Tuesday, 20 May 2025

Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund

Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (14:16): Thousands of people have descended on the steps of Parliament in protest at the Labor government’s heartless, insidious cash grab disguised as an emergency services levy. Further east, in my electorate, and also around regional Victoria, locals who could not make it to Melbourne were protesting out the front of a Labor minister’s office. They are protesting because farmers will pay a whopping 150 per cent more than under the previous levy. The tax for all households and commercial properties will double. The tax for industrial land will go up 64 per cent.

Juliana Addison interjected.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Wendouree, 10 minutes.

Member for Wendouree withdrew from chamber.

Martin CAMERON: Every single person in Victoria will be affected by this tax. And do not be fooled by the name. The money will not go back into the CFA’s regional communities, it will go straight into government coffers to fund core services, because this government is up to its eyeballs in debt.

This tax has been loudly and clearly rejected by the United Firefighters Union, FRV, the CFA, farmers, local councils and everyday Victorians – and yet Labor still forged ahead. That is why today the Nationals and Liberals have pledged to scrap the tax. Under our plan, the Liberals and Nationals will repeal the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund legislation and return to a simpler, fairer fire services property levy, a model that funds fire services transparently without punishing home owners, renters or farmers.