Thursday, 11 September 2025

 Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Emergency Services, Minister for Natural Disaster Recovery, Minister for Equality) (14:22): Community is at the heart of our emergency services. It is where Victorians of different backgrounds, genders and faiths all come together with respect and dedication to help keep our community safe. Often this dedication is handed down through generations. While I was at Woodend CFA with the member for Macedon to celebrate their brand new tanker, a call came through and off went generations of the same family to protect and serve their community. The member for Ripon and I recently checked out Avoca CFA’s new tanker and heard how the former captain has proudly passed on the leadership baton to his son.

Our emergency services all share a deep sense of connection and service, and this government will always be on their side by making sure they have the tools and resources needed to carry out their vital work. That is why we have doubled our annual investment in our emergency services. It is why we have expanded the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) so emergency services can continue to be supported to respond to emergencies increasing in intensity and frequency. As a CFA volunteer, the member for Werribee knows how vital these investments are, with foundations now poured for the brand new Wyndham Vale CFA station. The member for Footscray knows firsthand the devastation of floods and is now looking forward to the building of the new Footscray SES unit. And the member for the Bellarine knows how the volunteer emergency services equipment program, which we have now doubled, has bolstered essential equipment and resources at the Ocean Grove Surf Life Saving Club.

Emergency services and their communities deserve to know their government has their back. Those opposite have said they would scrap the ESVF, with no plan on how to fund the services that help keep us safe. They cannot be trusted to ensure our emergency services have the funding they need. Instead their focus is to replicate the division in their own party room across our communities through sowing misinformation and division.