James Campbell: Daniel Andrews, United Firefighter Union can’t spin their way out of this one
DANIEL Andrews’s day out in Ararat yesterday — being chased around by CFA volunteers — was a taste of what he can expect for the next two years, writes James Campbell.
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DANIEL Andrews’s day out in Ararat yesterday — being chased around by CFA volunteers — was a taste of what he can expect for the next two years every time he steps outside the footprint of the MFB.
Talk to the people at Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria and they are at pains to stress that they are non-partisan politically, although they cannot be expected to control spontaneous demonstrations of anger at the Premier’s “deal”.
But this is a polite fiction to be maintained during the federal election. Come July 3, it will really be game-on for Dan. What should alarm Labor backbenchers is the extent to which the Premier and his supporters don’t seem to have worked out that they can’t spin their way out of this one.
Having survived their reckless behaviour up until now — taking possession of a journalist’s stolen Dictaphone, forcing MPs to rort their electorate office allowances in order to win an election, flushing $1.1 billion of taxpayer cash on not building a toll road — Dan and his crew seem to have convinced themselves they can make the political weather.
They are in for a nasty surprise with this one.
It doesn’t matter how many photo opportunities they tee up with UFU-friendly volunteers, there’s no convincing the majority of the CFA that this deal is anything other than a dog.
As the Herald Sun reveals today, the proposed EBA has so many veto clauses in it as to make it almost indistinguishable from the situation at the MFB, where managers can’t even change the amount of milk in the fridge without the permission of the United Firefighters Union.
MORE:
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HEAD OF CFA PLEADS WITH VOLUNTEERS TO STAY
EMERGENCY SERVICES MINISTER JANE GARRET RESIGNS OVER CFA WAR
OPINION: BOARD GAMES BEGIN IN CFA BATTLE
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