Emergency service volunteers and their vehicles have swarmed Geelong’s streets to oppose the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) levy.
Hundreds of Country Fire Authority (CFA) and Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) volunteers and close to 20 vehicles consisting of firetrucks CFA cars protested in front of the offices of Geelong’s MPs on Tuesday, May 20.
Connewarre Fire Brigade First Lieutenant Phil Stewart said the protest was not against the CFA but rather the state government as many people couldn’t afford to pay the new levy, which passed in state parliament on May 16.
“We (CFA volunteers) do this for free, but we’re getting slugged as well,” he said.
“The time has come for people to start saying enough. Because you got a lot more land, you’re paying a lot more for it, so it doesn’t seem equitable, particularly in a drought where people are struggling the whole time.
“We need to start standing up to a government that keeps spending money and just thinks someone else is going to pay for it and enough is enough; farmers can’t afford it.”
FRV Western District 3 commander Mark Sinkinson said the state government should not “tax those that are doing the job”.
“We need to let the government know that there’s got to be another way to do this. The emergency services need funding, and we need it critically,” he said.
“What everyone’s paying, particularly the guys and girls that are on the trucks here out in the bush, are paying a lot more in their emergency service levy and that’s not right.”
City of Greater Geelong councillor Trent Sullivan said primary producers would be charged $2521 through the new levy, with some farmers facing bills as high as $40,000.
“That’s the state government pushing it down onto councils to collect this for them because they don’t want to do it themselves,” he said.
“The fact that the state government has put forth this levy that is hitting those in the hardest positions right now in a cost-of-living crisis is an absolute crime.
“We have farmers out there who are on the verge of going broke. Businesses in Geelong will see their levy go up by about $500 per business and every single resident across the state will be paying more.”
Member for Western Victoria Gayle Tierney said she understood concerns raised through the new levy but that it was needed to help battle emergency events facing the region.
“There has been a reaction, and I understand that there are a number of events that have been organised and people have the right to have their voices promulgated,” she said.
“The key to all of this is that we need to have more resources to deal with issues that confront our communities, whether it be fires, bushfires, flooding, or high windstorms.
“I just hope that we have the fortitude in all of us to make sure that we do have the resources that we need right across the state to combat the climate change events that face our communities.”
