❓ The Minister for Police and Emergency Services confirms that country volunteer fire fighters will not receive a rebate on the Emergency Services Levy. However, the Minister is exploring alternative methods of recognition and support, including tax concessions, at a national level.
AnsweredQoN 1855Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Will any rebate on the Shire Rates FESA Levy be given to country volunteer fire fighters?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
21 October 2003
Responded by
Minister for Police and Emergency Services
Response time
54 days
Country volunteer fire fighters will not receive a rebate on their Emergency Services Levy charge.
The decision not to exempt or rebate emergency service volunteers was made on the basis that prior to the levy, volunteers contributed financially to the local emergency services through their Council rates, membership fees to the brigade, or through their insurance. The levy replaces these costs.
In addition, to exempt volunteers would be difficult to administer. Some volunteers in country areas may only be called out once or twice a year, while others are much more active, attending incidents every week. Similarly, some volunteers spend a considerable amount of time training, while others do not. Therefore it would not be fair to provide all volunteers with the same rebate.
To keep track of who is an active volunteer would also be difficult and would result in a lot of extra paperwork for the volunteer fire brigades, SES units and Local Governments.
It was also recognised that there are more than 23,000 volunteer firefighter and State Emergency Service volunteers. If all volunteers were provided with an exemption or rebate, the shortfall would have to be picked up by other property owners in Western Australia.
It should also be noted that while one member of a household might be a volunteer, the others may not, yet all are provided with emergency services – including road accident rescue anywhere in the State.
Notwithstanding the above, as Minister for Police and Emergency Services, I am very aware of the role volunteers play in keeping our communities safe. Emergency services volunteers are in the front line of service provision, often encountering elements of risk in response situations.
Their value can be measured not only in terms of their time and effort, but also through the reduced impact of an incident on a community as a result of their emergency preparedness and response.
Therefore, I believe that significant forms of encouragement through recognition, incentive and reinforcement should be considered to help foster the longer-term sustainability of volunteerism.
At a meeting of State and Territory Emergency Service Ministers in September 2002 I put forward a proposal to explore methods to gain “…national recognition and support for the essential service emergency services volunteers provide to the Australian community,
including volunteer tax concessions
.”
This proposal seeks to address that issue by the consideration of various tax concession options and related issues. Western Australia has responsibility to progress this outcome.
At my request, FESA has engaged a taxation specialist to develop an Options Paper proposing tax concessions for Emergency Service Volunteers for presentation to a future meeting of State and Territory Emergency Services Ministers. Subject to endorsement it is proposed that the preferred option be presented to the Federal Government for consideration/implementation.
I look forward to informing this House of the outcome in the near future.
The decision not to exempt or rebate emergency service volunteers was made on the basis that prior to the levy, volunteers contributed financially to the local emergency services through their Council rates, membership fees to the brigade, or through their insurance. The levy replaces these costs.
In addition, to exempt volunteers would be difficult to administer. Some volunteers in country areas may only be called out once or twice a year, while others are much more active, attending incidents every week. Similarly, some volunteers spend a considerable amount of time training, while others do not. Therefore it would not be fair to provide all volunteers with the same rebate.
To keep track of who is an active volunteer would also be difficult and would result in a lot of extra paperwork for the volunteer fire brigades, SES units and Local Governments.
It was also recognised that there are more than 23,000 volunteer firefighter and State Emergency Service volunteers. If all volunteers were provided with an exemption or rebate, the shortfall would have to be picked up by other property owners in Western Australia.
It should also be noted that while one member of a household might be a volunteer, the others may not, yet all are provided with emergency services – including road accident rescue anywhere in the State.
Notwithstanding the above, as Minister for Police and Emergency Services, I am very aware of the role volunteers play in keeping our communities safe. Emergency services volunteers are in the front line of service provision, often encountering elements of risk in response situations.
Their value can be measured not only in terms of their time and effort, but also through the reduced impact of an incident on a community as a result of their emergency preparedness and response.
Therefore, I believe that significant forms of encouragement through recognition, incentive and reinforcement should be considered to help foster the longer-term sustainability of volunteerism.
At a meeting of State and Territory Emergency Service Ministers in September 2002 I put forward a proposal to explore methods to gain “…national recognition and support for the essential service emergency services volunteers provide to the Australian community,
including volunteer tax concessions
.”
This proposal seeks to address that issue by the consideration of various tax concession options and related issues. Western Australia has responsibility to progress this outcome.
At my request, FESA has engaged a taxation specialist to develop an Options Paper proposing tax concessions for Emergency Service Volunteers for presentation to a future meeting of State and Territory Emergency Services Ministers. Subject to endorsement it is proposed that the preferred option be presented to the Federal Government for consideration/implementation.
I look forward to informing this House of the outcome in the near future.
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