Newsletter: Do we pay firefighters enough?

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

• SATURDAY, 24/01/26 | Cosmic Psychos

• DEC. 1 - JAN. 31 | Big Summer Read

• JAN. 1 - JAN. 31 | Australian Near and Far Art Exhibition at The Hub

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

• SATURDAY, 24/01/26 | Lions Traralgon Farmers Market

• SATURDAY, 24/01/26 | Yarragon Craft and Produce Market

• SUNDAY, 25/01/26 | Bairnsdale Howitt Park Market

• SUNDAY, 25/01/26 | Inverloch Lions Community Market

• SUNDAY, 25/01/26 | Kongwak Market

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

🏥 More than 40 percent of Victorian GPs bulk bill, but at what cost?

Victorians are now twice as likely to find a bulk billing GP compared to last year, according to the newest annual report from online healthcare directory Cleanbill. 

But as GP clinics struggle to balance their bottom lines, is enough being done to ensure a high quality of care?

What is “bulk billing”? Bulk billing is a service provided by some GP clinics where all charges are put through Medicare, which reduces the out-of-pocket payment required from the person attending the GP clinic.

More free visits: Published on Monday, Cleanbill’s fourth annual Blue Report highlighted that 701 – or 43.6 percent – of Victorian GP clinics said they offered bulk billing to all clients – more than double of last year’s figure of 302.

How we got here: Launching in 2022, Cleanbill is an independent healthcare directory. Its work involves researchers phoning and surveying every GP clinic in the country on their billing practices. The latest “Blue Report” covers the period from November 1 to mid-December.

Are federal incentives enough? In November, the Federal Government introduced subsidies for clinics that bulk bill every patient.

Bulk billing clinics are eligible to earn an extra 12.5 percent on the current Medicare rebate paid by the government, while clinics in more remote locations receive more – up to about 190% of the Medicare subsidy received by metropolitan GP clinics.

Long term uptake: Cleanbill founder and chief executive, James Gillespie, said it was uncertain how many would continue to use the new incentives in the long term.

🗣️“Often, clinics would advise us that…they're only doing it for six to 12 months to determine what the effect will be on their bottom line and they may yet switch back if the effect isn't what they want to see,” Gillespie told the Eastern Melburnian.

Read the full story here.

🚒 CFA has 792 out-of-date tankers, despite four years of funding increases

In the wake of the catastrophic bushfires that rolled through Victoria in early January, burning through more than 410,000 hectares and damaging almost 900 structures, the festering dispute between the CFA and the state government has been revived.

According to the United Firefighters Union of Victoria there are 792 out-of-date CFA tankers that are unsafe and should be off the road, including 230 tankers more than 31 years old.

What happened: The Country Fire Authority’s (CFA) 2024-2025 annual report released on Tuesday morning shows it received $361.3 million in state government funding last financial year, the most it had received in the last five years.

Politicians disagree on CFA funding

• Prior to the release of the report, opposition leader Jess Wilson said in a statement: "The Premier needs to show up, apologise to our CFA volunteers and explain why she isn't being honest with them about Labor's lack of support and mismanagement of the CFA over recent years.”

• Premier Jacinta Allan has been adamant state funding of the CFA has not decreased under her watch. Allan told a press conference: “There has been no cut to funding for the CFA, it has only increased year-on-year … to say otherwise is false.”

So what does the report say?

Read the full story here.

LOOKING NATIONALLY 👀

My colleagues Zara Cuthbertson from the West Vic Brolga and Archie Milligan from the National Account put this video together explaining the devastating impact severe flooding has had along the Great Ocean Road in Western Victoria.

I was really shocked to see the number of cars that were inundated with water in the video. Zara explained that because this flooding has occurred at the peak of school holidays, more people have been caught up in the disaster.