It will recognise “sustained service” to others during nationally-significant emergencies such as the Victorian bushfires of February 2009 as well as events such as Cyclone Yasi and the Queensland floods.
In December, CFA was invited to submit an initial list of 30 nominees by 17 January 2012. This tight timeframe has resulted in 30 worthy nominees being put forward by Chief Officer Euan Ferguson and Chief Executive Officer Mick Bourke. A number of these nominees are likely to appear in the Australia Day honours list.
The initial list falls well short, however, of recognising all CFA members who gave exemplary service through the long weeks of early 2009.
A further round of nominations will be sought later in 2012 with all regions, districts, groups, brigades and directorates warmly invited to nominate eligible candidates.
The following criteria for “sustained service” have been laid out by the Director of the Australian Honours and Awards Secretariat:
a) service must be in the protection of lives and property, or in the service of interests, that are not their own, in direct response to the emergency, including support that enables or facilitates the emergency response;
b) the geographical area is the State of Victoria;
c) the qualifying period begins on 28 January 2009 and ends on 5 March 2009; and
d) the minimum duration of service that a person is required to have completed to qualify is:
paid service on 14 days, with at least two days in the period beginning on 7 February and ending on 14 February 2009
unpaid service on 7 days, with at least one day in the period beginning on 7 February and ending on 14 February 2009.
Please note that days served do not need to be consecutive. In addition, travel time may be included and service may be a mixture of paid and unpaid.
Further information is available at www.gg.gov.au
The details of eligible members must be included on a schedule listing service number, title/rank, name, gender, date of birth, details of awards with a post nominal, role/occupation, qualifying service and additional comments. Posthumous medals will also be considered.
A link to download the schedule can be found on the Governor-General's website here (scroll to the end of the page for the download link.)
It is vital that adequate records of nominees are maintained in order for the Chief Officer to certify the recommendations to the Governor General.
The schedule of nominees should be sent to John Hutchinson, Project Coordinator at Operational Training and Volunteerism at CFA headquarters by close of business on Monday 30 April 2012.
Nomination schedules can also be emailed to j.hutchinson@cfa.vic.gov.au or posted to John at CFA, PO Box 701, Mount Waverley, 3149.
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