Chief Minister Andrew Barr says he supports the Prime Minister's proposal for a royal commission into the bushfires that have ravaged Australia this summer, saying relations between the states and the Commonwealth need to change.
But the United Firefighters Union ACT branch opposes any national inquiry and says it would be a chance to deflect responsibility.
The fires have killed 27 people and destroyed more than 2000 homes across the country.
Scott Morrison told the ABC on the weekend a national royal commission was necessary and he would be taking a proposal to cabinet.
Mr Barr said the ACT supported a national inquiry into the catastrophic bushfires.
But he said Commonwealth and state relations around emergency response management would have to change.
Mr Barr wants March's scheduled COAG meeting brought forward, provided no state or territory is in a state of alert or emergency.
He said many issues needed to be addressed, including the need for a national pool of fire-fighting appliances and planes, and a more coordinated public health response around P2 masks.
"No inquiry into this bushfire season, nor how the country can prepare for future bushfire seasons, would be adequate without a thorough examination of the impacts of climate change and how higher temperatures are leading to longer and more damaging bushfire seasons," Mr Barr said.
But United Firefighters Union ACT branch secretary and national president Greg McConville does not support a royal commission and believes it would be a way to deflect responsibility.
"Royal commissions can be a reason to not do anything and a reason to absolve yourself of responsibility," he said.
"They can serve to place space between the event and the recommended courses of action."
He said there had been at least 18 major inquires into bushfires since 1939.
The union instead wants the implementation of previous inquiries audited.
"There is a degree of concern that if you go and have another inquiry without proper regard to the previous inquiries, they just gather dust on a bookshelf," Mr McConville said.
ACT Volunteer Brigades Association president John-Paul Romano said he would welcome a review.
"In a sense that it can tell us where we can improve - not to say that our firefighters aren't doing the most exemplary job, but how government and services can improve their practices," he said.
"The notion of volunteer firefighting has changed," he said.
"The fact that we have had crews on the ground for months and months and the prediction is that it will continue. As an organisation, we would like to see welfare put at the front."
