Mr Wright discussed the complexities facing an organisation that is no longer “fit for purpose”.

He said its mix of dependence on volunteers, its quasi-government legal status and its “paramilitary command structure” meant “it sometimes presents as the Frankenstein of the Public Sector”.

Mr Wright said its funding structure needed to be overhauled, as it was marked by inconsistency and “local idiosyncrasies”.

“This haphazard approach to running one of our emergency services is completely inadequate,” he said.

Local government’s role in funding and providing facilities for the RFS presented some difficulties, he said to the assembled MPs. 

The PSA recommends the establishment of a single overarching agency that will include both the RFS and the State Emergency Service.

However, Mr Wright was “we wish to make clear we do not envisage a merger of these two proud organisations, which both should retain their own unique identities”.

Mr Wright urged the Committee to recommend that any cuts to staff be made to contractors rather than permanent employees.