Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Motions

Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund

Debate resumed.

Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (14:06): I rise to continue my contribution on motion 1071 standing in Mr Davis’s name. Before question time I was speaking about Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria, a very amazing group of, naturally, volunteers who represent our CFA and do an amazing job. They have put some context around the disingenuous nature of this emergency services tax, and I will quote from one of their media releases:

It is VFBV’s view that this highlights the disingenuous claims that the new tax would inject significant new money into emergency and volunteer services in order to deal with increased demand.

We have all heard today from other members about increasing demand. The requirement through the legislation is that the forward year funding is to be announced via the Government Gazette. Gazetted on 30 May this year, it just shows how different a scenario the rhetoric we hear from the Allan government is to the reality of the services that we need. Twenty-five per cent of the whole of the emergency services tax will go to the volunteers. Let me give you some context around that. The CFA will get 20.3 per cent, which is around $312 million. The State Emergency Service volunteers will get a little under 5 per cent, at $72,963,000. This is showing you that the remaining value, 75 per cent of this tax – which once was the property services levy there to fund emergency services, to fund the CFA – is now going to core government services Triple Zero Victoria, Emergency Management Victoria, Forest Fire Management Victoria and Fire Rescue Victoria, in terms of funding those institutions. They are a core government industry. They are core government business, and the funding should come out of core government funding. But no, this is the realm where we sit with this government. When you boil that down, in actual fact 20 cents from every $1 of this new funding imposed on businesses, on homes, on industry, on farmers – on anyone who owns some property and has a building or a farm – through the emergency services tax will be hit. Twenty cents in the dollar will go to the CFA.

If you ask the CFA and go out in the regions as we do – I come from Eastern Victoria Region, as you know – there are ageing pieces of equipment and ageing trucks. Some of them are over 25, 26 or 30 years old. There are ageing pieces of infrastructure, old sheds that the local CFA are begging to be upgraded. We hear from those opposite about gratitude. Well, this does not feel like gratitude. This feels like a slap in the face. I was at the SES recently in Leongatha, just the other day, and like many in the CFA, they are a volunteer family. What they have to do, oh so regularly, is struggle and scrape to find the money to actually support the SES to buy normal equipment. This is not good enough. It is unfortunate. The Nationals and the Liberals have agreed that we will scrap this tax when we get to government in 2026.

Members interjecting.

Melina BATH: I note that those on the other side are getting a little bit engaged. That is because it is actually hitting home. I want to give you another example that actually ends up very much supporting this motion put on the notice paper by Mr Davis. It is from the Victorian Farmers Federation. We also hear from those on the government benches about the importance of our rural industry, the importance of our ag sector and the importance of farmers. Well, this is what the farmers are telling the government, and the government is not listening. This is what they have said. The VFF has done an extensive survey, and it highlights the depth of concern across the agricultural sector. It said that 95 per cent of the respondents – hundreds of people, hundreds of farmers – have said that they are concerned or very concerned about the emergency services levy. This is not just me standing up and saying that; this is a representation of a diverse survey right across the state of Victorian farmers. Ninety-five per cent are also concerned about new taxes – again in this motion put forward by the Liberals and Nationals. Ninety-six per cent are very concerned about road and freight, and there are other concerns around rising energy costs and of course the transition to renewables. I ask this house to support this very important motion. This tax needs to be scrapped.

Sheena WATT (Northern Metropolitan) (14:12): I rise to strongly oppose the Liberal Party motion. It is based on misinformation, it is based on scaremongering, and it risks leaving Victorians less safe in the face of floods, storms and bushfires. Those opposite have run a fear campaign. They call the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund a ‘household tax’, they say it punishes farmers and small businesses, they say it is unfair, but every part of their case falls apart when you look at the facts. Let me just say, from 1 July 2025 the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund replaces the fire services property levy. We did this because Victoria needs a modern funding model for the reality of the types of emergencies we experience today: fires that burn hotter, floods that hit harder, storms that tear through homes. This is not some new tax. It is a reform that makes sure our emergency services, like the CFA, VICSES, Fire Rescue Victoria, Triple Zero Victoria and Emergency Management Victoria, are properly funded. Every dollar goes straight back into life-saving gear, vehicles, training and community education. The Liberal Party know that, but instead of telling the truth, they spread lies to whip up anger. They try to confuse people into thinking this reform will hit the regions harder or that it unfairly targets farmers. Let me be clear: it does not.

One of the biggest lies we hear from those opposite is that regional Victorians are hit harder. Residential homes in the regions are charged the same as residential homes in metropolitan Melbourne. Businesses in country towns are charged the same as businesses in the suburbs. There is no difference. The facts are simple: 27 per cent of the levy is collected in the regions, 73 per cent in Melbourne. That reflects where the land value is and where the population is. The Liberals need to stop pretending that country people are being singled out, because they are not. They are claiming that we are punishing farmers – again, that is not true. Only around 10 per cent of the levy is raised from primary production land, and in 2025–26 there is no increase for primary producers. Why? Because we recognise the tough drought conditions Victorian farmers are facing. In fact many farmers, I need to say, are also CFA and SES volunteers, and for the first time in Australia those volunteers can apply for a rebate on their family home or farm. That means a farmer who is also a CFA volunteer will also pay less and in some cases will pay nothing under this levy. The Liberals like to show up for the photo op, but when it comes to action, they cut funding and they leave volunteers scrambling with outdated trucks and old gear. I reject this motion, and I urge those in this chamber to vote against it.

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (14:15): In closing, I absolutely commend this motion to the house. That was an outrageous rant by Ms Watt on the motion before the house. The reality is this emergency services levy disproportionately affects farmers and volunteers. That is the long and the short of it. I was amazed that Ms Terpstra stood up there and said that SES volunteers in her region allegedly asked for this tax. That is unbelievable.

I remember this clearly because it is seared into my mind. On the Tuesday of the sitting week that the emergency services levy came through, the intersection of Spring Street and Bourke Street was filled with emergency services volunteers and it was filled with farmers that were saying that they cannot take this tax. It was absolutely filled. This government says it listens to farmers, it listens to volunteers. What I want to say is: stop gaslighting. Stop gaslighting the opposition, stop gaslighting the crossbench that stood against this and stop gaslighting the people of Victoria who firmly stood and said no. That was not something that just ended on that Tuesday. By the way, this was something that the government did not have the numbers for. They had to kick it down the road – push it from the Tuesday to the Thursday – because there was a whole lot of opposition to this. It was not people playing politics, it was people standing for average Victorians that cannot afford another tax. Do you think we make up the stories about people that come into our offices and say this might force people off the land? Do you think we make up these stories? My gosh, I think it is time for you guys to get a grip.

There were a few things that I thought were particularly offensive in these speeches. One was when Ms Terpstra, who I mentioned before, said, ‘If you don’t want to pay the tax, just go and volunteer. Simple.’ Those were her words. The other thing was when she said that volunteers asked for this tax. That is completely at odds –

A member interjected.

Renee HEATH: It is a lie. It is completely at odds with what the volunteers that filled Spring Street and filled Bourke Street said in their thousands. It was amazing that apparently these people asked for more. You have rudely ignored protesters. You have rudely ignored farmers who feed the state in one of the worst droughts that this state has ever seen. Rather than giving them the help they need, you have loaded them up with another tax. I just do not know how you can take yourselves seriously. It is Labor being Labor. I found the behaviour in some of the speeches absolutely disgusting and appalling.

I am not ashamed to say that I stand with the thousands of farmers and I stand with the thousands of volunteer workers who have come to this place in desperation to ask that this tax be axed. The other thing is, if Ms Watt is serious in saying that this does not disproportionately affect farmers, why have you given farmers a one-year reprieve?

Sheena Watt interjected.

Renee HEATH: Because you recognise they are in drought? Just picking up that interjection. You recognise they are in drought. There is a drought, but even farmers in the areas that have got too much water – for instance, East Gippsland – are recipients of this one-year reprieve. It is because you know it does disproportionately affect farmers and it does disproportionately affect volunteers. You guys should be ashamed of yourselves for the stunts you have put on today. I commend this motion to the house.

Council divided on motion:

Ayes (17): Melina Bath, Jeff Bourman, Gaelle Broad, Georgie Crozier, David Davis, Moira Deeming, Renee Heath, Ann-Marie Hermans, David Limbrick, Wendy Lovell, Trung Luu, Bev McArthur, Joe McCracken, Nick McGowan, Evan Mulholland, Rikkie-Lee Tyrrell, Richard Welch

Noes (22): Ryan Batchelor, John Berger, Lizzie Blandthorn, Katherine Copsey, Enver Erdogan, Jacinta Ermacora, David Ettershank, Michael Galea, Anasina Gray-Barberio, Shaun Leane, Sarah Mansfield, Tom McIntosh, Rachel Payne, Aiv Puglielli, Georgie Purcell, Harriet Shing, Ingrid Stitt, Jaclyn Symes, Lee Tarlamis, Sonja Terpstra, Gayle Tierney, Sheena Watt

Motion negatived.