Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:33): I rise to speak on petition number 658, tabled by my colleague Mr McCracken on 14 October. There is to be a full debate on this petition following statements on tabled papers and petitions, and I sincerely apologise to Mr McCracken that I am speaking before him, but I could not get on the list for that debate, so my way to contribute tonight is to speak on the petition as a tabled document. Petition 658 calls for the government to immediately cease the introduction of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund, ensure the current fire services property levy remains in place for the foreseeable future, and commit to a genuine consultation process, which includes CFA and SES volunteers, farmers, emergency services workers and other interested parties, to develop a fairer way of funding Victorian emergency services.

I want to start by congratulating Mr McCracken and every Victorian who signed this petition, because with its 43,748 signatures it is officially the largest petition ever tabled in the history of this Parliament. The fact that it is the largest petition ever tabled is reflective of the amount of anger the Victorian community has with the Allan Labor government about this big, fat new tax. This tax will cripple farmers, who will be asked to contribute more than three times the tax they were paying under the old fire services levy. This is particularly insulting given that many farmers are also the volunteers who fight the fires in their local communities and protect our state during the summer bushfire season. But the tax is not just a country tax, this tax is levied on every single property in Victoria, so even city residents are now paying far more than they were 12 months ago. The cruellest aspect of this tax is that the government chose to call it a volunteers fund, using the goodwill all Victorians have towards our dedicated volunteers in the CFA, SES and the Shepparton and Echuca–Moama search and rescue squads to try and gain support for what is just another Labor tax. The volunteers are devastated that they have been used in this way, and it has also driven resentment amongst some Victorians, because they think they are being hit by a massive tax increase to give more money to volunteers. One CFA volunteer even told me that his neighbour had said to him, ‘It’s your fault that I’ll have to pay this tax.’

Another cruel aspect of the tax is the vast majority of it will go to propping up activities that have traditionally been funded from consolidated revenue – things like Triple Zero Victoria, the office of the emergency management commissioner and departmental activities. This is wrong because it is a straight cost shift from consolidated revenue to a tax on Victorians. There is no offset from consolidated revenue to make up for the extra tax that Victorians are asked to pay – no discount on your land tax, car registration or stamp duty et cetera. That money that consolidated revenue used to contribute to pay for these activities will just be used to prop up Labor’s ailing bottom line and budget blowouts. This is a desperate grab for cash by a desperate and tired Labor government that has run out of money and ideas. It is time for them to go.

I want to congratulate the many Victorians who have joined the protest against this tax. It is not just the 43,748 people who signed this petition that oppose it. There have been multiple protests throughout the state, including at least three protests held at the front of this building on the steps of Parliament. These protests attracted hundreds of fire trucks and other emergency services vehicles and tens of thousands of Victorians, who travelled from all parts of our state to send a message to the Premier and her government that this tax is a step too far. In the Premier’s own electorate of Bendigo East, which is also in the Treasurer’s electorate, Victorians have gathered three times outside the Premier’s electorate office; once at the Capitol Theatre in View Street, where they were also joined by Victorians opposed to the Allan government’s renewable rollout and mineral mining on private land; and at the big rally at Weeroona Oval, where thousands gathered to protest against the tax. Other protests have taken place in Werribee, Camperdown and other regional cities. I congratulate the organisers of these rallies for conducting rallies that have been peaceful and respectful but have also sent a very strong message to the Labor government.

It is also interesting that this tax has united some unusual allies. It is quite common for the volunteers of the CFA and SES, the Victorian Farmers Federation and the Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria, the Liberal Party and the Nationals to be united on an issue, but it is unusual for them to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United Firefighters Union of Australia against the Labor government. On this issue these groups have also been joined by FRV, which has united the two fire services in a way some never thought possible. But that is not the full extent of the organisations standing against Labor’s big new tax. Standing in solidarity with these groups are local government peak organisations – the Municipal Association of Victoria, Regional Cities Victoria and Regional Councils Victoria – as well as all 79 LGAs. The fact that this tax has united so many groups demonstrates just how bad this tax is.