Protests pay off – but the new emergency service levy is still a concern for Gippsland farmers

Last Friday, the Victorian government announced it would temporarily pause impacting farmers with the proposed Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy.

The controversial levy proposal had triggered protests across Victoria, with thousands of farmers and firefighters protesting outside Victorian parliament in Melbourne.

There were protests across regional Victoria as well, including over 500 farmers and CFA firefighters protesting in Morwell.

At a meeting of the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) on Friday May 16 to discuss the new state levy, all 79 councils banded together to unanimously oppose the levy.

What is the new levy?

Under the current Fire Services Property Levy, primary production properties are levied at the highest rate, but under the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) farmers would have copped an even larger bill.

While the ESVF will be paused for primary producers for 12 months, it will still increase residential rates by about 35 percent and commercial rates by 70 percent.

Primary production properties would have faced a 150 percent increase, down from the initially proposed 189 percent. Primary producers might still cop this rate rise next year if the Victorian government decides to unpause the levy.

Facing backlash, the Victorian government announced it will cap the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund levy at the 2024/25 rate for all primary production properties across the state for the coming financial year.

What do farmers think?

The Gippsland Monitor spoke to Gippsland dairy farmers Steve Ronalds and David Johnson.

Steve is part owner of Gippsland Jersey and operates a dairy farm in Jindivick.

“I guess it gives us a 12 month reprieve,” he said. “I think it's encouraging that people spoke and the government listened. Because I don't think the government listens very well to people and they forget that we vote them in.

“To stand there and say; ‘no, our community is together on this, we are backing the people that we know are doing a bit tough’, is pretty special.

“I hope that people will realise that we've got a voice,” he said. “I think if they try to pull this next year, I think the numbers will be bigger than what they were this year.”

David Johnson was more sceptical about the impact the pause will have on farmer’s rates.

“I think it's all smoke and mirrors,” he said. “Most farms have got a primary producer levy, they've got residential zones or residential parts to their properties and in our case, we've also got an industrial one and they're all going up.

“I think there'll be a lot of people still out protesting against it because it's a nasty tax.”

Dave said the only hope he had for a rate reduction was if it became an issue in the Victorian state election next year.

What does the local government think?

South Gippsland Shire Mayor John Schelling told the Gippsland Monitor regional local governments would continue to oppose the levy.

“While it's a welcome relief for the agricultural farmers, we're still very sceptical about what's going to happen in the future,” said Schelling. 

“We’ll continue to advocate for them to scrap it all together, especially for the farmers, but we think it's an unfair levy even on the non-farming community.”