The New Zealand Government is keen to merge the country’s volunteer and professional fire brigades into one organisation, for two reasons – to get rid of outdated legislation and improve the funding arrangements.

And that may mean the end of the inefficient funding method known as the fire service levy – a system shared by the NSW, Victorian and Tasmanian governments.

But the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) believes the positives may be outweighed by the negatives – that the merger of the Rural Fire Authorities and the NZ Fire Service Commission may in fact make insurance even more expensive.

Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker says he wants to engage with key stakeholders on the nation’s fire and rescue services, and agrees that the levy system needs addressing. “We need to try and make it fairer,” he told a conference last week.

ICNZ CEO Chris Ryan told Sunrise Exchange News the merger may lead to the FSL rate increasing in future.

“At the moment the FSL in New Zealand is 7.3 cents per $100 insured,” he said. “Due to the labour costs of the fire brigades I expect it to increase – but not as a direct result of the merger.

“The funding still comes from the insurance sector, but I don’t think it’s fair that people who aren’t insured benefit from fire services funding.”