In this edition - This is an important time for you and your colleagues with the commencement of the new Queensland Fire Department (QFD). QFD was created to ‘enable… the Fire and Rescue Service to return to being operationally focused—a fire service run by firefighters’ (Minister Boyd 30 April 2024 Hansard page 1329).

In this edition - You are no doubt aware your union (with the help of UFUQ representatives Cairns FCO Tris Brougham and Townsville FCM Alene Arends) successfully bargained a range of significant reforms to be implemented across fire communications during the life of CA22. I thought it was time to update you on some of those.

In this edition - A reminder that your union fee statement will be emailed to your personal email address.

In this edition - A reminder that the final annual wage rise for members occurs on 1 July 2024 with a 3% lift in your wages, and almost all allowances as well (not the aerial allowance as it is linked to the award changes).

In this edition - You are likely to have seen or at least heard about the email from the ‘Organisational Development Branch’ advising QFES is conducting a ballot of all Firefighters and Station Officers about a consistent start and finish time to apply to all 10/14 stations. Apparently, this is organisational development!