Media statement: Strong ESVF advocacy continues

Published on 21 May 2025

Pyrenees_Shire_Rural_Scene_0069.jpg

Pyrenees Shire Council is still strongly advocating against the unfair and inequitable Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund.

Today I joined with eight other Mayors to call for the Victorian Government to:

  1. Reassess the funding model to ensure fairness for rural communities.
  2. Assure us that revenue would be spent in the communities where it was raised.
  3. Shift levy collection responsibilities to the Victorian Government.
  4. Compensate councils if they must continue administering the levy.
  5. Improve communication on the levy’s purpose and use.

We will also work with the Municipal Association of Victoria to advocate for wholesale changes to the current ESVF.

We, as a Council, are very concerned about our communities, particularly our farmers, who will be hit very hard by this tax during a cost-of-living crisis and one of the worst droughts on record.

In this region, the ESVF is forecast to cause a rate increase of over 180% for our primary producers, which will equate to thousands of dollars.

And some household rates will rise by 100% at a time when people are struggling to pay bills or put food on the table.

We want our residents to know Pyrenees Shire Council stands beside them in the fight against this tax that has united people from all walks of life in a massive groundswell of opposition.

We also want to help our residents find the support they may need in the days, weeks and months ahead, so we have listed some contact details for relevant agencies below.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out for help at this very tough time. The mental and financial health of our residents is foremost in our minds at the moment.

We intend to keep fighting for our residents, for a fairer and more equitable way to finance our emergency services and volunteers, and for an end to this unfair discrimination of rural communities.

  • Mayor Cr Tanya Kehoe

 

Helplines:

Rural Financial Counselling Service Victoria 1300 735 578

National Centre for Farmer Health 5551 8533

Lifeline 13 11 14

Beyondblue 1300 224 636

 

 

Tagged as:
Back to top