Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Pauline RICHARDS (Cranbourne) (14:39): (1609) My constituency question is to the Minister for Emergency Services, and my question is: when will the next round of the volunteer emergency services equipment program open? The VESEP is a very popular program for our volunteer emergency services, and last year the Allan Labor government doubled the amount of funding on offer, investing an additional $62 million in funding to these grants. That means more funding for equipment, vehicles and facility updates. I would like to take the opportunity, while speaking about our emergency services, to thank Mitchell Newman, Zoe Russell, Steven Howard, Jarryd Simmons, David Terry and Debra Jackson and all the crew at the Cranbourne CFA for all of the work that they have done over this season and generally for their extraordinary commitment to our community.