A statement on the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund (ESVF).

We know that climate change, which causes increased heat and extended drought, has been a key driver in increasing the risk and extent of wildfires in Australia for more than two decades, and that climate change fuelled Australia’s devastating black summer fires.

We also know that if we are to have a hope of avoiding dangerous or catastrophic climate change, the world needs to transition away from its current reliance on fossil fuels as quickly as possible. In this sense, the rapid development of renewables is one of the main actions we need to be taking now.

Longer and more intense fires seasons will require continued investment in firefighting capacity by state governments, which includes supporting volunteer firefighters.

The climate crisis will increase demands on firefighting so we will need extra funds. Governments shouldn’t be extracting additional funds for this purpose from farmers, many of whom are struggling under the impacts of sustained drought.

We understand the need for a levy to help cover the costs of emergency services like the CFA, SES and Fire Rescue Victoria. Instead of increasing the levy paid by farmers, we should be taxing those who are doing the most to cause the climate crisis. We support the call from the Australia Institute for the creation of a climate damage compensation levy. This would be placed on the predominantly foreign owned corporations exporting fossil fuels (coal, gas and oil) from Australia, to compensate Australians for the damage and increased cost of living they are causing. It would be administered by the Australian government and funding received through the levy should be allocated to state and territory governments to assist with funding emergency services.

We do not support brigades going offline. Threatening to withdraw our labour would be an extraordinary betrayal of the trust that the community places in us because it puts politics above community safety. There are many ways to protest against government policy. As volunteer firefighters we reject the option of refusing to turn out to emergencies.

A note on the protests

We denounce the display of sexist and misogynist placards at some rallies. We also note that some speakers at the May 20 rally in Melbourne made party political attacks on some parties, and the rally itself only platformed conservative MPs. A movement that aligns itself with only one side of politics is always destined to lose support from the community. The deep alignment between some CFA brigades and groups involved in anti renewables campaigning also undermines the credibility of the anti levy campaign.