Tuesday, 27 May 2025

Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (13:35): I would like to use my members statement today to highlight our Victorian farmers and the current strains they are facing in order to feed this state. Last week we saw thousands of farmers and CFA volunteers, many of whom are farmers themselves, make the journey to the steps of this Parliament to protest the cruel kick in the guts of a tax that is known as the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund. This 150 per cent hike of a levy will hit our already struggling farmers, who have been battling the harsh conditions of this current drought. In the same week I joined the Bobinawarrah community in a rally at Oxley, where they are protesting the proposed Meadow Creek solar facility. Many of my farming communities are protesting the planning approvals of these environmental catastrophes in the making. When will this city-centric government wake up and realise that they are destroying the communities that they simply cannot survive without?