Firefighter trainees will be paid a camping allowance after a tribunal found the police academy rooms they stayed in did not count as commercial accommodation.
Nine north-west trainees stayed at the Tasmania Police Academy at Rokeby for two stints in late 2023 while completing a training program that moved around the state over about three months.
The United Firefighters Union took the case to the Tasmanian Industrial Commission, arguing the academy rooms did not meet the definition of commercial accommodation under the firefighters’ pay deal.
The union said the academy’s main purpose was to house staff training there, not to make a profit, meaning it was not comparable to a hotel or motel.
It also argued the department paying for the rooms amounted to little more than an internal transfer of money rather than a genuine commercial charge.
Firefighters staying in non-commercial accommodation are entitled to an allowance of $45.50 for every night.
The ruling means the department must now pay that allowance.
The Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management had argued the rooms were much like serviced apartments, with private bathrooms, housekeeping and hot meals available.
Commissioner Tim Abey disagreed, finding the rooms were basic and lacked a TV, fridge or tea and coffee-making facilities of the kind he would expect in even a cheap motel.
But he said the bigger issue was that only department staff could book the rooms. They were not available to the public.
“To be a commercial accommodation provider, surely means that the accommodation offering must be available to the public,” he said.
Abey also pointed to academy rules, including a ban on drinking outside licensed areas and restrictions on visitors, as conditions that would “not normally be encountered” at commercial accommodation.
