Guyra VRA backs call for secure rescue funding

Hands on training scenarios are part of the job for VRA Rescue NSW members. They are now calling for a more equitable share of funding from the NSW Government to ensure they can serve their communities into the future

01st Sep 2026

The Guyra VRA squad is adding its voice to a statewide campaign calling for more sustainable funding for volunteer rescue services across NSW.
VRA Rescue NSW is asking communities to support its campaign for the organisation to be included in the Fire and Emergency Services Levy funding system.
For Guyra and surrounding rural communities, the local VRA squad provides an important emergency response service, with volunteers prepared to leave their homes, workplaces and families when a call for assistance comes through.
VRA volunteers provide road crash rescue, land rescue, search and rescue, flood and water rescue, vertical rescue and other specialist operations across regional, rural and remote NSW.
The organisation says VRA was established because regional communities needed access to rescue services when no formal service was available.
Beginning in the 1950s and 1960s, local people formed volunteer rescue squads, raised money, sourced equipment and trained to protect their own communities. Many squads were established following local tragedies, with residents determined that their friends, families and neighbours would have access to trained rescuers when they needed them.
That community spirit continues today, including in Guyra.
VRA Rescue NSW is now an accredited part of the NSW rescue system, but says its funding has failed to keep pace with the cost of providing emergency services.
According to VRA, its core funding has remained at $6.06 million a year across the state since 2019, without CPI increases or automatic indexation.
At the same time, the costs of rescue vehicles, equipment, protective clothing, fuel, insurance, training and maintaining rescue facilities have continued to rise.
VRA is seeking sustainable and indexed funding of $12 million annually, which it says represents approximately 0.52 per cent of the emergency services funding pool considered in its business case.
The organisation says increased funding would help provide safer equipment, more reliable rescue vehicles, improved training and facilities and stronger specialist rescue capabilities.
For local volunteers, the issue is about ensuring they have the resources required to continue responding when their community needs them.
VRA is encouraging residents to contact their local NSW Member of Parliament and ask whether they will support VRA Rescue NSW being included in the Fire and Emergency Services Levy.
Community members are also being encouraged to ask why VRA volunteers providing accredited emergency rescue services are funded differently from other emergency services.
The Guyra VRA squad is part of a long tradition of local volunteers stepping forward to help protect their community.
Now VRA is asking the community to stand behind those volunteers and help secure the future of volunteer rescue services in NSW.

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Guyra VRA backs call for secure rescue funding

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