Our concern with the policy is that it establishes external industrial interference with the CFA chief officer’s power to decide where and when and how he of she uses firefighters.

We are also concerned that the policy will reduce CFA’s volunteer firefighting force by thousands of volunteers, pushing volunteers out of stations and hundreds of trucks off the road when we need them for major fires such as Black Saturday.

Labor has grossly underestimated the cost and impact of its policy.

Labor’s promise of $150 million and an additional 350 paid firefighters actually only provides 70 more paid firefighters on the ground at any time under paid firefighter rostering arrangements.

It will also come at the expense of thousands of highly trained and professional volunteers.

We support and welcome additional paid support and resources for CFA.

That is provided these resources are required and provided that the CFA determines the need — not a union.

We need a plan that will recruit and train more volunteers, provide trucks and equipment, invest in a modern firefighting fleet, give the CFA the flexibility to deploy resources when and where they are needed and remove industrial control over how CFA deploys its workforce.

Victoria is one of the most fire- prone areas in the world.

If Labor’s policy is allowed, Victoria will not have the fire-fighting force it needs for day-to-day incidents and certainly will not have the force to deal with major incidents when they occur.

— ANDREW WALPOLE,

For and on behalf of the board of volunteer fire brigades, Victoria