Fire and Emergency Service Act Reform

What is changing?

The new Tasmania Fire and Emergency Service Bill will provide the flexibility and adaptability required for legislation to remain contemporary and more efficient to administer. This is critical for an emergency service organisation.

The Bill enables the following reform:

• The Tasmania Fire Service (TFS) and the State Emergency Service (SES) will formally unite to become the Tasmania Fire and Emergency Service (TFES).
• Importantly, our fire and emergency service workers will still be easily identifiable as they will continue to proudly wear their respective TFS and SES uniforms.
• The new TFES will be led by the Commissioner, Tasmania Fire and Emergency Service. The Commissioner, Tasmania Fire and Emergency Service will report directly to the Minister, for Police, Fire and Emergency Management and will be empowered to oversee the workforce and the budget for the TFES.
• The TFES will be one of two operational pillars of the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management (DPFEM).
• The authorities legislated for the current State Fire Commission (SFC) will be transferred to the new Commissioner. The SFC will become the State Fire and Emergency Service Committee.
• The State Fire and Emergency Service Committee will be Ministerially appointed and included in legislation and will report directly to and support the new Commissioner. The membership will grow and include representatives from SES and other emergency service providers.
• Our hard-working emergency services volunteers will be provided with greater protections under the new legislation.
• The Bill also includes an equitable, sustainable and fair funding model to support our TFES in the work they do to keep Tasmanians safe.

The world our fire and emergency services operate in has changed.  We have to plan for the impact of climate change which will see more frequent and longer emergencies.  The reviews of the Fire Service Act 1979 have highlighted the need for a stable, predictable and fair funding model to support our emergency service leaders to plan, respond to and transition to recovery after an emergency.

For further information contact, FES.Reform@dpfem.tas.gov.au