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The time-honoured Traralgon Marathon and Running Festival again saw a packed turnout.The Traralgon Marathon is steeped in tradition as the oldest, continuous marathon in the country.
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Marathon effort
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Time crisis for Pesutto By LIAM DURKIN
TRARALGON-BORN politician John Pesutto could soon be out of office, after failing to meet the deadline to pay legal fees against Liberal colleague Moira Deeming. Mr Pesutto, who was leader of the state Liberals until late last December, missed the deadline to come up with $2.3 million to pay Ms Deeming after her successful defamation case. Mr Pesutto secured $500,000 himself, while $200,000 was raised from an online crowdfunding campaign. While the embattled MP was given financial support from the likes of former premiers Jeff Kennett, Denis Napthine and Ted Baillieu, only a third of the money has been raised. Mr Pesutto had 21 days from Monday to pay his tick, or be plunked into bankruptcy and subsequently forced out of Parliament and lose his marginal seat of Hawthorn. By law, anyone declared bankrupt cannot sit in Parliament. The saga adds to a torrid time for the Liberals, who lost the federal election convincingly and saw the Coalition split momentarily after The Nationals opted out. State deputy Liberal leader and former professional tennis player, Sam Groth was also in the spotlight last week, after reports emerged he borrowed a chauffeur-driven car to get home from the Australian Open. Mr Groth played a number of ITF Futures events at Traralgon Tennis Association during his career. Mr Pesutto grew up and went to school in Traralgon, and played soccer for Olympians and Traralgon City.
But the levy is still dry By AIDAN KNIGHT
IN the wake of the extensive protesting among CFA volunteers and farming communities across Victoria, the state government has walked back on it’s plan to charge farmers a more expensive emergency services levy since it’s implementation on May 16. Farmers have been given a 12-month reprieve, with the levy staying at a rate of 28.7 cents per $1000 land value, down from the $71.8c signed off previously. In the space of a fortnight, state premier Jacinta Allan announced the rollout of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund Levy (ESVF), announced grants of up to $5000 for farmers across the state to offset those affected by drought, and announced a temporary backdown on the bill for all farmers, who will also receive a further $37.7 million in the budget.
Prior to the reduction announcement, Latrobe City Council scheduled an emergency meeting last Monday (June 2), specifically to address how to tackle the controversial bill. Local councils had been tasked with collecting the ESVF on behalf of the state government, to much objection from council and ratepayers alike. All 79 councils across the state made formal grievance to the levy, in support of the physical show of protest like what was seen in Morwell on May 20 – one of many held across Victoria that week. Councils seemingly felt universally displeased about being forced to collect this controversial amount from ratepayers on behalf of the state government. Stuck between a rock a hard place of the people they serve and the body that funds them, councils combined expressions of unease paid off - at least for the next 12 months.
The ESVF was announced as part of the state government's Drought Package, and it was announced upon implementation that 24 councils would have farmers pay a reduced rate to the levy when time came to cough up on July 1. But the farmers themselves argued that drought has adverse effects on producers all across Victoria, not just the ones selected important enough by the state government. Many CFA volunteers are farmers themselves, which only added to the objection. This rate reduction has now been extended to apply to all primary production properties, capped to the same amount paid in the 2024/25 financial year under the former Fire Services Property Levy. The Victorian Famers Federation says the government's response is a welcome one, but still leaves room for more to be desired. “Some are facing the worst drought conditions in
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living memory” VFF President Brett Hosking said. "It’s a step in the right direction but plenty more remains to be done. “Pausing the levy increase for 12 months is the right call but it doesn’t change the underlying problem: this levy is an unfair cost shift onto farmers”. The tax will still be applied to all other Victorians, and the temporary capping for primary producers will be lifted after 12 months, in a move that Gippsland South Nationals MP Danny O'Brien has also summed up as unfair. "Farmers get a one-year stay of execution but they shouldn't be facing this massive tax slug in the first place," he said. "The only way to fix this issue is to scrap the tax altogether." Meanwhile, the Premier justified the bill by focusing on who it supports, rather than who it effects. Continued - Page 3