By ANEEKA SIMONIS
VITAL funding will soon be pulled from one of the shire’s most valuable, life-saving emergency response teams.
Cardinia Shire Council has announced it will no longer pay insurance costs for Pakenham State Emergency Service (SES) vehicles from July this year.
Pakenham SES has five emergency response vehicles, one of which is owned and insured by the State Government.
The other four vehicles, which incur a total of $6000 per year in insurance costs, will now need to be paid for by the emergency volunteers.
“Pakenham SES volunteers will be undertaking fund-raising activities and asking for donations from community members to help cover the shortfall,” Pakenham SES Unit Controller Andrew Graham said.
Pakenham SES volunteer Shayne Honey said the loss will prevent the emergency response team from replacing dated, life-saving equipment.
“The withdrawal of council funding will prevent of us from purchasing a new rescue truck in 2018, as planned due to our current truck being 12 years old and nearing its end of operational lifespan,” Mr Honey said.
The council’s Community, Risk and Emergency manager Myles O’Reilly said Pakenham SES was responsible for paying for its own insurance costs.
“In 2005, Victoria State Emergency Service (VICSES) was established as an independent statutory authority. As a statutory authority, all its assets, equipment, volunteers and volunteer activities should be covered by the organisation’s own liability insurance,” Mr O’Reilly said.“Following discussions with local VICSES management it was agreed that it was no longer appropriate for the council to insure the authority’s vehicles and that coverage would best be provided by VICSES itself.”
He said council was considering other ways it could support local emergency services such as Pakenham SES in the future.
Mr Honey said volunteers would be required to pick up the slack by taking part in fund-raising activities such as tin shakes, barbecues and appealing for support from local businesses.
He said the recent financial losses put the emergency response team in a difficult position of having to ask volunteers to spare more of their time for the community.
“We are mindful of the amount of personal time volunteers already give up to assist the community,” he said.
