Northern Victoria Region
Mr QUILTY (Northern Victoria) (12:38): (1779) My constituency question is for the Minister for Emergency Services. Currently the government is collecting $800 million through the fire services property levy. The budget papers make it clear that all levy proceeds go to supporting the state’s fire services. Given the amount raked in, it is hard to understand the lack of infrastructure spending on the CFA in Northern Victoria, with only $12 million being spent on new infrastructure across the whole of the fire services in all of Victoria. At some stage the lack of infrastructure spending will start to reduce the capacity of the CFA to defend Victoria. I recently visited the Chiltern CFA and learned of the OH&S problems and limitations with their current shed and saw the site of their proposed new facility. This week we heard that the Strathbogie CFA local sheds do not have proper toilets or even working running water. These are not isolated cases, there are issues all across Northern Victoria. Minister, will you allocate more funds from the $800 million fire services property levy to build this much-needed infrastructure for Northern Victoria CFA units?