SES volunteers change in front of others at 'embarrassing' regional HQ

The carpet is green, the walls are wood-panelled and there is a hole in the ceiling of the Mildura SES headquarters.

It is a building unit controller Elliot Matotek's grandfather helped build 43 years ago, and one he may not have expected to still be in service; a time capsule of a facility.

That was a time when jobs were run out of volunteers' homes and recovery equipment stored in their garages and back sheds.

But now, generations of volunteers later, the building is deteriorating.

"I'm sure when my grandfather built it back in the day, in 1983, it was probably very nice," Mr Matotek said of the headquarters in Victoria's north-west.

Mr Matotek is pushing for the state Labor government to match the Coalition's election promise to spend $1 million and upgrade the facilities.

"It's almost embarrassing when we have to do open nights to try and recruit volunteers, and we show them the facility that we're in," he said.

"It doesn't really portray that we're professional."

Currently, volunteers have to change in the two single toilets or in front of others.

"If you're contaminated, if we've done a search in the river and you need to have a shower, we don't have a shower here. You have to go home," Mr Matotek said.

If they come back from a large deployment or a fatal accident, there is nowhere for the volunteers to decompress.

The only place to take a moment is two small couches between the vehicle bay and an open shared space.

A busy unit

Mildura SES responded to more than 1,100 incidents across the four financial years from 2022 to 2026, including 188 road crash rescues.

Earlier this year, Mildura experienced its wettest March day on record, making the unit the busiest in the state with almost 200 requests for help over two days.

SES volunteers from across the state travelled to Mildura to help, but the unit's small office space meant they had to move to a different building.

Designs for the SES building redevelopment have already been costed, and include new operational spaces, two private offices, a meeting room and training spaces.

Private change rooms, disability toilets and laundry facilities are also included.

Mr Matotek said he would not be surprised if, over the years, the unit had lost volunteers due to the poor facilities.

"It's quite embarrassing to have to rely on our other emergency service colleagues to use their facilities,"

Mr Matotek said.

Funding commitments

Two years ago, in stage 1 of the redevelopment, the Mildura SES Unit built a new shed for its vehicles through a combination of government funding and community donations.

This week, Emergency Services Minister Paul Edbrooke said he would continue monitoring "demand, volunteer capacity and facility needs", but would not promise funding for stage 2 of development.

It came after the state opposition announced $1 million towards the project if it wins the election. 

Nationals member for Mildura Jade Benham said the unit deserved the money.

"Mildura is a regional emergency services hub, yet our SES headquarters does not even come close to reflecting that,"

she said.

Greens candidate for Mildura Katie Clements also backed the unit's call for funding and said it was wrong for regional communities to bear the cost of climate change through "increases in insurance premiums and emergency repair".

Ms Clements said coal and gas corporations need to pay their "fair share" toward the cost of emergency work in Victoria.