LOCAL Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers are pressuring politicians to pledge their support for fair cancer compensation, amid fears the State Government may pass legislation discriminating against volunteer firefighters.
The Andrews Government is currently formulating legislation which would make it easier for firies diagnosed with cancer to receive compensation by presuming through law the cancer resulted from their line of work.
As all firefighters in the Swan Hill region are unpaid volunteers, local firefighters have raised concerns the law — which has already been passed in all states and territories except Victoria and New South Wales — needed to apply equally to volunteers as to career firefighters.
The concerns follow warnings from the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFB), the union for CFA volunteers, that the proposed legislation could resemble Tasmania’s firefighter cancer law, which only presumes a link for firefighters on a payroll.
This has left many volunteer firefighters in Tasmania without medical cover.
Several local CFA volunteers met with Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh on Friday as he signed a pledge supporting their entitlement to assistance under any future legislation.
“This pledge is about providing certainty for Victoria’s hardworking volunteer firefighters and their families,” Mr Walsh said.
“It recognises the risks faced by our local firefighters who work on the frontline to keep our communities safe from the threat of fires and other emergencies.”
For more on this story, grab a copy of Monday’s Guardian (November 30).
