Fire Services Property Amendment (Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund) Bill 2025

15th of May, 2025
Parliament of Victoria | Legislative Council

David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan Region) incorporated into hansard:

I rise to make a brief contribution to the Fire Services Property Amendment (Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund) Bill 2025.

We are having yet another winter of unseasonably warm weather, predicted to be the warmest on record – off the back of our two previous warmest winters from last year and the year before. I’m not even sure if we can even keep describing these bizarre record-breaking temperatures as ‘unseasonable’. Climate change is making the word obsolete.

In this Parliament we have had two inquiries that have investigated the impacts of climate change: the inquiry into the 2022 flood event in Victoria – the report of which was tabled last year – and the inquiry into climate resilience, which is currently ongoing.

A key finding of the flood inquiry was that:

… the Victoria State Emergency Service is responding to an increasing number of events over time. Given the link between climate change and increased extreme weather events, this trend will continue.

And we are currently seeing the sort of persistent dry conditions across Victoria, particularly in the south-west, which lead to a greater risk of major bushfires.

The inquiry also found that:

Despite increased funding over time, the Victoria State Emergency Service lacks the appropriate resources to prepare and respond effectively to major emergencies such as flood events.

The flood inquiry recommended increased funding to bolster the state’s capacity to manage and respond to emergencies effectively.

Both inquiries made clear that we are under-resourced to meet the challenges of climate change – to staff our emergency response agencies, to upgrade and maintain equipment, to train our emergency services workers and volunteers.

Adapting to climate change – maintaining the resources needed to keep Victorians safe in the face of increasing natural disasters – is going to require funding, and it is no longer something we can kick down the road.

The bill before us replaces the Fire Services Property Levy, introduced in 2012, with the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy.

The ESVF will guarantee funding of 95 per cent of the annual budgets for the SES, Triple Zero Victoria, Emergency Management Victoria and Forest Fire Management Victoria. It will also provide $250 million in additional support for CFA and SES volunteers.

In the lead up to this debate, we received advocacy from our members, from our constituents and from people all over the state, expressing their objections to this bill. We have met with farmers, with unions and with members of the CFA and the SES and have listened to their concerns.

I will say we had broad misgivings about the levy and the increased financial burden it places on regional Victorians.

We draw some comfort from the house amendments the government has moved, which address some of the concerns of stakeholders.

These amendments clarify how the funding is distributed and used and specifically state that levy funds may only be used for emergency services purposes.

They clarify what funding the Department of Justice and Community Safety Victoria and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action will receive and where it will be allocated. And they require annual reporting of the fund’s expenditure.

Changes to the levy will result in a reduction on the levy farmers pay from the initial government proposal and a consequential increase in the levy paid by people living in metropolitan Melbourne.

To further support farmers, the government is finalising a package of drought assistance, which kicks in after the current one expires on 30 June.

Following consultation with local councils, the government has simplified the administration of the fund for councils. Councils will not be required to manage the rebate for volunteers, and there will be support for councils in transitioning from the Fire Services Property Levy to the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy.

We are particularly pleased to see that a previous provision that might have resulted in council funding being reduced in situations where levy funds had not been fully collected has been removed.

There is also a commitment of $10 million per year over the forward estimates to fund a rolling truck fleet program for Fire Rescue Victoria, which matches the commitment made to CFA.

Look, we know that many, many Victorians are at the pointy end of the cost-of-living crisis, particularly in our regions. The very last thing anyone wants is a new tax.

But as climate change continues to bite, we will continue to experience more fires, floods and devastating storms, and we must have a sustainable framework for funding our emergency services into the future. This is a good start, but obviously much more needs to be done in the coming years.

We need to fund our emergency services, and, for that reason, Legalise Cannabis will support this bill.

As I said before, this is not something we can continue to kick down the road.

[Council divided on bill]

[Bill passed 22 – 18]