General News
23 May, 2025
Fire levy 'white hot anger'
The passage of the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Levy (ESVL) in Victorian Parliament last week will not be the end of the matter, if the response from thousands of farmers and CFA members on Tuesday morning in Melbourne was anything to go by.
Local farmers and CFA members from the Wimmera joined with compatriots from all across the state, with dozens of trucks descending on the steps at Spring St to let the government know they were just getting started in their opposition.
It wasn’t just the CFA appliance cabs that were full; several buses from different regions were organised, including one by local real estate agent, Wes Davidson; a full busload departed from Horsham at 6am sharp, well before the first signs of morning light.
Braving the freezing cold and with a motivation to make their voices heard, the stories from those onboard had a common theme that went beyond an ongoing generalised frustration with city-centric power.
Pimpinio farmer, Mark Plowright said the bus was full of “very, very angry people” who were feeling a deep level of betrayal from the government in terms of valuing the importance of rural communities and the economic prosperity that underpins them.
“A lot of us are volunteers with the CFA and we’re still getting penalised,” he said.
“Country people are peaceful – to get this many people wanting to go to Melbourne, you know you’ve pissed a lot of people off.”
A former CFA lieutenant – although at 62, he was “backing off a bit”, he estimated the new levy would cost him about $20,000 and said his first reaction when he heard about it was: “total bull….”.
“I just thought, typical city government milking the country again,” Mark said.
“I feel sorry for the dealerships and the small businesses because that money which would’ve been spent in Horsham, which is my main town – well, it just won’t be there, it’ll all be spent in Melbourne.
I suppose more little shops will shut in Horsham and Dimboola or wherever; it’s really criminal what’s happening.”
Taylors Lake farmer and 50-year CFA member, Ken Croser was also one of those prepared to make the early start and said he hadn’t yet worked out what the new tax would end up costing him for his 620 hectares.
“Too busy trying to sow a bit of crop,” he said. “(I) haven’t bothered yet to get the calculator and work it all out.”
But he said with other rate increases “we’ve had over the last three or four years”, the levy would “just be another impost on top” and its effect would be broadly felt.
“It’s not only farmers and communities – it’s everyone,” Ken said. “Everyone’s going to be affected by this.
“To me, it is just a mismanagement of money and trying to build too much infrastructure in Melbourne that they really could not afford. Someone is going to have to pay, but it’s unfair that the burden has been laid on country people, especially farm people.
“We can’t just sit and take it – we’ve been doing that for too long. My message is for all Victorians to stand up and not accept what is happening. We can overturn this if we all pull together.”
By the time the Horsham bus had battled CBD traffic and got to Spring St, the rally had already started and the scene in front of parliament was a sea of CFA uniforms and trucks in both directions and also heading west along Bourke St.
Estimates of the crowd size ranged from 5000 to 8000, but it could easily have been a larger number, with reports of V/Line service delays of up to 80 minutes on several lines hampering the ability of many to attend on time.
Several lampposts and terrace railings had uniforms thrown over them, echoing the statewide show of support for volunteers, and the messages to Premier Jacinta Allan on signs and written on trucks were as clear as they were impassioned and creative.
‘Scrap the tax’, ‘No Levy’, ‘Volunteering shouldn’t cost my family $87,000’,
‘No Farmers, No Food’, ‘Agriculture is not Your Cash Cow’, ‘Go Fight Your Own Fires, Jacinta’, and the very popular ‘How do you dismantle the CFA? Use an Allan Key!’
With Rupanyup farmer, Andrew Weidemann, and United Firefighters Union secretary, Peter Marshall running the rally and introducing other speakers such as Opposition Leader, Brad Battin, and Libertarian MP, David Limbrick, a common theme was the rejection of the government’s claim the ESVL was intended to fund better emergency services.
Mr Limbrick told the crowd, “Victorians pay enough tax already” and went on to ask them, “Do you feel like you get good value for money?” – which got a resounding “No!” in response.
“This government pisses away money on all sorts of waste,” he said, citing the $589 million cancellation of the Commonwealth Games as an example.
“And now, when they don’t have enough money, because they’ve pissed it away, they use the good name of volunteers, of firefighters to pay for more taxes.”
Mr Battin told the crowd the Coalition would reverse the decision if they were elected in late 2026.
“The Victorian Liberals will scrap that tax and hand that money back to Victorians,” he said.
Lowan MP, Emma Kealy, also attended and said her office had received 'white hot anger' in response to the ESVL.
"We had massive bushfires over the summer,” she said.
“A lot of people spent a lot of time on the back of fire trucks. They gave up their Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, Australia Day, New Year's Eve, and New Year's Day. They gave up their entire summer, and now they're facing really difficult seasonal conditions in so many areas.
“They were already struggling with the cost of living and the cost of doing business in Victoria, and then last Friday, the drought relief announcement provided no relief whatsoever – and then today, we've got a budget that's handing down a great big new tax.”
She said the protest wasn’t just about farmers and the CFA, the impact was for all Victorians, and “enough’s enough.”
Near the closure of the rally, Mr Weidemann said he hoped all Victorians – especially the local councils forced to collect the levy as part of rates notices – would unite in opposition.
“The other action that we have to take is we have to withhold the tax,” he said.
“The fire services levy component has to be withheld, and we have to stand with our shires side by side to prevent action on our shires.”
Mark Plowright said he was hoping for the government to see “common sense” and felt a sense of sadness for his sons when he considered what he wanted to leave for them. “We’re still getting the same for grain as what we did when I was 18,” he said. “I’ve got two boys, I want to start and (I’m thinking) ‘is there a future for them?’ – I’m starting to think there’s not.”
