Community
19 December, 2025
Jess Wilson hears volunteers’ concerns
CHOCOLYN Country Fire Authority (CFA) volunteer Leigh Harry attended a special meeting with Liberal Party leader Jess Wilson and Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland last Wednesday.
Representing the CFA Volunteers Group – which has been leading a number of rallies across the state to protest the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF) over the year – Mr Harry visited the Hilldene CFA station near Seymour to speak with Ms Wilson and Mrs Cleeland about issues faced by the CFA.
Mr Harry said many issues were raised by volunteers during the meeting.
“Liberal leader Jess Wilson and Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland called in and gave the CFA members in that area the opportunity to raise issues concerning them, including the ESVF, issues with old tankers which are over 30 years old an becoming unsafe to use and old stations which are not fit for purpose now,” he said.
“With a growing number of females joining the CFA, a lot of the older stations don’t have any female toilets at all.
“All these issues were raised by the CFA members.
“We, as committee members of the CFA Volunteers Group, were in support and helping to raise the issues with politicians of all parties to have them addressed.”
Mr Harry said the volunteers group had defined a number of key policies which they have put forward to politicians, including calling for the levy to be repealed.
“We are asking the ESVF levy is repealed and they revert to the previous levy which was known as the Fire Services Levy,” he said.
“We are also advocating for a full exemption for the new levy for all CFA and SES volunteers – all active volunteers should be fully exempt from this tax or levy.
“At the moment, they’ve made concessions to keep it at a lower rate for farmers, as well as an exemption for volunteers – we understand there’s around 20 per cent of volunteers across the state who are ineligible to claim the rebate because their name is not on the rates notice, they’re a new member or they have multiple rates notices and can only claim the rebate on their residential property.
“There are many volunteers unable to claim the rebate, so a full exemption would include them.”
Another issue raised was the lack of funding being provided to smaller rural brigades such as Chocolyn, with Mr Harry saying the current rollout of vehicle replacements is slower than the number of aged trucks increases beyond their recommended age of 15 years.
“We’re also wanting an improved funding model that provides transparency and support for the smaller rural brigades across the state which are often neglected and, as a consequence, have serious issues with old stations, lack of equipment, old trucks and other issues,” Mr Harry said.
“We had a captain from Strathbogie, and he told us they have about 40 members with an old shed – they had to change into their fire gear in front of the shed – both males and females.
“It’s totally disgraceful volunteers have to put up with that – they’re getting taxed to do voluntary work, so overall it’s wrong and an unfair tax.
“There’s also the issue of aged trucks – there are around 230 CFA tankers across the state that are over 30 years old, and more than 700 tankers older than 15 years.
“I have heard stories of trucks that are 35-37 years old – our Chocolyn truck is 29 years old.”
Mr Harry said he was pleased to see Ms Wilson and Mrs Cleeland visiting the CFA meeting to speak with volunteers.
“We’re pleased the Liberal leader and the local Nationals member were able to visit – at the same time, they experience the potholes on the road and heard from the CFA members about their issues they were facing,” he said.
“It was pleasing to have them attend and hear firsthand about our issues.
“The State Government raised over $600 million from this tax, and it’s not being seen by the volunteers on the back of the trucks – they’re asking the premier where the money is going because they’re not seeing it at their brigade level.”