The purpose of the presentation is to draw awareness to the current policies/agreements that exist and the possible confusion and conflict that has the potential to derail the current philosophy within AFAC of sharing knowledge and resources.

Currently the AFAC position on mutual aid is one in which only additional costs are charged ie travel, accommodation and incidentals, back filling of positions or additional overtime being incurred as a result of firefighters being released to provide interstate assistance. Although I am not aware of what happens interstate, in Tasmania, Parks, Forestry and TFS work cooperatively and only charge for additional costs incurred. This I believe has, until recently, also been the case for interstate deployments but with many land and fire authorities now signatories to the Forest and Fire Management Group (FFMG) Resource Arrangement there is now an onus on charging full or direct costs, including wages, of those attending. This was seen recently in Tasmania when some fire services sought payment of all direct costs whereas others only sought to recoup additional costs.

Whilst it can logically be argued that the real cost of fires should be known and that the user pays principle applies, I would argue that the charging of direct costs goes against the AFAC ethos of sharing and potentially could be divisive. Given different wage arrangements, do fire services shop around and only seek assistance from other services who only charge additional costs not direct costs, or provide volunteers rather than paid firefighters? Furthermore does this current trend of charging direct costs provide opportunities for private companies to compete on a more cost effective basis, eroding the close alliance that AFAC agencies currently have and resulting in a loss of AFAC nationwide corporate knowledge? What was previously seen as an opportunity to strengthen ties between fire authorities, provide mutual aid at a minimal cost and to enhance operational expertise appears to have been superseded by the desire to recover all costs, which in many cases results in a windfall of cash for the fire authority providing the resources. 

My presentation would draw on recent experiences, explore alternatives and provide direction for the future.