General News
4 November, 2025
Forest firefighters rally for recognition
Forest Fire Management (FFM) workers descended on the steps of Victorian Parliament last Wednesday morning demanding fair pay and recognition.
Last week’s rally came as a result of significant operational challenges faced by Forest Fire Management (FFM). Earlier this month, hundreds of State Government rapid response vehicles were taken offline due to safety concerns as FFM and the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA) grounded their fleet of 290 Mercedes-Benz G-Wagons and 59 Unimogs.
The Australian Workers Union (AWU) represents FFM and the field staff who undertake preparedness work and fight fires. AWU health and safety representatives also identified the safety issues in their fleet.
As another fire season looms, AWU Victorian branch president Ross Kenna said AWU and FFM workers have also been bargaining for a new field staff enterprise agreement for over a year.
“Our members began taking protected action this time last year, so that’s 12 months ago. We are fighting for fair wages, as currently the field staff agreement is 8.6 percent less than the comparative agreement with Parks Victoria, who do similar work,” he said.
“So we believe the Victorian Government needs to equalise the pay, and then provide a pay rise in line with the wage policy with the forest firefighters.
“At that rally, our members moved a couple of motions, one to put in another protected action valid order to the Fair Work Commission to increase the amount of protected action we are currently doing. Our second motion was to reject the current offer from the department and seek back pay as the government was about seven months late in beginning bargaining.”
Mr Kenna said FFM workers from around the Central Goldfields were present at the rally advocating for the impact locally and the broader matter.
“We have dealt with a restructure in the last 18 months where there was some improvement in numbers, and the actual depots moved around,” he said.
“The Avoca depot was closed and the personnel moved to Maryborough without consultation, that was another battle we had.
“The main driver is still the wait for some conditions, workers put their lives on the line to protect Maryborough, protect Clunes, protect Talbot and all of the other towns around our area.”
FFM firefighters manage bushfires in state and national parks, reducing fire risk on public land with management that includes fuel management programs and emergency response recovery.
“The job they do is really specific, they are very highly skilled, it isn’t a job we can ask volunteers to do, it’s a professional firefighting job,” Mr Kenna said.
“It’s like Victoria’s forgotten firefighter force. We hear a lot about Fire Rescue Victoria and CFA, but the people who do a vast majority of the work when a bushfire starts are FFM. We send crews to repel the fires, we send firefighters in with planned equipment to put containment lines in, so they do put themselves in harm's way and they aren’t paid correctly at all.”
Following the rally, he hopes the State Government will honour its commitment to the work of FFM.
“Politicians love getting on social media and love celebrating these people during a bushfire. We saw it during the last fire season with the fires up in the Grampians. But we are saying no more applauders, it’s time to pay these people what they are actually worth. We are hoping that regional Victoria supports us,” Mr Kenna said.
“We thought we had a deal in May this year with the State Government that would have seen a significant wage rise for all of the workforce, especially for women. If they don’t hurry up, we will be asking for more.