Firefighters, farmers in 11th-hour bid to scuttle levy

Under the tax change, households across the state are expected to pay an extra $63 a year on average and farmers an extra $678 a year.

The levy is forecast to raise an extra $765 million a year by 2027/28 to fund more agencies including the State Emergency Service, Triple Zero Victoria and Emergency Recovery Victoria.

With the legislation scheduled for debate this week, CFA volunteers and farmers were among several hundred people to rally outside Victoria’s parliament on Tuesday.

They chanted “scrap the tax” in front of fire trucks and held signs with slogans such as “no farms, no food, no future” and “burn the levy, not our wallets”.

A speaker said Premier Jacinta Allan and Treasurer Jaclyn Symes were invited but did not show up, while another said his annual levy bill was going to rise up to 189 per cent as a farmer.

“We’ve got to ... make Jacinta and Jaclyn uncomfortable,” he said.

“The next election is one and a half years away. They are on the skids. This is wrong.”

South Australia has offered drought-affected farmers receiving federal assistance a rebate for its 2025/26 emergency services levy.

In Victoria, only CFA volunteers have been told they can access a rebate.

Ms Symes, who will hand down her first budget on May 20, hinted relief was in the offing for drought-hit farmers when asked if she would follow South Australia’s lead.

“I live in regional Victoria. I’m talking to these farmers every day,” she said in the upper house.

“When it comes to support for farmers, there will be more to say in coming days.”

Ms Allan said the levy was being expanded for the exact same reason farmers were struggling: climate change.

“As a government, we’re acknowledging that change,” she told reporters.

“We’re acknowledging that increased pressure on farmers, pressure on country communities and pressure on our emergency services to respond to this changed environment.”