News 
A reminder that the Draft CFA Regulations are open for public consultation and feedback. Following this consultation, the Minister for Emergency Services will either approve them or modify them based on feedback received during the public consultation.
Members, including brigades and groups can visit Country Fire Authority Regulations 2025 & Regulatory Impact Statement | Engage Victoria to provide feedback. On this page you can access the draft new Regulations 2025, as well as the Regulatory impact statement.
You can access the old Regulations 2014 from here: Country Fire Authority Regulations 2014 | legislation.vic.gov.au
VFBV has prepared a matrix for you to help you understand where most of the main changes are that may impact upon volunteers or where volunteers may have an interest. The matrix includes the new regulation number, as well as a reference to the old one so you can cross reference. We have classified these changes as either High, Medium or low.
These categories do not necessarily mean the change is good or bad. They are simply a guide as to whether a change is significant, sensitive or may have wide ranging impacts (in the case of high), or alternatively the changes are very minor or may already reflect current practice (in the case of low).
This should assist members pinpoint their areas of interest for review.
In addition to the above, we draw members attention to the changes regarding model rules.
Both Schedule 2 (Brigade model rules) and Schedule 6 (Group model rules) have been removed, with CFA’s intent to move these to a delegation of the CFA Board to make these rules in the future. This may have significant impacts on brigades.
Upon the making of the new regulations, the CFA Board will be permitted to issue new rules that were once in the brigade and group model rules. All brigade and groups operate under the model rules, unless they have their own rules (constitutions) which have been approved by the authority. Each time the rules are changed –constitutions are voided in so far as any inconsistencies.
Some aspects of the model rules have been reincorporated into the Regulations as base regulations, while others have not been. Rules in the regulations provides clarity, consistency and a degree of stability, in that regulations are not normally reviewed outside their standard 10-year lifecycle. The risk with this change is that brigades/groups may be exposed to more frequent change. While this may make the arrangements more flexible in cases where people want change, the risk is that brigades/groups will need to adapt to changes to their key operating principles more often, and as set by the CFA Board and which they may not necessarily agree with. It just a matter of whether you prefer the 10 year periods of stability, or would prefer the opportunity for more frequent change, noting change can be both good and bad.
What are some examples of things that used to be in the old model rules that have been removed? Here are some examples: how many meetings you must have; who chairs the meeting; what the quorum is; what you must do at an annual general meeting; how special meetings are called; how the brigade management team operate; rules around your bank accounts and signatories etc.
Feedback is due to Engage Victoria by the 13 May 2025.
If you do provide feedback, it would be helpful for you to provide a copy to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or let us know your concerns so we can incorporate it into any submission that VFBV may make.
