Farmer News
1 May, 2025
Fire services levy stalls
THE proposed Fire Services Levy, which was to be renamed the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) has been stalled.
It appears the government does not have the numbers to push the changes through parliament.
The proposed ESVF was reimagined to cover funding for the State Emergency Service, Triple Zero Victoria, the State Control Centre, Forest Fire Management and the Emergency Control Centre.
The proposed changes mean the fixed-cost part of the charge will also remain but will rise in line with inflation, going from $132 this year to $136 in 2025-26.
The charge, which appears on rates notices, will grow from 8.7 cents for every $1000 of a property’s capital improved value, to 17.3 cents next financial year.
It is forecast that the new tax derived from the new ESVF will be $1.8 billion in revenue, up from the current $1.033 billion.
For the farming community, this means finding thousands of dollars more to pay for a levy to organisations in which many farmers and farming families already volunteer.
According to many CFA group officers, there is great difficulty in attracting volunteer fire fighters, due in large part to the difficulty in qualifying to volunteer.
The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) thanked its many members who wrote letters and contacted their sitting parliamentary members, to voice their disapproval.
“Over recent weeks, we have worked hard to bring public attention to this issue and ensure decision-makers understand what’s at stake for farmers and regional communities,” VFF president Brett Hosking said.
“We’ve been actively engaging with crossbench MPs behind the scenes, whose votes will ultimately decide the bill’s fate and the response has been encouraging.
“Importantly, our campaign has gained strong public backing from the Rural Councils Victoria, the United Firefighters Union and the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who have also opposed this tax hike.
“This united front has helped shine a much-needed spotlight on the unintended consequences of the proposal.”
The VFF recently called for the legislation to be referred to a parliamentary inquiry to “properly scrutinise” its impacts.
According to the VFF, the Opposition supported this call and moved to establish the inquiry, but the government instead chose to adjourn debate on its own bill to avoid defeat.
Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell also expressed her concerns over the proposed levy.
“The ESVF, that we have been fighting, was recently on the government’s business agenda to be debated in the Upper House,” she said.
“It needed support of the cross benchers in the Upper House to pass the bill. At the 11th hour the bill was withdrawn from debate. Why? No, not because the Allan Labor Government has come to its senses on this unfair tax on our farmers and over taxed Victorians.
“It was withdrawn because the government was unable to do a deal with the cross bench.
“The government won’t let this go. It needs the money to fill the budget black hole.”