Fire Fighters & Climate

Leading up to the recent fires there was an acrimonious fight going on in Victoria around the role of professional fire fighters and the volunteer status of the CFA. It would be fair to say that the Liberals characterised the campaign to extend the coverage of the United Fire Fighters Union members – the professional fighter fighters – as an attack on volunteerism. We hear from Peter Marshall the secretary of the UFU as Victoria moves to the creation of Fire Rescue Victoria on July 1 with new boundaries for the two services. We finish with a piece featuring the former Labour premier of Western Australia Carmen Lawrence now a Professor at Psychological Science at the University of Western Australia talking about crossing the divide when it comes to climate change action and a possible jobs guarantee.