James Campbell: Peter Marshall still a hurdle in Bill Shorten’s run for Lodge
TWO years after he helped to sink Bill Shorten’s previous run at the Lodge, Peter Marshall is still causing him headaches, writes James Campbell.
James Campbell
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TWO years after he helped to sink Bill Shorten’s previous run at the Lodge, Peter Marshall is still causing him headaches.
At the 2016 election, the Opposition Leader was barely able to campaign in Victoria because volunteer firefighters, angry about a CFA pay deal, threatened to disrupt his public appearances.
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That deal, which caused Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett and the top management of the CFA to all quit, had been virtually drafted by the UFU boss before being ticked off by Daniel Andrews and his Cabinet.
Labor failed to win a seat in Victoria and lost Chisholm to the Liberals.
Fast-forward to 2018 and Peter Marshall is still inserting himself into Bill Shorten’s life in an unwelcome way.
Marshall, who in April failed to deny he might have a secret recording of the Premier, appears to be trying to blow up a peace-in-our-time deal that would see his enemy Garrett given a seat to allow her to continue in State Parliament.
Rising Right powerbroker Adem Somyurek has agreed to support the reindorsement of every sitting federal member and made it clear he won’t try to take Jagajaga off the Socialist Left. His one non-negotiable demand is that Garrett and her Industrial Left faction — comprising the CFMMEU and three smaller unions — be accommodated with a state seat.
Bill Shorten will be asking the CFMMEU for a lot of money for federal Labor’s campaign at the next election. A state seat seems a reasonable request in return.
But not to Peter Marshall.
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