{"id":255995,"date":"2020-03-31T16:16:39","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T06:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=255995"},"modified":"2020-03-31T16:16:39","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T06:16:39","slug":"blue-card-deadline-for-firies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2020\/03\/31\/blue-card-deadline-for-firies\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Card Deadline For Firies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Opposition emergency services spokesman Lachlan Millar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 31, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n

The State Opposition fears a mass exodus of rural firies now the March 31 deadline for volunteers to apply for a Blue Card has arrived.<\/p>\n

Shadow Emergency Services Minister Lachlan Millar said he was concerned fire brigades across the State could have their numbers depleted and capacity to defend their local communities drastically reduced from Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cA mass exodus of thousands of Rural Fire Brigade volunteers over paperwork mustn\u2019t be allowed to happen,\u201d Mr Millar said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCommunity safety must always come first, especially when it comes to children, but the Blue Card requirement process by Labor has been bungled from day one.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland can\u2019t afford to have thousands of rural firies walk away from the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Millar said that Labor Minister Craig Crawford needed to work with rural firies to ensure they could continue to provide their incredible volunteer service to their communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe LNP don\u2019t want to see yet another extension to the deadline, but this time a workable solution to the crisis facing our rural fire brigades,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor needs to urgently put in place a better process to ensure the Blue Card requirement is appropriately rolled out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time for Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Minister Craig Crawford to fix this mess before it\u2019s too late.”<\/p>\n