Emergency services
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Emergency services. Have the CFA and SES been advised of their base funding for this financial year?
Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery, Minister for Equality) (14:38): We have made it really clear in this place, when it comes to the emergency services budgets, when it comes to the organisations within our emergency services, that there have been no cuts. This is exactly the premise of the question that the member is asking, which is the erroneous claim, the mischievous claim, that there are cuts to these budgets when there are not.
Danny O’Brien: On a point of order on the question of debating, Deputy Speaker, I did not make any claims. I asked a question. Have they been given their budgets?
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The minister has had 24 seconds and was starting on funding, and I ask her to come back to the question.
Vicki WARD: I have completed my answer.
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:40): We are now one month into the 2025–26 financial year. Every government department has been given a funding envelope, except our volunteer emergency services. Will the minister confirm that the reason she will not say what the CFA and SES budgets are is because they have been cut, despite Labor taxing Victorians another $3 billion supposedly to support our emergency services?
Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery, Minister for Equality) (14:40): The Premier has been very clear on this. The Treasurer has been clear on this. I have been clear on this. We have not only doubled our initial investment from when we first came into government; we have more than doubled what those opposite put in when they were last in government. And I will again say there are no cuts.
Danny O’Brien: On a point of order on the question of debating the issue, Deputy Speaker, this would be fixed very easily if the minister would just answer the question and give us a figure. Instead of just blindly denying that there is a cut, tell us what the figure is.
Members interjecting.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I will rule on the point of order in a moment. I would just like to take us back to 1933:
Although interjections are disorderly, it is the practice to permit interjections which elicit important information. However it is not permissible to interject for the purpose of elucidating a point which the member is making or to inject to prevent a member from making their speech.
Today has been better but not perfect. We can always be better. That was Blackburn in 1933. We are all learning. I was going to ask the minister to come back to the question; she has finished her answer.