Council
29 May, 2025
Mayors stand united against ESVF
SOUTH west Victorian councils have shown a united front to plea for the “unfair and inequitable” Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) to be scrapped.
Mayors from six western Victoria councils gathered at the Mortlake Country Fire Authority (CFA) station last Wednesday afternoon to stand against the State Government’s new tax, which councils will be forced to collect.
The levy will see an additional $5.8 million in new tax dollars collected from Moyne Shire, in addition to $4.3 million from Corangamite Shire and $2.1 million from Warrnambool City.
Among those in attendance were Corangamite Shire Council mayor Kate Makin, Moyne Shire Council mayor Karen Foster, Warrnambool City mayor Ben Blain, Colac Otway Shire mayor Jason Schram, Pyrenees Shire mayor Tanya Kehoe and Ararat Rural City mayor Jo Armstrong.
Two others, Southern Grampians Shire mayor Dennis Heslin and Glenelg Shire mayor Karen Stephens, were unable to attend but gave their full support to the campaign.
Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur also joined the councillors.
The councillors jointly called for the ESVF to be scrapped or at least reassessed, for communities to be assured the funding would be spent in the communities it was raised, and to shift levy collection responsibilities back to the State Government.
Corangamite Shire Council mayor Kate Makin said she was proud to see each of the councils rally behind their communities.
“I’ve been on council for five years and I’ve never seen mayors come together like this on one issue,” she said.
“It’s galvanising us all behind community devastation because they’re already struggling with drought, cost of living and everything in between – and now they’ve got to deal with this tax.
“I feel for my community, I wish I had better news for them, but I’m just trying to wrap my arms around them in the best way I can.”
Cr Makin said the fund being used beyond the original scope of the previous levy, such as funding Triple Zero, was an example of the state simply shifting costs back on to the community.
“They’re adding four services to the levy – Why are we funding Triple Zero? Why are we funding the VicEmergency app? – it should all come out of the State Government continually,” she said.
“We shouldn’t have to be paying that stuff, and the money going out of Corangamite Shire, $8.8 million, should be coming back to Corangamite Shire so we can see new infrastructure added and updated so our firefighters are safe.
”Warrnambool City Council mayor Ben Blain said emergency services were already underfunded in the south west, and feared the scope of the funding under the new levy would mean funds collected would not flow back to local volunteers.
“I’ve been a CFA volunteer for almost 20 years and it’s interesting – if you look at what happened with the Grampians bushfire, everyone was driving around in 30-40-year-old trucks,” he said.
“We want to see money flowing back in to the region.
“The levy is also paying for some services which were funded by the State Government originally, such as Triple Zero, and I think it’s important to note this isn’t a levy to fund anything you want – it’s supposed to be something which goes back to volunteers.
“The funding is supposed to go back to volunteers to make sure they can protect their communities with the equipment they actually need.”
Moyne Shire Council mayor councillor Karen Foster said she was frustrated to be left with so many unanswered questions surrounding the levy, acknowledging there was no reason to believe the region would even see funding equivalent to what was lost in tax.
“We don’t know how it’s going to work, and all we can see is a big chunk of money being ripped out of our region, taken back to Spring Street and then we don’t know what happens after that,” she said.
“I think it’s really disrespectful to the people who give so much of their time, of themselves, to protect us.
“I’ve had people e-mailing and calling me this week who said they’ve never contacted a councillor before, admitting they knew we couldn’t do anything, but just asking to be listened to.
“They’re so devastated, so heartbroken, and they feel completely helpless.”
Cr Foster said she felt it was important to show communities in each local government area that their councillors had no intention of backing down quietly.
“The question we’re asking is if there’s any chance we can even repeal this – and to that I would say there always has to be hope,” she said.
“All of the mayors came standing shoulder-to-shoulder to show our community that we’re not going to give up, and we’ll keep fighting to the last breath.”
Moyne Shire Council will be among the hardest hit under the ESVF, facing a 117 per cent increase from the previous Fire Services Levy, with those owning agricultural land to be among the worst affected .
“Our agricultural sector underpins around 60 per cent of our economy,” Cr Foster said.
“It’s our heart and soul – farmers really are our lifeblood.
“This tax is so inequitable and burdens farmers so heavily that our farmers are hit hard in particular because we have so many farmers.
“It’s why we’re so passionate about doing what we can to stand up to this.
“That’s almost $5.9 million coming out of Moyne and where does that go? It’s not out of council coffers, but out of our community.”
Mrs McArthur said she had never seen “a coalition of agreement like this” occur in opposition to the tax.
“I will stand with every local government municipality who will bear the brunt of this totally unfair new tax,” she said.
“It’s a new property tax, not a levy and not to fund emergency services, but to fund every other extraneous factor with no guarantee the money comes back to these communities.
“The Coalition has pledged to repeal this tax and will revert back to the previous Fire Services Levy as it was.
“Local government should not be the debt collectors for the state, and this puts them at the frontline for the distress this tax will bring.”
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