Tasmania Fire Crisis: the UFUA fires up a campaign against TFS cuts
Tasmania firefighters are fighting budget cuts and proposals to close a training centre, one station and other cost-cutting measures that could impact on operational firefighter numbers.
The UFUA has launched a campaign, including a website to enable Tasmanians to send a pre-prepared letter to their federal and local politicians seeking support to stop the funding cuts and to save the level of service.
Funding cuts
The Tasmania Government has reduced its contribution to the Tasmania Fire Service by $1 million. In addition, an increase in a Fire Service Contribution Levy, which is collected by local councils through rates, has been reduced. The difference for Tasmania households is on average about $1.04 a year per rural household and $4.48 a year for urban households.
While the savings per Tasmania household are negligible, it is a significant loss of funding to the Tasmania Fire Service. These cuts combined are estimated to strip more than $10 million out of the budget over the next few years.
Campaign website
This week the UFUA has launched a new website www.tasmaniafirecrisis.com to provide information to the firefighters and the public. Through this website Tasmanians are able to send a pre-prepared letter to their federal and local members of parliament requesting support for the campaign to stop the cuts. Radio advertising will run over the next 10 days to inform the Tasmanian public about the website.
All UFUA members are respectfully requested to ensure they promote the website to anyone residing in Tasmania to ensure the Tasmania community uses the website to write to their relevant politician to seek support to restore the funding to the Tasmania Fire Service.
The website www.tasmaniafirecrisis.com is also a one-stop shop for information on the issue and the implications of the cuts. The website is very easy to use and is the same format as the website used for the very successful UFUA presumptive legislation campaign last year:
Go to the campaign website homepage
Click on ¡§contact your local MP¡¨
Key in your Tasmania postcode
The pre-prepared letter and list of MPs will appear on screen
Click on Next
Enter personal details
Click on submit.
In addition to the campaign, the UFUA commissioned an independent report from the University of Newcastle to analyse the funding and performance of the Tasmania Fire Service. The report can be downloaded from the website.
Keep up to date with the Tasmania Fire Crisis at the campaign website.
Download and circulate the UFUA Tasmania Fire Crisis bulletin.