The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service, a Corporation constituted of the Minister, was established under the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service Act 1936. It is primarily responsible for the provision of: efficient fire fighting services; services to prevent the outbreak of fires in fire districts; and services to deal with other emergencies.
During 1999-2000 there were external factors that influenced the financial operations and management of the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service (SAMFS).
Principal among these was the establishment of the Emergency Services Administrative Unit (ESAU) from 1 July 1999. On that date there was an effective transfer of non-operations staff from SAMFS to ESAU.
The concept was that ESAU would provide various services to SAMFS in support of its primary functions, including strategic, risk management, financial management and accounting services. These were subject to corporate service level agreements that existed in draft form during the latter months of the financial year, but which were not formally ratified by the Chief Officer of SAMFS until July 2000. A Memorandum of Understanding, which preceded the service level agreements, was ratified by the SAMFS.
The advent of ESAU and the service level agreements resulted in a significant shift in the nature of control that the SAMFS had over its financial management as it became reliant on information and reporting provided by ESAU.
The Emergency Services Executive Forum (the Forum) was established in response to the new agency interrelationships. The Forum comprised the chief executive officers of SAMFS, ESAU, the Country Fire Service Board and the Director, State Emergency Services (now a division of ESAU). Some of the key roles of the Forum were to ensure that emergency services operated in an integrated manner and that appropriate strategic and business plans consistent with the Government's priorities were established, maintained and implemented.
The Forum, through the Chief Executive Officer of ESAU, reported through to a (Department of) Justice Leadership Team. There was in turn a lineage of reporting responsibilities from the Justice Leadership Team to the Minister for Police, Correctional Services and Emergency Services.
A diagrammatic depiction of these major relationships is as follows:
The other major development impacting on SAMFS operations during the year was the revised funding for operations arising from the introduction of the Emergency Services Levy. The Community Emergency Services Fund (the Fund) was established pursuant to section 28 of the Emergency Services Funding Act 1998. The relationship between SAMFS and the Fund is shown in the diagram hereunder:
The South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service complied with the Public Finance and Audit Act 1987 by submitting financial statements to the Auditor-General within 42 days of the end of the financial year. The audit, which involves the verification of accounts, has not been completed at the time of preparation of this Report. The audited financial statements of the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service for the year ended 30 June 2000 will be included in a Supplementary Report to Parliament.