Federal government employees who are putting in time as volunteer firefighters will get four weeks paid leave to augment their existing entitlements.

"With bushfire seasons starting earlier, 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," said Prime Minister Scott Morrison.  "Today's announcement is about ensuring our volunteer firefighters can keep focused on the job at hand."

The acting national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union Alistair Waters supports the move.

"It shows that the way the Government manages the public sector has important ripple effects for the whole community," he said.

Mr. Waters and PM Morrison both expressed hope that larger private employers would adopt similar policies, while Waters acknowledged the financial situations for most smaller businesses aren't that flexible.

But ANZ is about as big as an Australian business comes, and so on Monday announced that its workers can take paid leave for any time they were away volunteering in emergency services.  Before this, ANZ employees could access five days of paid leave for volunteering.