Wednesday, 19 November 2025

 Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (14:50): The Lilydale State Emergency Service is a wonderful 100 per cent volunteer unit of emergency first responders that help protect communities across the Yarra Ranges – indeed across Victoria – during storms, floods, road trauma, animal rescue and other emergencies. On behalf of the Lilydale SES volunteers and our community, my question is to the Minister for Emergency Services: specifically, how much capital and operating funding has been provided to the Lilydale SES in the past financial year and allocated in the 2025–26 state budget? It is disappointing that this year’s budget papers again did not seem to have any specific funding allocation for this vital emergency service in Lilydale that serves my community and the state. The government may refer to its new emergency services tax, but every Victorian knows there is no clarity on whether any of the revenue will actually flow to the Lilydale SES or how much to VICSES generally, and a troubling aspect is that volunteers still need to pay the tax up-front despite supposedly being exempt. A shout-out to all volunteers at Lilydale SES.