Tuesday, 9 December 2025

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (13:21): We know that an election is on the horizon when Labor tries to fool Victorians by playing cheap tricks to fiddle the books. The government recently decided to delay big increases to Labor’s big new emergency services tax until after the state election. The Premier must be feeling desperate if she thinks she can trick Victorians by briefly pausing the emergency services tax, only to whack the tax back on if she returns to government. The cynicism on display here is astounding, but it is what we have come to expect from the Allan Labor government. This is an egregious tax. It was always a bad tax. It should never have been implemented, and it remains a bad tax. Delaying it will not change that. When the increased tax rates come back, as they surely will, it will cripple farmers who will be forced to contribute three times more than they paid under the old fire services levy.

This tax will not just hit farmers or the wealthy. It will hit every Victorian, including the poorest, because it will pass through to the price of groceries in the supermarket and it will pass through to renters when their rent goes up. A delay is not good enough; this tax needs to be abolished, but the Premier is ignoring the protests, ignoring farmers and ignoring emergency services volunteers. However, the Liberals are listening and we hear the voices of Victorians loud and clear. The Liberals have committed to scrapping the emergency services tax if we are elected to government and returning to the previous fire services levy – (Time expired)