An initial draft of the Charter, prepared by a Steering Committee of CFA Volunteers, was widely discussed at a series of meetings throughout Victoria during March and April. Support for the Charter and its concepts was almost universal. The 11 meetings – which included two telephone conferences – provided an overwhelming level of positive support and commitment from volunteers for the Volunteer Charter. In all but one meeting strong support was expressed and in most cases unanimous motions of support were carried.

The Charter, when agreed by all the parties, will define the relationships between Volunteers, (represented by their Associations the VRFBA and the VUFBA), the CFA Authority, and the Victorian Government. At the centre is a strong commitment that the parties will consult about matters which impact upon Volunteers in the CFA.

The Steering Committee has worked hard to ensure that the Charter remains a short and simple statement which shrinks a number of important concepts and agreement into a few words. The present draft:
· Makes a simple statement about the importance of volunteers to emergency services in Victoria and the CFA in particular.
· Outlines what volunteers do, and acknowledges the importance of their families and employers who help them do it.
· Outlines a series of commitments by each of the three parties – the Volunteers themselves, the CFA Authority, and the Victorian Government.

The initial draft Charter was circulated to every Brigade in Victoria. It provided an excellent start for the wide-ranging consultations which followed. The Steering Committee had direct contact from at least 400 members, between them representing over 170 brigades across the State. The views of volunteers were frankly discussed and all comments were logged and posted on the Association websites. Some 30 pages of feedback an suggestions were considered by the Steering Committee.

Through the consultation process the issues raised included a strong call for stronger words to be used in the Charter. People argued convincingly for a dispute resolution process. Others expressed concern that the Charter could prove to be a double-edged sword able to be used against Volunteers. The Steering Committee took all of the feedback into account in developing a revised Charter. It particularly tried to identify consistent themes and widely held views. The revised draft incorporates as many of the suggestions as practicable, and the overall wording has been significantly strengthened.

A simple dispute resolution clause is now included in the draft. In developing this the Committee has been very sensitive to the need for balance between the rights of Volunteers and the other partners in this agreement. It believes that the new draft strikes the right balance.

Concerns that the Charter could turn out to be a legal document that can be used against Volunteers was one issue treated very seriously by the Committee. The Committee always qualified the Volunteer commitment with phrases like “to the best of their ability”. Then a legal opinion was obtained which confirmed for the Committee that Volunteers couldn’t ever be penalised for failure to comply with the Charter.

As always in these situations some suggestions were obviously valuable and were immediately included. For example, the original draft made no mention of the importance of Volunteers’ employers in enabling them to provide their services as Volunteers. This point was made at several meetings, and it was such an obvious omission that the point was included immediately, with no debate.

But with other suggestions it was sometimes necessary to compromise. One good example of this was the slogan used in the original draft, “Volunteers don’t work for money – but they don’t work for nothing.” In general Volunteers who participated in the Consultation meetings provided wide support for the sentence and the message it contained. However, there was a significant nember who argued – convincingly – that the phrase was unnecessarily emotional and perhaps not very helpful. These people argued that it was important to retain the sense of the expression, but perhaps to find some words which made the point a little more objectively. Ultimately the Committee accepted that the sense should be retained, but better words chosen. The current draft now says that Volunteers, “Do not contribute their time for financial reward but do expect to gain satisfaction from service, achievement, personal development and camaraderie”.

All of the minutes of the meetings have been posted on both Association websites for those who would like to read about the issues raised by volunteers. (www.vicnet.net.au/~vufba/charter.html or www.vicnet.net.au/~vrfba/charter.html)

The Steering Committee believes that the new draft Charter is significantly improved over the initial one. It is now holding detailed discussions with CFA about the Charter and then, once CFA’s views are clearly known and understood, with the Government. A copy of the current version of the Volunteer Charter is also available on the Association websites. 

What happens next will depend very much on how the negotiations actually develop. If the document that emerges from discussions with the CFA and the Government is consistent with the messages received during the Consultation process, it is probable that the Committee will recommend to the two Associations that they should formally endorse the Charter. However, if either the CFA or the Government seeks more radical changes, there will be a need to discuss these more widely with Volunteers.

At this stage the Steering Committee remains optimistic that the draft, more or less in its new form, will win support from both of the other parties. The Charter as it currently stands has been posted on the Association websites in draft form. And as mentioned earlier, if all goes well, the Steering Committee hopes that the final Charter can be signed into life at a special signing ceremony in October this year. This will be a significant way to for the organisation and its Volunteers to celebrate the Emergency Services month for the International Year of Volunteers, 2001.

To view the latest version of the Volunteer Charter, go to www.vicnet.net.au/~vufba/ch_200601.html)