A survey by the Country Mayors Association of NSW (CMA) has shown more than 75 per cent of members are in favour of transferring ownership of NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) vehicles, fire trucks and buildings from local councils back to the State Government.
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The survey followed the announcement of a Private Members Bill tabled in State Parliament in June by Member for the Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall to amend Section 119 of the Rural Fires Act 1997 Act to transfer ownership of NSW RFS assets and infrastructure to the NSW RFS to ensure they are vested solely with the RFS.
Mr Marshall made the announcement on Monday, June 19, at the Kentucky RFS station alongside the region's mayors.
CMA chair and Gunnedah mayor Jamie Chaffey said the CMA survey's results were "overwhelmingly in support" of Mr Marshall's NSW Rural Fires Amendment (Red Fleet) Bill 2023.
"Of the 75 per cent of the MCA membership who responded to the request for feedback, 100 per cent of those respondents are in favour," Cr Chaffey said.
"The most recent annual survey of our members clearly highlighted that financial sustainability is the number one concern for local government in regional, rural and remote NSW right now, so it is no surprise to see the unanimous support for change that would ease the financial burden to the tune of many millions of dollars across our membership.
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"The CMA stands firm in our pursuit of equity of service provision for the residents of our communities. We stand united with our members to advocate for residents who choose to call country NSW home.
"We will continue to work with both State and Commonwealth governments to achieve the best quality of life and provision of services for our residents, and we look forward to a prosperous future", Cr Chaffey said.
CMA deputy chair and Temora mayor Rick Firman also threw his support behind the Bill.
"I sincerely hope Mr Marshall's Private Members Bill is supported and successfully passes both the Lower and Upper Houses of parliament to ensure our members can continue to have adequate funding to provide the essential services our communities rely on councils to provide," he said.
"This alone won't fix the financial strain for many councils, however it will make a major difference."
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