Today’s correspondent is a volunteer with South Australia’s Country Fire Service (SACFS). My correspondent says;
…we have our own brigade constitution and a few weeks before our AGM we asked for guidance over an issue. We were told no matter what is written in your brigade constitution it can and will be overridden by the SACFS constitution…If this is the cause then what is the point of having a set of brigade rules that are in our constitution if it’s going to be over ruled by the CFS constitution.
I have answered a similar question with respect to the NSW RFS – see Constitutions for NSW RFS brigades (May 21, 2014).
A South Australian Country Fire Service (SACFS) brigade is an ‘SACFS organisation’ (s 3). SACFS brigades are established by the Chief Officer (Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 (SA) s 68(1)(a)) although they may be formed on the application of ‘a group of interested persons’ (Fire and Emergency Services Regulations 2005 (SA) r 6). An application should, amongst other things, ‘propose a constitution for the brigade’ (r 6(3)(f)). Further (s 68):
(2) An SACFS organisation will have a constitution that accords with any requirements determined by the Chief Officer.
(3) The constitution of an SACFS organisation may be amended, with the approval of the Chief Officer, in the manner set out in the constitution.
(4) An SACFS organisation—
(a) has the functions and powers prescribed by this Act or the regulations or set out in its constitution; and
(b) has such other functions or powers as may be assigned to it by the Chief Officer.
(5) An SACFS organisation must—
(a) maintain such records as may be prescribed, specified by its constitution, or required by the Chief Officer;…
There does not appear to be any clear indication of what matters are required to be dealt with in the brigade’s constitution though there are some issues identified in the Fire and Emergency Services Regulations 2005 (SA).
- Brigades have to select members to fill certain roles. ‘Nominations of candidates for brigade elections will be called by the administrative co-ordinator of the brigade in accordance with the brigade’s constitution’ (r 11(4)). Apart from that most of the details as to who is eligible to stand for election for the positions and the way the election is to be conducted is set out in regulation 11.
- A member who ‘contravenes or fails to comply with … a provision of the SACFS organisation’s constitution’ may be subject to disciplinary proceedings (r 22) but the manner in which those proceedings are to be conducted is set out in the regulation.
- A brigade’s Administrative Co-Ordinator is ‘to give notice of meetings of the brigade in accordance with the constitution of the brigade’ (Fire and Emergency Services Regulations 2005 (SA) Schedule 4).
A brigade’s constitution is subject to the Act and Regulations. As noted, any constitution must meet the requirements set out by the Chief Officer (s 11(2)). In that case it will be correct that ‘no matter what is written in your brigade constitution’ it will be overridden by any requirements imposed by the Chief Officer, ie a brigade’s constitution cannot be inconsistent with the Acts, Regulations or the directions of the Chief officer. Further, regardless of what is in a brigade constitution, ‘The Chief Officer of SACFS is responsible for the management and administration of SACFS’ which includes the brigades (s 58).
When writing about the NSW RFS I said ‘it’s not at all clear why brigades need constitutions, rather than rules or standing orders…’ and that would also be my view with respect to the CFS. Brigades are established by the Chief Officer who is responsible for the ‘management and administration’ of the CFS. Any brigade constitution must be subject to the direction and requirements of the Chief and there is little explanation of what is required to be in the constitution. The only matters that get mentioned are the process of nominations (but not the process of election) for various offices and details of when the brigade is to meet.
Constitutions for brigades is a throw back to the days when ‘Firefighting was left to local residents who would band together to fight fires as they arose, without any formal organisation or authority to set back burns’ (Country Fire Service, History of the Country Fire Service (undated)). Under the Country Fires Act 1989 (SA) s 12 it was the Board that determined the Brigades’ constitution which makes it sound much more akin to standing orders rather than a ‘constitution’.
With respect to the NSW RFS
If anyone reads this and goes back to look at that earlier post on the NSW RFS see Constitutions for NSW RFS brigades (May 21, 2014) do be aware of the age of that post and in some respects it is out of date. Today all brigades of the RFS are established by the Commissioner not a local authority (see RFS Service Standard 2.1.1 Formation and Disbandment of Brigades and Groups of Brigades, [1.2]). Further RFS Service Standard 2.1.2 Brigade Constitution, issued 21 December 2017 now sets out the terms of the Constitution of any RFS Brigade. That post has to be read subject to those updates.
Conclusion
To return to the question. I was asked:
We were told no matter what is written in your brigade constitution it can and will be overridden by the SACFS constitution…If this is the cause then what is the point of having a set of brigade rules that are in our constitution if it’s going to be over ruled by the CFS constitution.
I think there is a misnomer there. There is not a SACFS Constitution per se. The CFS is constituted by the Fire and Emergency Services Act 2005 (SA) s 58. There is no constitution per se or, if there is, it is the Act. It is certainly the case that ‘no matter what is written in your brigade constitution’ it cannot be inconsistent with the Act or Regulations. It also has to meet any requirements published by Chief Officer (s 11(2)). Within that space a brigade may have a constitution to provide for calls for nominations, meetings, and record keeping and other things about how that brigade is to operate.
It seems to me calling the Brigade’s operating rules a constitution seems inappropriate. These documents do not ‘constitute’ the Brigade (either in South Australia or New South Wales). In SA the brigade is established by the Chief Officer and is subject to the Act and any requirements published by the Chief Officer. The purpose of the Constitution is to set local procedures within the ‘gaps’ left by the Act and the Chief Officer’s requirements.
Australian Emergency Law 
All SACFS brigades constitutions were redone a few years back so fall into line with the system as you describe, however the way it was done was there was a standard or default constitution that would apply if a brigade did nothing or was happy with the standard. Brigades were given the choice to customise some things, one of which was frequency of meetings. Brigades that selected other than the default choice therefore at the end of the process had a “custom” constitution which was then signed by the chief officer and took effect. I believe brigades also had the option to insert some other clauses if desired and if the chief officer agreed.
So end result is yes some brigades (such as mine as we reduced the minimum requirement to hold brigade meetings to just the AGM) have their own constitution, however they are all signed and approved by the chief officer, and obviously are in accordance with the Act.
Note brigades also have the option to have Brigade Rules (or standing orders), this is a separate document to the constitution, but also has to be approved and signed by the chief officer.
In Victoria, the Country Fire Authority Regulations contain a schedule with the “Model Rules”. These are effectively a draft constitution, and no brigade constitution can include material that contravenes the model rules. Whilst seen as a nuisance by many brigades, it does make the position clearer than in SA where there is “not a SACFS Constitution per se”.