KEY POINTS:
Fire brigades will continue to be funded by an insurance-based tax that critics claim is unfair to people who are responsible enough to take out insurance.
The funding plan was unveiled yesterday as the Government released a proposal for restructuring the country's Fire Service that it says will
not lead to stations closing or jobs going.
A Fire and Rescue Service would replace the Fire Service Commission and the National Rural Fire Authority.
In tackling the contentious issue of how the service would be funded, the Government has sidestepped the idea of using local body rates or the general tax pool.
It has opted instead to stick with a system where people who insure property or cars pay for the Fire and Rescue Service.
The base of who pays will be expanded to include insured forests and agricultural crops, stocks of raw materials and industrial plant and equipment.
But Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said the system was unfair because people who were not insured were not paying.
In some areas recently affected by events such as floods, up to 40 per cent of the communities were not insured, he said.
"But those people expected the Fire Service to tidy up their homes and brush down their streets, expected the Government or mayoral funds to pay out for them, and then went back to their lives of not insuring," he said.
Large portions of the public sector were not paying, and Mr Ryan said he was concerned that the system only encouraged people not to take out insurance.
Professional Firefighters Union secretary Derek Best said that while the funding plan was better than what was in place now, it still wasn't the best option because of the "inherent flaw" that some people didn't pay and others came up with inventive ways to avoid paying.
Fire services receive around $265 million a year through the existing system, with the urban service taking most of that.
Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker said the idea of using rates as a payment mechanism was not adopted because ratepayers were already under enough pressure and probably wouldn't welcome a levy.
He also argued that going down that road would actually narrow the levy base.
Work to overhaul the structure of the firefighting sector has been going on for several years.
The Government has been keen to update the Fire Service's "outdated" governing legislation, which doesn't recognise the expansion of firemen's work into attending motor vehicle accidents and civil disasters. It has argued that fragmented services run by different organisations - including some regional councils - mean there is an inconsistent level of service across the country.
Among the changes, fire authorities run by councils rather than the national organisation would be allowed to continue operating, but their mandate would be limited to responding to vegetation fires in their area. It is unclear yet how large forest owners with their own fire protection will be able to opt out of paying the levy.
FIRE SERVICE LEVIES
Who pays now
The Fire Service is funded through an insurance-based levy:
* On insured residential property the levy is set at 7.3c per $100 of insured replacement value, up to a maximum of $73.
* On insured personal property the levy rate is the same, but up to a maximum of $14.60.
* Insured car owners also pay a flat rate of $5.84 per vehicle.
* Other insured property such as commercial property is levied at 7.3c per $100 of insured value, but where there is no sum insured the amount of insured value is the indemnity value of the property.
Who will pay
The base will be widened.
* A levy will continue to be applied to insured residential dwellings.
* Insured household and personal property will also be levied.
* Commercial and industrial buildings and their contents will be levied.
* The proposed flat rate for insured cars will increase to $10.
* Insured forests and agricultural crops will be levied.
* Insured stocks of raw materials and other goods will be levied.
* Insured industrial plant and equipment will be levied.
Public submissions on the proposal will be open until June 30.
