State fire authorities have been forced to wait two years for a federal boost in long-term funding for air tankers to help control raging bushfires, after Canberra rejected a $25 million business case to expand the national fleet. ausfires auspol
The board of the NAFC at the time of the plea included NSW Rural Fire Service commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and Victorian Country Fire Authority chief Steve Warrington as well as South Australian Country Fire Service chief Greg Nettleton, who chaired the centre.
While the centre also sought a one-off payment of $1.562 million, it emphasised the need for a long-term increase in the federal contribution to $25.574 million every year and that this should be indexed to inflation.Behind the proposal was concern over a shortage of money because the federal share of funding had fallen from the funding agreement the Howard government reached in 2003 to contribute 50 per cent of the money each year.
In a key section, the centre also asked the Commonwealth to “acknowledge that the large air tanker and very large air tanker capability provides an enhanced national mobility of aerial firefighting resources which requires a Commonwealth contribution” to ensure the service would continue. “In this year’s budget, that will be provided again on an ongoing basis. And so, after becoming Prime Minister, those are matters that we put in train with that additional funding and resource."
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