Politics & Council
15 December, 2025
Premier in hard hat walk without CFA volunteers
CFA volunteers have been snubbed in a “walk through” of the new $5 million Serpentine fire station by local MP and Premier Jacinta Allan.
The Premier on Saturday released photographs and a video online of her visit wearing a hard hat and hi-vis vest to the station that was first promised to the brigade in 2021.
Captain Neville Cockerell, who had stood beside Ms Allan when she turned the sod on the project in June, said the brigade had not been notified or invited to be part of her tour believed to have been given last week by builders Bowden Corp.
The online promotion of the project came 24 hours after the State Government extended its reprieve for farmers being hit with a 150 per cent hike n the controversial new emergency services tax.
“We’re building a brand new fire station here in Serpentine,” Ms Allan says in the video.
“As you can see, construction is well and truly underway.
“This new station will include two appliance, a brigade office, training room and a workshop.
“We’re building this station to support the fantastic volunteers who support our local community, keeping us safe in times of fire and other emergencies.
“We’re building them the facilities they deserve.”
Online critics of the premier questioned the absence of volunteers in the video and some raised concerns about delays building other new fire stations across Victoria.
The Government had been under scrutiny from the local brigade since the 2021 Budget commitment to replace its tin shed station.
The Government said planning was proceeding but it was only this year that the project started and followed Northern Victoria MP Wendy Lovell also questioning the Government in Parliament over delays.
Premier Allan’s sod-turning ceremony came just a fortnight after Serpentine volunteers had joined up to 10,000 protesters on the steps of Parliament rallying against the emergency services tax. After the ceremony, Ms Allan told the Loddon Herald any extension to a temporary tax reprieve for farmers would be guided by drought conditions.
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