Prime Minister Scott Morrison is briefed by NSW RFS Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons in the NSW Rural Fire Service control room in Sydney on Sunday.Credit:AAP
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said Mr Fitzsimmons was"doing an extraordinary job"but reiterated his calls for firefighters to be compensated,citing a payment the Keating government made to firefighters who had been in the field for more than seven days during fires in 1994.
"If someone has not had an income for a period of months because they have been fighting fires,and we met someone in Bilpin who had been fighting fires since September every day,people who don't have an income for a period of three months,it is unsustainable,"Mr Albanese said.
The Labor leader has not specified how firefighters should be compensated,saying that is a matter for the government to determine. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has not ruled out paying compensation,but has said he is focussed on the crisis at hand and providing other forms of support to RFS crews.
"What's important is that we give our fire commissioners the tools they need to best support and raise that volunteer force,"Mr Morrison said on Monday.
Mr Fitzsimmons acknowledged on Sky News that NSW was facing"the most protracted,demanding,uninterrupted pattern of weather that we've experienced"and said he was speaking regularly with state and federal leaders about the support firefighters need.
"I'm in regular dialogue with the Prime Minister,with our Premier and of course my minister,David Elliot,about other arrangements where we can ensure that unnecessary hardship isn't affecting too adversely our members and we're working through those sorts of discussions,"Mr Fitzsimmons said.