Labor welcomes Scott Morrison\u2019s decision to provide additional support for volunteer firefighters on the frontline \u2013 something he has repeatedly claimed is unnecessary.
\nIt\u2019s good that federal public servants will receive the same conditions currently enjoyed by Army reservists, but many volunteer firefighters will not be assisted by this decision.
\nMany private sector workers, self-employed workers, contractors and family business owners have been fighting fires, not just for days or weeks, but for months.
\nThese firefighters have to pay bills and put food on the table for their families. No firefighter should have to choose between continuing to serve their community with courage and distinction and being able to provide the essentials of life.
\nThere is a precedent for providing support for volunteer firefighters. The Keating Government did it in 1994.
\nFirefighters deserve our respect. They also deserve our support.
\nThis issue was urgent when Labor called on the Prime Minister to act in mid-November. \u00a0With fires raging across the country it is now more urgent than ever.
\nMr Morrison has consistently underestimated the scale of this year\u2019s bushfire crisis and has repeatedly asserted that resources are adequate.
\nHe has refused to bring forward a meeting of state and territory leaders. He has also refused to review his Government\u2019s inadequate climate policies.
\nClearly there is more to be done and we urge the Prime Minister to investigate all options as this national crisis deepens with more dangerous weeks ahead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Labor welcomes Scott Morrison\u2019s decision to provide additional support for volunteer firefighters on the frontline \u2013 something he has repeatedly claimed is unnecessary. It\u2019s good that federal public servants will receive the same conditions currently enjoyed by Army reservists, but many volunteer firefighters will not be assisted by this decision. Many private sector workers, self-employed … Continue reading “SUPPORT FOR VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}