CFS SA Region 2 volunteer representative Andrew Cadd, Agery, attended the Chief Officers Advisory Committee meeting on April 1, and said Emergency Services Minister Tony Piccolo was pressed on the budget for the sector reforms.
"The question was put to him - what happens if it comes in over budget - and he said the ESL would have to rise," Mr Cadd said.
"The Minister was asked seven or eight questions and 20 to 30 questions were left with him in writing for him to respond to over the next few weeks."
Mr Cadd said a rise to the ESL in the next few years would be a disaster for emergency services volunteers and farm firefighters.
"It would create a large amount of angst, even more so than what has been seen since the concessions were removed," he said.
"More and more would walk away."
A SES volunteer from the Eyre Peninsula who did not want to be named said a further increase to the ESL would 'go down like a lead balloon'.
"The response to the last increase, resulting mainly from the removal of the concessions, was some employers stopping volunteers from attending call-outs," the volunteer said.
"Some property owners had bills go from three or four thousand dollars to $30,000.
"That's the wages for two seasonal workers on a farm - no one can afford that without notice."
The volunteer said he has heard of farmers who have stopped doing development work on their farms, such as putting up sheds, in order to fund the ESL.
"The money has to come from somewhere - it isn't a matter of just growing more crops or stocking more sheep," he said.
Karina Natt
Journalist at Stock Journal.
Journalist at Stock Journal.
