Victoria's ESVF Levy: The Ultimate Insult to Farmers and Volunteers – A Truly Terrible Law, By James Reed
The air in rural Victoria isn't just carrying the scent of recent rains or dry dust anymore. It's thick with outrage. Because come July 1, 2025, Victoria's new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) levy isn't just going to hit wallets, it's going to hit us like a freight train, and it's leaving a trail of disbelief and fury in its wake.
This isn't just "one more levy." This is a profound misstep by the Victorian Government, a law so fundamentally flawed and unfair that it has united countless groups in widespread protest. Why? Let's just say it feels like a slap in the face to the very communities who often are our emergency services.
Let's talk numbers, because that's where the real pain hits. While residential properties are facing an almost doubling of their variable charge, and commercial/industrial rates are soaring, it's our farmers and rural communities who are getting absolutely hammered. We're talking a staggering 150% increase for primary producers! This isn't a tweak; it's a financial ambush.
Imagine going from paying a few thousand dollars a year to potentially tens of thousands, overnight. That's the reality for some farming families already battling the cost-of-living crisis, unpredictable weather, and rising input costs. It's an unconscionable burden placed squarely on the shoulders of those who feed our state and nation.
Here's the truly galling part: many of the very people being crippled by this new levy are the same selfless individuals who volunteer their time, their effort, and often their own resources to protect our communities. Think about the Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteers, the SES members, they are the backbone of rural emergency response.
To then turn around and hit them with a disproportionate tax increase that funds the very services they already volunteer for is beyond ironic. It's an insult. It feels like the government is shaking down its most dedicated citizens for a "thank you" they never asked for.
Where was the public consultation? Where were the conversations with the farmers, the rural groups, the local councils who will bear the brunt of this? The answer, according to the widespread protests, is: nowhere. Unlike the 2013 introduction of the original Fire Services Levy, this new ESVF Bill was seemingly rammed through with deafening silence from the community.
This lack of transparency and genuine engagement fuels the accusation that this isn't thoughtful reform; it's simply a desperate "cash grab." With projections of an extra $2 billion pouring into state coffers, people are rightly asking: Is this really about better services, or about patching up a budget with someone else's hard-earned money?
The new levy expands funding beyond just FRV and CFA to include entities like Triple Zero Victoria and Emergency Recovery Victoria. While these services are vital, many question why property owners should be solely responsible for funding what should arguably be general government responsibilities. There's a growing suspicion that the increased costs are more about bureaucratic bloat and the aftermath of controversial amalgamations than directly bolstering frontline emergency response in the regions that actually need it.
And let's not forget the local councils, who are now unwillingly forced to act as the State Government's tax collectors, fielding the anger of ratepayers while seeing none of the revenue stay in their communities.
The government's offer of offsets for volunteers? It's widely seen as a token gesture. For a farmer with multiple properties, or where the home isn't the primary source of the levy, a small rebate on one residence does little to offset the crippling increases across vast landholdings. It's an attempt to placate, but it utterly fails to address the systemic unfairness.
The sheer volume of protest, from farmer federations to local councils and volunteer organisations, should be a screaming siren for the Victorian Government. This ESVF levy is not just unpopular; it's seen as unjust, inequitable, and a betrayal of the rural communities that form the heart of our state.
It's time for the government to listen to the people who are actually on the ground, protecting lives and livelihoods. This "terrible law" needs a serious rethink, or the outrage will continue to escalate long past July 1, 2025. Our farmers and volunteers deserve respect, not this crushing financial burden.
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