In 2015, the Victorian government asked me to undertake a review of the state's fire services.
The importance of our firefighters' role cannot be underestimated, which is why it is so devastating to see the Victorian fire services in the state that they are – marked by division and low morale.
The Victorian Liberal Party used its recent state conference to stoke tensions, bizarrely issuing a threat to the CFA board, this, on the back of the politically charged intervention of the federal Coalition at the time of the federal election, has created much distrust and a polarised community.
It is disappointing that the industrial politics continue to overshadow the real challenges of community service delivery and organisational modernisation, which my review focused on and which Victoria still needs to address. Attacking the workforce and their union is not the answer.
Victoria's population is growing quickly. It is also ageing, urbanising and expanding into previously less populated areas. The state is in a high-risk bushfire region and the climate is warming. Victoria's emergency management arrangements must be responsive to these shifts.
On top of this, firefighters provide a much broader range of emergency response than putting out fires, such as road accident rescue, various forms of specialist rescue and emergency medical response.
Service delivery needs to be appropriate for the community that is being served but Victoria's fire services model, with its patchy mix of volunteer, career and integrated staffing, is outdated.
The country and metropolitan fire areas, barely changed from the 1890s, don't reflect decades of population growth, urban sprawl and regional centre development.
This has caused difficulties in inter-operability and culture, and put pressure on CFA resources as it must respond to an environment it was never designed for.
Both services' training, organisational structure and legislation badly need modernising as the number and type of emergencies they respond to has evolved.
This situation does not need to continue. Other states have different models, and their workforces do not operate in as fractious an environment as they do Victoria.
The CFA and MFB have distinct and entrenched cultures, the product of many years of history shaped by their relationship with their communities. This is a history that deserves respect, and could be built upon; but something better does need to be built.
I made a number of recommendations in the Fire Services Review that required facing up to the structural problems with the fire services. Some of these were not accepted, or are yet to be acted on.
Contrary to media reports at the time of release, the review did not recommend amalgamating the CFA and the MFB. However, it did suggest that bringing the CFA and MFB boards together to create a single fire service board might assist in dealing with the challenges of inter-operability, training and the standardisation of operating procedures across the greater Melbourne area.
Fire services are first and foremost about public safety. Submissions to the review showed that members of the fire services know things need to change, and they want things to get better. Cracks in the system are being held together by the goodwill and effectiveness of those on the front line, but this is not sustainable in the face of genuine service delivery challenges and divisive political attacks.
In Victoria, one thing is for certain: things need to change, not just for the sake of those that work in the services, but for the sake of the Victorian community.
David O'Byrne was the Tasmanian minister for police and emergency services from 2011 to 2014.
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