As we have heard, the Emergency Services Levy Amendment Bill 2024 seeks to amend the Emergency Services Levy Act 2017. Essentially, the bill provides the Treasurer with the authority to require specified information from insurers for the purposes of evaluating and implementing reforms to the way in which emergency services are funded. While this might seem an inconsequential bill, it points to the kind of Government we are: We introduce reforms based on data and evidence. The bill will reform the way we collect the emergency services levy. Unlike the previous Government, we will not back away from these evidence‑based reforms. I note that this is something the previous Government tried to do. I cannot remember whether the member for Goulburn was the relevant Minister at the time.
Mr Geoff Provest: No.
Mr NATHAN HAGARTY: No. But she was the local government Minister at one point, and this has been a bugbear for those in the local government sector. Councils have a role in raising this levy and they argue, validly, that the current collection method is unfair and inequitable. That is why the Government has committed to reforming the way we fund emergency services in this State. On 16 November 2023 the Government announced its commitment to reform emergency services funding. Since then the Treasurer has led a consultation process. Part of that process was the formation of a reference group, which is made up of leaders from the insurance and property industries, business, council representatives and emergency services experts.
I call out two members of that reference group. The first is Darriea Turley, the president of Local Government NSW. She is a fabulous advocate for the local government sector, and it was my pleasure to serve on the board of Local Government NSW as the treasurer when she was president. My term as treasurer ended in October or November last year, but Darriea was re-elected by somewhere in the realm of 70 per cent or 80 per cent of the membership. Some might say that that was a reflection of her competition, but I think that is unfair. It is a reflection of how good a president Darriea Turley is. She is doing fabulous work, and I am sure she will advocate strongly for the local government sector as part of the reference group.
The other member is Leighton Drury from the Fire Brigade Employees Union. I bumped into Leighton last night in the Parliament building, which he frequents quite a bit. He is another fabulous advocate for his organisation, and its members are also fabulous advocates—each and every one of them. They were on my pre‑poll booth in March last year, and they did fabulous work. I think their message was to put the then Government last and that was a very effective campaign. Good on them for that. In addition to the reference group, a public consultation paper has been published. It is important that people have a say on that. As the previous speaker the member for Liverpool said, it closes on 22 May. If people have not already done so, I strongly suggest they pop open the laptop and start hammering away to get that feedback in.
Three emergency services agencies are funded by the levy in New South Wales. They are Fire and Rescue NSW, the Rural Fire Service and the SES. In my electorate of Leppington, where urban sprawl continues apace, all three agencies require funding to look after that part of the world. The RFS does a fantastic job in places like Austral, Catherine Field and Rossmore, while the great folks at station 007 in Horningsea Park do Fire and Rescue NSW very proud.
Under the current split of funding, insurance companies contribute about 73.7 per cent, local councils contribute 11.7 per cent and the State Government contributes 14.6 per cent. The bill seeks to get information around insurance companies, and the reason is, essentially, a fundamental unfairness in the way the levy is collected. If someone does not have insurance on their house, they do not pay that levy. That is fundamentally unfair and something we seek to reform. Other States have already gone down that path, and it has had a positive impact. In Victoria the number of property owners choosing not to insure their building declined significantly between 2009-10 and 2015-16. That coincided with the abolition of its insurance-based levy in 2013‑14.
Likewise, South Australia and Western Australia abolished their insurance-based levies in 1999 and 2003, respectively. Putting the States side by side, based on 2015-16 figures, about 35 per cent of New South Wales households do not have home and contents insurance, which is a much higher figure than in any other State. In Victoria, which I just mentioned, the figure sat just above 26 per cent. In Western Australia and South Australia it was a bit lower, at about 25 per cent. That shows that through reforms that get rid of an insurance-based emergency services levy, we start to see some equity in people's home and contents insurance.
The issue will become more pressing as time goes by because we are starting to see more frequent and intense climate-related incidents. A few weeks ago we had quite a bit of rain. As usual in my neck of the woods, in Austral, good old Gurner Avenue flooded again and people were trapped. Despite the warnings of the SES, people drove through the floodwaters and their cars were washed away. Thankfully, no-one was injured. But those things will happen more and more. What used to be one in 20, 50 or 100 year events seemingly occur every one or two years. Thankfully, in places like Milky Way Street in Leppington we have good drainage.
Mr Steve Whan: The Force is with them.
Mr NATHAN HAGARTY: The Force is certainly with them in Leppington, and they do not suffer nearly as much as places like Austral. Even in Catherine Field, along Anthony Road there is a causeway that floods quite a bit. I happy to report that I am working with Camden Council on getting automated gates that close it. I am doing my bit, but we all have to do our bit to mitigate the risks of intense climate events, and that is what the bill seeks to do. It is a very important bill. I commend it to the House.
