Quad Bike crush protection rebates

The Victorian government has announced a $6 million subsidy scheme to help farmers buy rollover protection bars for quad bikes.
Two people have died on Victorian farms in the past three months as a result of quad bikes overturning and crushing them.
Quad bikes are the biggest killer on farms, with 22 people dying on quad bike accidents across Australia last year.
The rebates, worth $600 each, will be made available to farmers to go towards the cost of fitting "operation protection devices" like rollover bars to their existing quad bikes to a maximum of two rebates per farm business, or they can put $1,200 toward the cost of buying a "more appropriate" work vehicle.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said the funds would save lives.
"And it's the result of the work that we have done together, listening and looking at the data and the evidence and saying 'we can do better than this'."
"Our farming communities are well known for being pretty tough. But we are called to do something to avoid the challenges that we can avoid, we need to do something about that."
Earlier this year, WorkSafe Victoria announced that employers would be required to install roll protection devices, sparking outrage from quad bike manufacturers and some in the farming community.
Two separate coroners' inquiries in other states did not find that using rollover bars reduced injuries or fatalities, but groups like Farmsafe said they wanted to see more done to improve on-farm safety when it came to vehicle accidents.
The Victorian Government expected more than 5,000 farmers would take up the rebates over the next two years.
The Victorian Farmers Federation will administer the scheme and has welcomed the announcement.
"This funding is a major breakthrough in protecting farmers' lives," VFF President Peter Tuohey said.
"In 2015, there were 22 quad bike fatalities across Australia. It's an unacceptable toll and it's great the Victorian Government has taken action."

​By Nikolai Beilharz