Today’s question is:

The New South Wales Rural Fire Service (RFS)  was formed by an act of Parliament, I believe the Rural Fires Act 1997. Does the Commissioner of the RFS have the power under the legislation to change any or all of the following or do they need to be changed by an act of Parliament, that is to say change the law.

1:        The service standards.

2:        Standard operating procedures.

3:        RFS policy.

The short answer is ‘yes the RFS Commissioner can change those things otherwise the RFS would be run by Parliament and that would be impossible’; but let’s look at more detail.

The Rural Fire Service is indeed created by an Act of Parliament (Rural Fires Act 1997 (NSW) s 8).  ‘The Commissioner is responsible for managing and controlling the activities of the Service’ (s 12).

The NSW Parliament does not want to be involved in the daily running of the RFS (or any other government department).  The legislature puts in place the architecture to establish the service, set out its functions and powers but then leaves it to the chief executive, in this case the Commissioner, to actually run the service.

With respect to service standards, s 13 says

(1) The Commissioner may from time to time issue written policy statements to members of the Service for or with respect to procedures to be followed in connection with the operation, management and control of the Service.

(2) Without limiting the matters with respect to which statements may be issued under this section, statements may be issued in respect of standard operating procedures, including procedures in respect of the following:

(a) fire reporting,

(b) operational co-ordination,

(c) operational planning,

(d) bush fire risk management planning,

(e) fire fighting assistance planning,

(f) standards of fire cover reporting,

(g) implementation of training standards,

(h) communications,

(i) brigade management,

(j) community education,

(k) protocols on relevant matters,

(l) health and safety.

(3) The Commissioner is, wherever practicable, to consult with the Advisory Council before issuing policy statements under this section.

The Commissioner is for all intents and purposes the relevant authority responsible for creating, managing and disbanding brigades (ss 15, 17, 20; Rural Fires Regulation 2013 (NSW) r 4; Service Standard 2.1.1 Formation and Disbandment of Brigades and Groups of Brigades and Service Standard 2.1.2 Brigade Constitution).  It is up to him, and not the Parliament to determine matters of procedure and policy within the RFS.

Conclusion

Standard operating procedures give effect to service standards and the Commissioner’s directions by indicating how the policy statements are to be made effective.  Creating Service Standards, SOPs and policy statements is fundamentally how the chief executive is ‘managing and controlling the activities of the Service’.

It follows that the Commissioner of the RFS has the power under the legislation to change any or all of the following:

1:        The service standards.

2:        Standard operating procedures.

3:        RFS policy.