Western Victoria Region
Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:37): My constituency question for the Treasurer concerns the fire services property levy. Last year the Treasurer reduced the rate payable by international corporations financing renewable projects to the public benefit rate paid by local fire stations, hospitals and schools. At 5.7 cents per $1000 of capital improved value, it is a fraction of the 81-cent industrial rate. At the same time farmers faced a 70 per cent hike from 16.9 cents to 28.7 cents per thousand dollars in their levy. In my electorate farming volunteers at one brigade calculated the rates payable in their brigade area: the figure is $2 million for their patch alone, yet they still have a 32-year-old truck – how is that fair? So I ask the Treasurer: will you reduce the rates payable by CFA volunteers to the public benefit rate or alternatively provide rebates to reward rural volunteers who serve our communities?