The federal government has promised "more boots on the ground" under a plan to increase paid leave arrangements for public sector workers who volunteer for bushfire duty.
"One of the things I've heard on the ground is that some people are dipping into their other leave entitlements to stay out there battling blazes," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday.
"Today's announcement is about ensuring our volunteer firefighters can keep focused on the job at hand."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison tours fire-affected areas in South Australia. Source: AAP
Under the changes, all commonwealth public service workers will get at least 20 working days paid leave, or 28 calendar days if they volunteer for firefighting efforts.
Any additional leave will be provided for as needed.
"We're helping get more boots on the ground and giving people who've been out there for weeks some relief," Mr Morrison said.
The PM hugs Helen Glanville while visiting the relief centre in Lobethal, South Australia. Source: AAP
The change to volunteer leave entitlements for commonwealth public servants brings them into line with arrangements offered to Australian Defence Force reservists.
To date, commonwealth employees had ad hoc volunteer leave entitlements.
The directive to Commonwealth department and agency heads applies to about 150,000 public servants across the nation.
"They are involved in their local brigades, some of them," Mr Morrison told reporters in Adelaide.
"This will enable them to be able to commit more time in their brigades, and relieve ... small and regional towns that draw the volunteers from their own self-employed arrangements or small businesses for whom the continued support to have their volunteers out fighting fires and not working."
Mr Morrison also called on large employers to follow the government's lead on volunteer leave arrangements, to ease the load on self-employed and small businesses.
Fires are continuing to burn around Australia, but there is some good news. Rain is predicted to fall in parts of drought-affected NSW and southeast Queensland on Christmas Day.
"Brisbane will probably be the wettest city and that rain will travel all the way down to Newcastle in NSW," meteorologist Dean Narramore from the Bureau of Meteorology told AAP.
