Over 40 Victorian firefighters remain locked out of their jobs two and a half years after COVID-19 vaccination requirements were scrapped in the state, this is despite authorities calling in personnel from interstate to deal with raging bushfires.
According to a spokesperson from the Australian Firefighters Alliance (AFA), the families of the “firies” have struggled with the fallout of losing their jobs, some losing their partners and homes.
“There are over 40 of them as an estimate. They’ve lost families, they’ve lost partners, they’ve lost their houses,” the AFA spokesperson told The Epoch Times.
“And those firefighters still want to come back and look after their communities. CFA (Country Fire Authority) volunteer firefighters can go and do a similar job.”
The spokesperson said Victorian firefighters were the only ones in Australia still impacted by COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
The AFA is now calling on workers’ unions to join them in their fight, and said the community also could not understand why the mandates were still being applied.
“We don’t understand why it’s still a case in Victoria. The federal government has never mandated,” the spokesperson said.
“Firefighters from other states may come to Victoria to assist. They may not have had a COVID jab, but they can still come and assist in Victoria.
“CFA volunteers who are fighting the fires now work hand-in-hand with (interstate) firefighters.”
Fire Rescue Victoria Reviewing Mandates
There is hope finally emerging for the more than 40 firefighters who have been stood down, with Fire Rescue Victoria saying it is working on lifting its long-standing COVID vaccine mandates.“Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) is consulting with our people and the applicable unions about a proposal to lift a requirement for all FRV employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19,” FRV said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
“To date, FRV has maintained COVID vaccination requirements to be consistent with the health sector [including ambulance services] given that our firefighters are involved in delivering life-saving medical care as part of our Emergency Medical Response [EMR] program.”
On Oct. 4 last year, the Department of Health removed its mandates for healthcare workers in Victoria.
In light of this, FRV’s executive leadership team determined it was appropriate to review its position with respect to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations
“FRV has commenced the first element of the consultative process and hopes that it can be collaborative and completed within a reasonable timeframe,” FRV said.
“Our priority continues to be ensuring our workplaces are, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe and without risks to health and safety.”
Vaccine Mandates ‘Beyond the Pale’
On Dec. 15, visibly frustrated AFA director, Josh Hawkes, appeared on Sky News questioning why over 40 of his peers were still stood down.“The pandemic declaration was revoked in October, 2022. Two years on, it’s been a tough road. And we’re heading into a fourth Christmas with our firefighters still stood down,” he said.
“Egregiously, we’ve had CFA volunteers who have been in integrated stations for nearly two years now without issue.
“They’re interacting with Victorian firefighters on a regular basis, and the airport firefighters at Tullamarine were never mandated.
“So this is just beyond the pale.”
Last year, Victorian Liberal Member for Western Victoria, Bev McArthur, took aim at then-Minister for Emergency Services Jaclyn Symes for not doing enough.
She pointed out the frustration within Country Fire Authority volunteers as membership numbers decline for a fourth-consecutive year, going from 52,805 to 51,807—a drop of almost 1,000 people.
“Given this ruling, the firefighter shortage, and the fact that Victoria continues to be an outlier, when will the minister step up and request that the FRV remove this discriminatory policy?” she said at the time.
“FRV is the only fire service in Australia still enforcing mandatory vaccination.
“Why are they such an outlier? It makes no medical sense. The last mandated dose was March 2022. It cannot be effective now. Nor does it apply to volunteers, who with the same vaccine status can work.
And on Feb. 3, Victoria Liberal MP for Western Metropolitan Moira Deeming posted the following on X in response to Vic Emergency announcing 114 interstate firefighters, personnel, and vehicles had come from South Australia, the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland, and the Northern Territory to assist with putting out fires in the Grampians.
“Even now - in fire season - they continue using their power to isolate and punish political opponents without shame,” Deeming said.
“Rather than bring back the 38+ Vic firefighters excluded under obsolete jab mandates for almost 3.5 years. Rather than standardise objective funding for the upkeep and replacement of ALL Vic fire services equipment.
“Labor are bringing in firefighters and equipment from interstate at an estimated cost of A QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS PER DAY.”
