SA Best Leader Nick Xenophon pledges cut to ESL for all, elimination for SA’s 15,000 emergency services volunteers

EMERGENCY service volunteers would be exempt from paying the emergency services levy and all households would get a bill cut under an election pledge from SA Best.

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EMERGENCY service volunteers would be exempt from paying the emergency services levy and all households would get a cut in the bill under an election pledge from SA Best.

The State Government controversially doubled the property-based charge in the 2014 State Budget, saying federal cuts to health and education forced its hand.

The Liberals have pledged a rollback of the increases, at a cost to the Budget of about $90 million per year.

The Government has previously knocked back calls for special treatment of volunteers, saying it would be administratively difficult as many listed volunteers give differing hours per year.

SA Best Leader Nick Xenophon on Sunday said that SA’s 15,000 active emergency services volunteers will be exempt from the ESL if he wins enough seats to force the change.

For a volunteer with a home valued at $430,000 the saving would be $270 a year, he said.

Mr Xenophon said the Country Fire Service and State Emergency Service “simply would not function without our volunteers”, who deserved more recognition for their efforts.

“It is simply ludicrous that our volunteers are expected to pay the emergency services levy when, in many cases, they risk their own lives while actively serving the community,” he said.

“While volunteering has its own rewards, we need to more strongly recognise and support the efforts of our emergency services volunteers.

“As a direct result of the ESL, a large number of our farmers and rural landholders have deserted the CFS in recent years in protest.

Mr Xenophon also said more needed to be done to recognise the many emergency services volunteers exposed to traumatic stress and critical incidents, which place them at increased risk for adverse mental health outcomes, including increased rates of depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, burnout, stress-related anxiety, and suicide.

But Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the plan was “thought bubble politics” from Mr Xenophon.

“He hasn’t spoken to the volunteers,” Mr Marshall said.

“They’re not actually calling for this. They have been calling for the restoration of the remission, which is what we will do.”

“The Liberal Party has been campaigning, on behalf of our volunteers, for an extended period of time.”

The ESL covers the cost of running SA’s emergency services.

Before the 2014 increase, those costs were covered by a mix of the ESL returns and general State Budget tax revenue.

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