“A one-size-fits-all approach clearly doesn’t work when you’ve got some farmers facing a hike of up to 400 per cent,” he said.
“There’s no way a rise of that much can be justified. Instead of placing a blanket levy on all property owners, the government should consider a more targeted approach that ensures the funds are distributed where they’re needed most.”
At least one western Victorian farmer has reported a levy increase from $7000 to $20,000 every year.
Liberal Member of Parliament Nick McGowan said Fire Rescue Victoria’s lack of rolling stock and ageing fleet was putting people’s – and firefighters’ – lives at risk.
“Forty-two per cent of Fire Rescue Victoria’s fleet is beyond its 15-year service life,” he said.
“Firefighters have been warning for years that FRV is under-resourced and under-funded.”
Mr McGowan said a number of trucks broke down during the summer’s fires, including those at the Grampians and Little Desert national parks, with about 30 trucks offline and without replacements at the end of February.
“I ask the Treasurer and the former Minister for Emergency Services to fund and resource the FRV fleet to meet Victoria’s needs now and well into the future, including the CFA,” he said.
Funding budgets
Currently, the levy contributes 87.5 per cent of Fire Rescue Victoria’s, and 77.5 per cent of the Country Fire Authority’s, annual budget.
The new fund will contribute up to 87.5 per cent of FRV’s budget, and up to 95 per cent of several other emergency response budgets.
Variable rates will be higher under the fund than the levy to account for the fund’s larger scope, and will continue to be collected by local councils through the rates system.
Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria chief executive Adam Barnett said the $10-million fleet budget boost was overshadowed by the announcement that it came at a cost of a new emergency service tax hike that would, in some cases, triple the cost to residents and property owners.
“The fact that the extra is such a huge boost tells you how little recurrent funding actually gets given to CFA for fleet and capital works each year,” he said.
“At present, only $12 to $15-million in any given year is allocated to fleet.
“CFA manages more than 2300 vehicles – 1707 of these are tankers, and 218 are pumpers, and this does not include the hundreds of slip-ons.
“If we assume a very basic formula of aiming to maintain a maximum age of 20 years for tankers, and 15 years for pumpers – simple math tells us that CFA needs at least $55-million per year to replace 100 trucks per year.
“Boosting the CFA fleet budget to at best $25-million per year, is still less than half of what is needed to stop the fleet getting older.”
Mr Barnett said more than 230 trucks were more than 31 years old – the oldest is 35 – with 244 aged between 26 and 30 years, and 269 aged between 21 and 25 years.
“This group is being chased by another 372 trucks that are aged between 16 and 20. This is a total of 1115 trucks that need replacing,” he said.
“This is a problem at least three decades in the making.
“VFBV campaigned in 2014 when CFA was forced to remove its maximum 20-year age limit that had been in place, but to which they could no longer afford.”
The entire March 5, 2025 edition of The Weekly Advertiser is available online. READ IT HERE!
