Brumby crumbles to demands for Fire Service Levy changes

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has welcomed the decision by the Brumby Government to finally accept a major recommendation from the Bushfire Royal Commission to introduce a much fairer system of funding Victoria’s fire services.

“The Coalition has been advocating an equitable system of funding the fire and emergency services but Premier Brumby has long been in denial,” Mr Walsh said.

“The catalyst for his about-face has been the Bushfires Royal Commission and the upcoming State election.

“The Bushfire Royal Commission’s major recommendation to drop the Fire Services Levy on insurance policies on property and replace it with a charge on all property, with a concession for low-income earners, is a far more equitable system.

“The new system will be much fairer and echoes the long standing call by the Coalition, the Insurance industry, farming and other business groups,” he said.

“Premier Brumby has continually rejected this call stating that the current model was the best way to fund Victoria’s fire services even to the extent of stating in the Parliament in August 2009 that the Coalition policy for a property based levy was a poll tax, and he thought it was a disgraceful policy.

“The new model will replace the inequitable existing one where country businesses find that for every $100 of their insurance premium, they pay an additional $123 for the fire services levy, GST and stamp duty, more than doubling the cost of their insurance.

“This about-face is just another example of John Brumby adopting sensible Coalition Policy and demonstrates the disarray of the Labor Government and its own lack of real policy,” Mr Walsh said.

Media contact: Peter Walsh (03) 5032 3154