Victorian Deputy Premier and Emergency Services Minister Peter Ryan says the Government is committed to abolishing the state’s fire services levy (FSL).

A 30% increase in the levy and the Government’s decision to delay implementation of a new collection system to 2013 have caused uproar in country areas, where brokers had expected the levy to end in June 2012. This has led to some questioning of the Government’s commitment to abolish the FSL.

Mr Ryan told insuranceNEWS.com.au he has campaigned for more than a decade for the FSL to be abolished, but the complexity of the task means it will take a full year to implement the change.

The Government has released an options paper on how to collect a levy based on property ownership rather than insurance policies, which may involve councils collecting the tax instead of insurers.

Mr Ryan says the Government will spend almost $1 billion implementing the recommendations of the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission.

This year insurers will contribute $416 million of the Country Fire Authority’s (CFA) $536 million budget this year via the FSL – a 34.6% increase on last year.

But Mr Ryan says the CFA will get new fire stations and a significant investment in its fleet “and it has got to be funded”.