CFA protests explained: why farmers and firies are furious over the Emergency Services Levy

Australian Community Media

Victorian volunteer firefighters have taken to protests, gone offline and set uniforms alight in anger over a new tax that hits rural communities hardest. Here's why the protests matter and why it could spell the end of the CFA.

Transcript

00:00This is going to impact our region significantly with around $5.2 million extra ripped out of our

00:07local economy out of the hands of farmers. That's just the farming community.

00:11Volunteer firefighters across Victoria have taken a dramatic stand going offline and

00:16torching their uniforms to protest a new fire levy passed by the state government.

00:20With Jacinda Allen's new tax, there's 20 years of experience in the CFA getting burnt,

00:28never to be used ever again.

00:31More than 160 CFA brigades pulled their trucks from service after the emergency services and

00:36volunteers levy replaced the old fire services levy on the 16th of May.

00:41Yeah, we've come here to Melbourne today to protest because we've been stabbed in the back.

00:46The government has literally done a back clip on us and we're now paying to fight our own fires.

00:53They are just ripping off farmers left, right and centre and we can't afford it.

00:57We're in a drought situation. It's just an unfair tax that we've been put on a burden to all farmers.

01:03Oh look, it's just totally ridiculous really. It should be scrapped. We're the guys that put

01:08the fires out. We've got to pay a fire levy tax and they're increasing it to a ridiculous amount.

01:15And I think it proves today how many people are upset about it.

01:19The biggest backlash has come from farmers who say the new charges unfairly target them with

01:25bills in the tens of thousands for land they already defend themselves. The levy comes on top

01:30of existing rates and private insurance, prompting outrage in regional communities.

01:35The farmers are the back bait. The people are leaving the shops. The people who run the supermarkets

01:40and the butchers, the scurls, the bus drivers, they are the backbone of the rural community.

01:46Volunteer CFA, a very large percentage are farmers and farmers are hit with the highest rate increase

01:53of tax. That tax will be felt by everybody because they'll have to put their prices up.

02:00These members put their heart and soul on many, many hours for free and there's no remuneration at all.

02:07Here's why this matters. In much of country Victoria, CFA volunteers are the front line when disaster

02:14strikes. If they quit, entire communities are left exposed. In some towns, every CFA truck has gone

02:20offline. Fieries say they are not walking away lightly. They feel abandoned after years of unpaid

02:26service. Their message is simple. Rural volunteers are not cash cows.

02:31This tax is to hurt those who are already hurt. It's to hurt those who contribute most to our

02:37economy, to our livelihoods, to look after our land. This is just an evil tax that needs

02:42to just be knocked on the head by today. We fight. We keep going. We do not forgive

02:47the cause. Cheers for the farmers! Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray! Hip hip! Hooray!

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