Emergency services tax spectre far from buried, writes Chris Earl
GOOD spring rains can be guaranteed to put a smile on the faces of local farmers.
The threat of drought, for now very much eased and crops surveyed from highways and tracks in the district showing signs of a potentially good harvest.
How different from only three or four months ago, when the Loddon was taken right to the line for the “break” in the weather to arrive.
Still, fodder supplies were heavily depleted and our primary producers forced to dip into, for some, almost non-existent cash reserves to buy in hay and grain to keep livestock in a condition that they would flourish when the weather turned.
Those dry conditions were eventually recognised by the State Government and drought assistance was made available to all of Victoria in varying degrees, depending on the severity of conditions.
Premier Jacinta Allan used that parched landscape as the reason to grant farmers a temporary 12-month reprieve from her government’s new emergency services tax. A tax that whacks primary producers with a 150 per cent hike compared with the former fire services levy.
It is now in the history books that Premier Allan has failed to quell the anger, annoyance and frustration of rural people who feel they have been singled out to  bail out the Government increasingly drowning in a ballooning debt.
The Premier herself has refused to make any further concessions to the 12-month reprieve for farmers - and remember, it is only for farmers who own agricultural property in their name, not eligible for any form of exemption or reprieve if the farm is in a company or trust.
By this time next year, and then only three months out from a state election, farmers could be receiving their next council rate notice with a steep jump in the bottom line.
The Government has compelled councils to collect this tax. It’s law.
And the anger of farmers, volunteer firefighters many are, shows now sign of subsiding.
The annual Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria survey just released had responses from more than 2000 CFA volunteers. Six out of seven survey themes showed a drop in volunteer satisfaction with the Government. 
Drops were recorded in the areas of respect for the role of volunteers and support from the CFA and in training and the provision of up-to-date appliances.
The Coalition has pledged to scrap the emergency services tax if it wins the 2026 election.
Leader of The Nationals and shadow minister for emergency services, Danny O’Brien, last week said the survey reflects the frustration of CFA volunteers.
“For more than a decade now, the Labor government has disrespected the CFA and particularly its volunteers,” Mr O’Brien said.
“It’s alarming to see the lack of confidence that our volunteers have in the Allan Labor Government.
“Clearly they don’t believe the Government’s rhetoric about supporting appliances and new stations, with the survey recording the worst ever result on that issue.
“Worse still, the survey was completed before legislation creating the new emergency services tax had passed Parliament. All the evidence shows that tax is about filling budget black holes, not supporting our frontline firefighters.”
The low satisfaction (read disapproval)  in the CFA survey reflects sentiments garnered in a Victorian Farmers’ Federation snapshot of opinion released just weeks earlier.
The Government, and indeed Premier Allan, may wish to plow on with an agenda now being labelled anti-country, hoping the anger moves to a less agitated plane or opponents of policy on the tax or renewable energy simply run out of puff.
That would be wishful thinking. Loddon Mayor Dan Straub said the Premier, who represents some Loddon communities in State Parliament, is no friend of country Victoria.
And there’s no end in sight to protests. This Sunday, there will be members of Loddon fire brigades heading down to Bendigo for the latest rally against the emergency services tax.
CFA Volunteers Group secretary Leigh Harry says that from the first rally in Melbourne earlier this year, his group has now organised rallies in Warrnambool, Camperdown, Ballarat and Werribee. 
“We are confident that this pressure has contributed to forcing the Government to grant volunteers and farmers a 12 month reprieve. There is more to be done to continue to pressure the Allan Government into reviewing this unjust tax.”
Sunday’s rally, the second in Bendigo within a few months, will be the second in the heart of the regional capital the Premier calls home.
Jacinta Allan will probably not put in an appearance. In fact as things now stand, there’s even less chance that the Premier will back down on a stupid tax that singles out one section of our communities to foot the big bill caused by Big Build projects in Melbourne. If the Premier is true to her word, then while farmers received a drought reprieve with rain, there won’t be the same luck with the tax.