Media Releases

Member for Rodney Paul Weller has encouraged residents to have their say about the proposed new Fire Services Levy during a second stage of public consultation.

The Victorian Coalition Government is implementing the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission recommendation that the State replace the Fire Services Levy with a property-based levy and introduce concessions for low-income earners.

Mr Weller encouraged all interested community members to read the consultation paper and attend a forum to contribute their thoughts on the final design and implementation of the new levy.

“More than 100 written submissions have already been received and the government is now holding community forums to give members of the community a chance to discuss the consultation paper options and provide their feedback directly,” he said.

“The new levy will ensure all Victorian property owners pay a fair contribution for fire services, and that fire services continue to operate with sufficient resources.”

Community forums will be held in Shepparton on 31 October at 6pm at the Quality Hotel Parklake, 481 Wyndham Street, and in Bendigo on 16 November at 6pm at the RL Campbell Theatrette, Bendigo Library, 259 Hargreaves Street.

The period for written submissions closed on 30 September 2011.

Mr Weller said the Coalition Government intended to introduce the new legislation in early 2012.

He said there would be a transition period that would commence on 1 July 2012 to allow insurers to phase out the existing insurance-based levy prior to full implementation from 1 July 2013.

Further information about the Fire Services Levy is available online at www.dtf.vic.gov.au.

Nationals Member for Rodney Paul Weller has encouraged residents to enter the 2011 Fire Awareness Awards.

The awards recognise the hard work of individuals, groups and organisations in fire projects across Victoria and provide an important opportunity for people to share their contribution, expertise and experience.

Mr Weller said the awards were open to anyone involved in projects that aimed to reduce the frequency, severity or impact of fires anywhere in Victoria.

He said projects could cover any fire type, including home and building fires and bushfires.

“Eight of the 15 award categories are community-based awards, including categories such as Recovery, Community Preparedness, Aged/Disability and Volunteer,” he said.

“In addition to the awards, there are financial grants available to further develop fire safety projects or ideas, including a $10,000 RACV Insurance Fire Innovation grant and $2,000 Special Incentive grants.”

Mr Weller said to be eligible, projects should focus on fire safety, awareness, prevention, response or recovery.

Entries close at 4pm on Friday September 30, 2011.

Winners of the Fire Awareness Awards and the grants would be announced at the awards ceremony on December 1, 2011 at the RACV Club in Melbourne.

To enter or find out more, visit: www.fireawarenessawards.com.au or phone 9412 4465.

The Nationals Member for Rodney Paul Weller has encouraged residents to make a submission on the new fire services funding model for Victoria.

A community consultation paper for the design and implementation of a fairer, more equitable system to fund fire services was released last week.

Mr Weller said the consultation was the first step in introducing a significant and long-overdue reform to ensure Victoria’s fire services were appropriately funded.

He said the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission recommended that ‘the State replace the Fire Services Levy with a property-based levy and introduce concessions for low-income earners’.

“The Coalition Government has adopted all Bushfires Royal Commission recommendations and will introduce a new levy that ensures all Victorian property owners pay a fair contribution to the state’s fire services, while ensuring Victoria’s fire services continue to operate with sufficient resources.

“I encourage people to read the consultation paper and make a submission to inform the final design and implementation for the new FSL.”

Mr Weller said the Fire Services Levy (FSL) should have been scrapped by the former Labor Government years ago.

“Until just prior to the election, Labor refused to listen to the concerns of Victorians call =ing for the FSL to be abandoned.

“All Victorians understand the need to have well-funded fire fighting services and the release of this consultation paper is an important step in implementing this new approach.”

Mr Weller said the consultation paper outlines out the Coalition Government’s proposal to replace the current funding model with a new property-based fire services levy.

“The Government intends to introduce legislation in early 2012,” he said.

“There will be a transition period that will commence on July 1, 2012 to allow insurers to phase out the FSL prior to full implantation from July 1, 2013.”

The consultation paper is available at www.dtf.vic.gov.au and submissions close on September 30.

People living in or near bushfire-prone areas of the Rodney electorate will feel safer under a Coalition Government prescribed burning program, Nationals Member for Rodney, Paul Weller, said this week.

 

Mr Weller said the Coalition had a plan to ensure that bushfire prevention became a year-round role of government, tripling current prescribed burn levels and restoring common-sense to native vegetation requirements.

 

“This is great news for people living in or around the Gunbower and Barmah forests areas. I have recently had concerns expressed by constituents about the lack of burn-offs, and the threat that over-grown forest floors will pose this coming summer,” he said.

 

Mr Weller said if elected to government next Saturday, the Coalition would undertake to meet the Bushfire Royal Commission’s recommendations for prescribed burning and had committed $403m to initially double then triple fuel reduction burning on public land.

 

“In line with the commission’s recommendations, we will identify 390 000 hectares as a rolling target and will ensure that any annual shortfalls are made up in subsequent years. We will also be providing certainty to those who own property adjoining public land by implementing a clear and consistent bushfire fencing policy,” Mr Weller said.

 

Mr Weller said the Coalition would also overhaul native vegetations requirements to ensure a better balance between the need to mitigate fire risk and the conservation of native vegetation.

 

“What we will be doing is applying simple, common-sense approaches and solutions to bushfire prevention. We will be taking notice of what the communities in fire prone areas are telling us and we will be following closely the recommendations of the royal commission.

 

“It will provide safety and certainty for people living in these areas, and also the many people who visit forest areas along the rivers for holidays. It will certainly provide a sharp change from the current government’s sit on your hands approach to bushfire prevention management,” Mr Weller said.

The Brumby Government has finally listened to common-sense on the issue of introducing a fairer system of funding Victoria’s fire services, Nationals Member for Rodney, Paul Weller, said this week.

 

Mr Weller welcomed the indication by the government that it would agree to a recommendation from the Bushfire Royal Commission to drop the contentious fire insurance levy on insurance policies on properties and replace it with a charge on all property.

 

“There is no doubt that this is a much fairer system, and it is precisely what the Coalition has been pushing for a long period of time.

 

“Premier Brumby and his government, more through obstinancy than anything else, have been opposed to the change, but have been embarrassed into acting because of the commission’s findings,” he said.

 

Mr Weller said the new system, which would incorporate a concession for low-income earners, would be far more equitable in terms of spreading the cost.

 

“The policy echoes what we have been saying and what the insurance industry, farming and other business groups have been calling for. It has just taken a very long time for the government to get the message.

 

“The Premier has continually rejected the call for change over recent years, and in fact even described the proposal as a disgraceful policy.

 

“Now suddenly, he wants to embrace it.

 

“While we welcome the back-flip, it is just another example of the disarray that the government is currently in, and highlights its inability to come up with sensible policy.

 

“As has been the case on a most issues, the Coalition continues to put up sensible, well thought-out and community based policies, and the government eventually follows along,” Mr Weller said.

 

He said that it had been estimated that 30 per cent of the properties destroyed in the disastrous 2009 bushfires had not been insured.

“This has meant that fire services do not recover costs from these non-insured properties, despite having the power to do so.

 

“It was a patently ridiculous situation, which the bushfire commissioners have quickly recognised and acted on. It has finally prompted the government to recognise the foolishness and futility of its opposition to our proposal, and to at last take some action,” Mr Weller said.

 

Nationals Member for Rodney Paul Weller spoke in Parliament on the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission recommendations on Tuesday 10 August and said that the Government must act now.

 

Mr Weller began his address by acknowledging the three commissioners, Bernard Teague (chairman), Ronald McLeod and Susan Pascoe who wrote the resulting report. Mr Weller thanked them for their outstanding work, the detail in the report and the obvious depth of personal feeling with which the report was written.

 

Mr Weller then went on to acknowledge the loss of life and property destruction caused by last years bushfires on what will forever be known as the Black Saturday Bushfires of February 7 2009. He also thanked the emergency services who worked so hard on Black Saturday.

 

The report praised the work of farmers who used their own equipment to help protect their property and that of others. The report stated that “Private farm units are usually not formally organised but operate in support of the CFA. They often arrive at fires before the CFA because they are responding from nearby farms. They are an integral element of the fire response….”

 

Mr Weller told parliament that it was now time to act on the recommendations arising from the Royal Commission which highlighted several glaring deficiencies. In particular, the lack of effective communication equipment needs to be rectified.

 

The commissoners were clear in pointing out that the governments defence that the fires were unprecedented was not the case and that reports written after previous fires contained recommendations that were virtually ignored.

 

In particular, the burning off programs needed to be at least three times their previous level, but the government, even on it’s own figures, did not achieve half that level, putting lives and properties in Victoria at risk.

 

There was also a recommendation that the state replace the fire services levy with a property-based levy and introduce concessions for low income earners.

 

Mr Weller said that “The current fire services levy has burdened homeowners and businesses, particularly in country Victoria, with an unfair and inequitable tax. For every $1.00 you pay in fire insurance you pay another $1.24 in taxes. It is a disincentive to insuring.”

 

“In government, the Coalition would implement a fairer, more equitable system for funding fire services.”