Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to follow on from one of the issues Senator Rhiannon and Senator Xenophon have raised. Minister, you raised the issue of the CFA Act, and I am glad you did. You said that the bill is based on terms similar to the CFA Act. Are you aware that the CFA Act does not provide any veto power to the VFBV and that, in terms of the volunteers, the act at section 6G(b)— the section you are talking about—'requires that the Authority recognise, value, respect and promote the contribution of volunteer officers and members to the well-being and safety of the community'? This is in the Volunteer Charter, and the Volunteer Charter has no legal standing. The Volunteer Charter is simply a statement that has been made within the act but has no standing in terms of legally binding the state government.

So how can you move from a position where you have a Volunteer Charter with no legal standing to bind the Victorian state government? I think the Victorian state government were smart enough not to get themselves in a position where they would be legally bound by a volunteer organisation, and you lift aspects of this Volunteer Charter in the act, with no legal standing, and give it legal standing in the Fair Work Act. Why would you do that? What would possess you to actually try to get the commission to be dealing with issues of 'recognise, value, respect and promote'? What guidance is there for a commissioner or even a judge to be able to deal with what is just a feel-good statement, basically, in the Victorian Volunteer Charter? How can you then have any legal binding to this, and what are the legal implications of a commissioner having to try to deal with this? How would a commissioner actually make a decision that an agreement does not 'recognise, value, respect and promote' the contribution of a volunteer officer? How does that work?