Benham grills Treasurer on emergency services tax
The Nationals’ Member for Mildura, Jade Benham, has grilled the Treasurer during the Parliamentary Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) Inquiry into the 2025 26 Budget Estimates, demanding answers over the 150 percent tax hike on farmers under Labor’s new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund.
Ms Benham, a PAEC member, is asking the tough questions and holding the Treasurer to account for a tax she says will cripple regional communities already burdened by severe economic and environmental pressures.
Despite repeated questioning, Ms Benham said the Treasurer failed to provide any clear justification for the sharp tax increase and showed no empathy for the plight of farmers.
“Farmers in my electorate are already doing it tough with rising costs and prolonged drought. Now they are being hit with a tax increase that will cost them thousands, in some cases tens of thousands, of dollars. These are people who deserve support, not punishment,” Ms Benham said.
She also raised concerns about government documents revealing significant funding cuts to emergency services. Despite claiming the tax is needed to support these services, the government’s own figures show the 2025 26 budgets for Fire Rescue Victoria, the Country Fire Authority and the State Emergency Service have been reduced by a combined $165 million compared to the previous year.
Additional cuts have also been confirmed for agencies such as Triple Zero, Forest Fire Management and Emergency Recovery Victoria.
Ms Benham questioned the Treasurer on why the government is charging Victorians $12 million in administrative fees just to implement the tax, only to receive what she described as an evasive and unclear response.
“This is a government that claims to be taxing Victorians to support emergency services, yet is simultaneously slashing those very services. It simply does not add up.”
Ms Benham also dismissed the government’s decision to delay the tax for farmers by twelve months as a “face-saving measure amid unescapable community backlash.”
“This is not genuine relief. It is a temporary political fix designed to quiet community anger. Farmers are facing long term drought impacts and financial stress. All the government has done is delay the inevitable.”
“Labor can not manage money, it can not manage taxes, and once again, regional Victorians are being forced to pay the price.”
