THE 'new step' for the emergency sector reform is just government terminology for "rearranging the deck chairs", according to Country Fire Service Volunteer Association vice president Andy Wood.
On Monday, Emergency Services Minister Tony Piccolo addressed the Emergency Service Reform Reference Group with new ideas on reform whereby the chief officers of the three services in the sector - the CFS, Metropolitan Fire Service and State Emergency Service - would be retained.
The South Australian Fire and Emergency Commission board would also stay, but under the leadership of an Emergency Services commissioner.
Mr Wood said chiefs would be stripped of many of their responsibilities and the 'new step' was simply a case of using the chief officer title.
He said the details released this week were nothing new.
"The government cannot get rid of SAFECOM without legislative change and, at the moment, they can't get that," he said.
"So they will strip sections from agencies and move personnel into SAFECOM, and a commissioner will be placed over the top.
"I understood there would still have been heads of services - under the plan mooted before Monday - but they would have been called assistant or deputy commissioners.
"Administration, finance, training, community resilience, resource allocation, etcetera, for each service will all fall under SAFECOM.
"Operations are not supposed to be affected but many people have dual roles and become operational when an incident occurs - they may no longer be able to respond under this structure."
Mr Wood said the volunteer association had always wanted chiefs retained but did not see the need for a commissioner.
"The appointment of a commissioner has never been justified by Mr Piccolo and the volunteers have never agreed a commissioner is needed," he said.
"This is just another example of a failed process - if a proper business plan had been established before decisions were made, this wouldn't have come up."
Mr Piccolo said chief officers were being retained to provide leadership in the operational stream of the three services.
"Primarily, this is to reassure volunteer and paid personnel in the sector their identity will be retained," he said.
"It will also mean chiefs will have less non-operational work and can focus on the operational aspects of their respective services."
Mr Piccolo said the sector would start transitioning into the new model from April.
