00:00Farmer Scott Young says conditions on his livestock property have improved, but he's still worried about the future.
00:08Because of the dry times we've had to feed a lot of our livestock for a long time now.
00:13I used up all my reserves in the first six months of this year, so had to buy feed in and a lot of farmers have had to do that.
00:20He's concerned that pressure could grow next year, when many farmers will be asked to pay substantially more under the state's controversial emergency services levy.
00:29In 2019 was $465, last year was $3,300 and then potentially without the hold that they've put on at the moment would have been up to over $10,000.
00:42The state government says the hike is about preparing emergency services for the realities of climate change.
00:48But after a fierce backlash, it froze the increase for primary production properties for a year.
00:53On paper, the value of agricultural land like this, so close to the urban sprawl of metropolitan Melbourne, has been steadily rising.
01:01But farmers say that doesn't necessarily mean they're earning the incomes to match.
01:05Some local councils who were forced to collect the levy met today in Melbourne to fire up a campaign against the changes.
01:12We don't want to be involved in this. We don't want to do the state government's dirty work. It's up to them.
01:16They're pushing for the tax to be put on hold and want an inquiry to investigate.
01:20It's bad politics. It's bad economics. It's bad for councils. It's bad for Victorians. It needs to be stopped.
01:26Taking the fight from the farm to Spring Street.
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