Advocacy group Rural Councils Victoria has welcomed a delay to the state government’s Emergency Services Volunteer Fund Levy.
The proposal has been strongly opposed by many councils and farmers, and reportedly has failed to attract the required support to pass the upper house.
RCV Chair, Cr Rob Amos from Campaspe Shire Council, issued the following statement:
This welcome delay gives the government an opportunity to go back to the drawing board.
We’re hopeful the government will use this extra time to speak with rural councils and communities to better understand our concerns about the inequities built into this levy.
RCV will keep engaging with the government, minor parties and crossbench MPs in good faith about improving the levy’s design.
We’ve previously proposed three common sense changes; to recalculate the collection formula to make it fairer, to guarantee the money raised will go back to local communities and to make the State Revenue Office responsible for levy administration.