Tania Maxwell MP says she’ll continue to work from the cross bench with the next state government to ensure it delivers on emergency fire equipment replacement targets.

The Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party Member for Northern Victoria said that underfunding was leaving Victoria’s career and volunteer fire services streets behind other states and preventing trucks being deployed to fires.

Ms Maxwell was shown a 36-year-old breathing apparatus van allocated to Bendigo fire brigade during a visit to Fire Station 73.

Meeting with brigade health and safety representative Jon Gawthrop, Ms Maxwell said the van was well past its end of life and left north central Victorian communities exposed.

“We’re ignoring the safety of fire services by allowing the fleet to continue to age well past end of life recommendations and this happens across our career and volunteer services,” she said.

“This particular van is no longer functional – it has exposed rust, the cylinders could be leaching corrosive materials, it emits dangerous levels of diesel and can’t be used for its basic purpose which is to refill a firefighter’s breathing apparatus.

“Current policy is that vehicles should be replaced at a maximum age of 10 years, so this van should have been replaced twice over.

“The Bendigo team can be deployed as far as Rochester and Cobram, so the whole of north central Victoria is missing out.

“What’s the point of having a safety policy that recommends asset replacement every 10 years only to ignore it by 26 years?”

Ms Maxwell said the problem extended across paid and volunteer services with reports Victoria’s Country Fire Authority fleet is Australia’s oldest.

“Regional Victoria is 20 per cent worse of when it comes to government asset investment compared with our metropolitan counterparts, and it’s unacceptable for this to extend to emergency services,” she said.

Mr Gawthrop said a modern, functioning van helps clean Breathing Apparatus sets, reducing the risk of exposure to harmful chemicals when responding to a fire.

“We’re asking the government to support our workforce with basic safety equipment.  We know the dangerous chemicals our firefighters can be exposed to every shift, and this is about giving them the best protection possible.”