By AIDAN KNIGHT
LATROBE City Deputy Mayor, Sharon Gibson joined Baw Baw Shire counterparts at a public forum in Trafalgar at the weekend, in light of the state government’s Emergency Services and Volunteer Fund.
Sunday’s ‘Save Our Farmers’ event, held at the Trafalgar Community Centre, featured a panel of five guest speakers.
The event was sparked by the united front seen at the Latrobe City Council Emergency meeting on June 2, and Baw Baw Shire Council’s decision following a public protest on May 26, surrounding the ESVF imposed upon every Victorian council by the state government.
A similar protest also occurred in Morwell on May 20, with farmers marching down Commercial Road.
Both councils took the stance, after evaluating the overwhelming public feedback from their constituents, that they would oppose the ESFV by means of a letter to state Parliament, as many other councils have.
Farmers have been given a 12 month reprieve, with the levy staying at a rate of 28.7 cents per $1000 land value, down from the $71.8c signed off previously.
After these protests, and a multitude of others around the state, the state government went back on the policy, changing it to give farmers 12 months grace on the levy, meaning they remained at the existing rate under the previous fire levy.
However, this change only applies until the next financial year, and there is no guarantee it won’t be implemented harder again by the Labor government to recover costs from this leeway.
The event panel consisted of, in order of appearance:
- Baw Baw Shire councillors, Brendan Kingwill and Ben Lucas;
- Cr Gibson;
- Local advocate for State Parks (and former Freedom Party Victoria candidate for Narracan), Leonie Blackwell, and;
- Wayne Northausen of Billboard Battalion.
The event was emceed by Ric Nicolson, a key public speaker at the June 2 emergency meeting, as well as several of the Baw Baw council meetings.
Cr Kingwill started off, talking from the perspective of a small business owner (BK’s Takeaway Trafalgar and Warragul), and others in the community he has conversed with in relation to the levy.
“The Victorian government has been very clever”, he said in regard to opposing the levy to the packed centtr of around 80 supporters.
“They know how to cover all their loopholes”.
The public piped up, with one local stating, “they can’t jail us all!”, referring to the potential approach for residents to simply stage a coup and refuse to pay the levy, on masse.
Cr Kingwell said council and community need to discuss the matters in depth and explore all avenues, as every possible outcome has its own repercussions.
“The biggest issue about this fund is the money isn’t coming back to us,” he said.
“The CFA still doesn’t get adequately suited up, with trucks or anything, and yet we all have to provide more funds supposedly for that purpose.”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to lead by example” was another phrase floated around the crowd, as some pondered out loud whether Baw Baw and Latrobe could be the first councils to staunchly reject the levy.
Cr Gibson pointed out later in the meeting that this may not have any effect that wasn’t negative, as the state government has certain powers afforded to them in the rates department.
If a resident was to pay their full rates but refused to pay the EVSF fee, the state government is able to extract an amount from the general rates for themselves, rather than council, to cover this loss.
This would obviously affect the council and, therefore directly impact the community.
Cr Lucas spoke on his experience growing up in Shady Creek, stating, “I was raised by a farm, not on a farm”, a kind of personalisation many seemed to identify with.
“Axe the tax”, he said plainly, to great applause.
A resident raised the notion to him that this could be an issue for the governor general, not state Parliament to thrash out, taking it to all extremes, showing the kind of desperation local farmers are feeling under this imposed tax.
“Government should be enablement, not asphyxiation”, Cr Lucas repeated throughout his speech.
“Over the kitchen table has never been as important as it is right now,” Cr Gibson added.
“Unions like the UFU (United Firefighters Union) and CFMEU should discuss these things in toolbox meetings, and let the information filter down the ranks.
“There were only two organisation included in the fund initially, now there are 10.”
Ms Blackwell spoke of her involvement in the campaign to stop the creation of new national parks, and how a similar approach of absolute unity and synonym phrasing could prove effective in fighting against government impositions like the ESVF.
Mr Northausen gave a wider perspective on the impact of government mandates, if unchallenged.
There will be a second meeting in around three months to discuss the progress of the movement surrounding the axing of the ESVF and general taxation and policy issues hurting farmers in the region.
