AFTER a decade of campaigning by rural Victorians, the controversial Fire Services Levy will be scrapped.The state government announced yesterday that it would adopt a recommendation by the Black Saturday bushfires Royal Commission to replace the levy, which impacts on every Victorian property owner.It was welcome news for the CFA and the Victorian Farmers Federation who have campaigned for a fairer system for all Victorians.Early indications show the new model will be a progressive property-based levy, it will include a 50 per cent concession to low income earners and will continue to provide the same level of funding to fire services as the existing levy.The VFF has been campaigning for change for more than a decade and president Andrew Broad said farmers and rural Victorians had finally had a win. “The VFF has been at the forefront of a sustained and hard-fought campaign to ditch this unfair tax and today we have been vindicated,” he said.“We have always said that while fire services need appropriate funding, this burden must be spread fairly across the community and not only applied to those who invest in insurance.”CFA Region Two operations manager Mark Gilmore said the new model would be fairer for all.“For us it’s (the fire services levy) a situation where some people are funding the fire service and some people are not, but everyone’s getting the same benefits,” he said.“It’s a fairer way if you have an asset in Victoria then you contribute to the fire services that will protect that asset.“At first notice it’s a much fairer way and a more equitable way.”Treasurer John Lenders said the government would use a review of the levy that was already under way to determine the best replacement model.“This reform will ensure that our fire services are funded more sustainably while taking the squeeze off the cost of property insurance.“We want to ensure that the necessary funds are raised to sustain our crucial fire services.“This reform will ensure that everyone who has a property protected by our world-renowned firefighters contributes to their bud­gets.” Opposition treasury spokesman Kim Wells said the government had been dragged kicking and screaming to replace the state’s inequitable insurance-based fire services levy with a fairer property-based system.This had happened only after 18 months of intense pressure for reform from the state Coalition.“Labor has known for years how unfair and inequitable the fire services levy has been.“Everyone but John Lenders and John Brumby has acknowledged that the FSL was a tax that placed a heavy burden on many Victorians, yet Labor has done nothing until today.”