Motorola, but under the old
one, every "conversation" cost something like 10c or 12c.

Each transmission was deemed to be part of a "conversation" on a TG if made
within about 6 seconds of the previous transmission. When a gap greater than
6 seconds occurred, it was deemed to be a new "conversation", and a new charge
incurred.  Each 'conversation' was chargeable to the organisation which 'owns'
the TG.

I imagine the new contract would be similar. I understand Motorola were able to
win it by offering the govt big discounts on the new hardware compared with
their resellers. They'll need to make up the $$ somewhere...

Tax Office website is interesting but not exactly easy to get simple info from.

http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit/content.asp?doc=/content/00236973.htm comments that
"Recent legal cases have led us to consider that volunteer bushfire brigades
do not meet the strict public benevolent institution (PBI) criteria, so we cannot
currently endorse individual bushfire brigades for DGR status as PBIs."

Must have been interesting cases.
Also, the ATO definition of a PBI is pretty restrictive, 60%+ of activity must be
dedicated to relieving suffering or etc. Maybe our prevention, training & other
activities count against us ?  Search the ATO website on Taxation Ruling TR 2003/5 if
you are interested in details, or amputate your own arm with a blunt pocket-knife if
you want to do something more enjoyable.


http://www.ato.gov.au/nonprofit/content.asp?doc=/content/00240399.htm
The Fed Govt is proposing: "Deductible gift recipient (DGR) support will be widened to
all entities providing volunteer-based, state-regulated emergency services, including
volunteer fire brigades (VFBs). The measure also extends DGR status to all state and
territory government bodies that coordinate VFBs and state emergency services that are
not already DGRs.  Individual brigades will be able to establish a public fund to
receive DGR support, or collect donations through a centralised state public fund.
The changes are planned to have effect from Royal Assent."

Nothing about PBI.
I note that there are four deductible gift recipient (DGR) registers, so maybe
volunteer fire brigades would qualify for one of the other 3 anyway.

All that of course is IF the senate passes whatever legislation it happens
to be bundled with on the day... A Good Thing in my view, but by no means certain
to happen. The loop-hole isn't there yet, & the Senate has been less-than-helpful of
late...

cheers

deleted - DaveP already said it.

G'day Ranger

Document, document, document.
Including agreements made by CFS on amalgamation.

Forward same to CFSVA for inclusion in log of grievances to the minister
(whoever that may be in a fortnight).  When you get down to tin tacks,
you are losing your second appliance because there is no money to buy
one for the brigade which is getting yours.

Alan, brigades & trucks are never put 'on jobs' as such. If we get a call we send it out to the brigade whos area it is, regardless of whether they are already on a job, its then there responsibility to organise attendance.

We can however take brigades out of the system, eg if a single appliance station is getting the truck serviced...

So in other words, resources aren't really being "tracked" on turn-outs.
Not actively, anyway.  The info isn't being used in Wakefield St to amend
responses to subsequent turn-outs.

Each Group/Brigade must do its own real-world resource tracking.

Therefore the only "benefit" of reporting in to Ad-Fire appliance-by-appliance
is a tape recording of the response message, versus the time-stamped call
record in the GRN for all other transmissions.

Therefore Sturt's process of the Group Duty Officer taking ownership of the
call and managing it from 1st page, is merely actively working ahead of an
otherwise passive system, designed for brigades which don't have active Group
support & participation.

Therefore it doesn't matter a tinker's cuss whether a group base responds
its own resources or goes through Adelaide Fire.  Nobody outside the group
(or brigade) officially knows or even cares about the resources (ex-CFS Ad-Fire
people excepted!!).

Thanks & cheers.

out of curiosity....
MFS Comms has capacity to mark appliances already dispatched using response message on Regional TG.

By what process are they re-marked available again?

Out of service / back in service?

cheers

Considering their 'real-life' occupations, it's also possible that the Sturt
GOs are intimately familiar with the pros & cons of MFS dispatch systems & have
(and/or had) good reasons for doing it <ahem> 'differently'.

One day, all Groups will be like Sturt Group...    / 

<chanting> All hail, O Great SACAD...

:ROFL: