James Campbell: Premier refusing to pull out of CFA deal

FOR reasons no one can understand the Premier would rather lose Jane Garrett and the CFA board than have to tell UFU boss Peter Marshall the pay deal is off.

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ON Monday Emergency Services Minister Jane Garrett forced Daniel Andrews to back down from his plan to push through the CFA ­enterprise bargaining agreement handing the United Firefighters Union almost all of the “outrageous” ­demands in its log of claims.

Dan licked his wounds for a couple of days while he and his coterie worked out how to counter-attack.

For reasons no one can understand, the Premier would rather lose Garrett, the CFA Board and its chief executive Lucinda Nolan than have to tell UFU boss Peter Marshall the deal is off.

On Tuesday and Wednesday his supporters got to work briefing against Garrett: she was a leaker; she was ambitious; she had mishandled the dispute; she is isolated without support in caucus.

They even managed to float the idea that numbers were being counted.

By yesterday, the Premier’s forces were ready to go.

Premier Daniel Andrews comes out of hiding arriving for caucus meeting at State Parliament. Picture: Nicole Garmston

On the way into parliament Police Minister Lisa Neville stopped to tell reporters the leaking needed to stop, while Industrial Relations Minister Natalie Hutchins said the CFA board needed to stop stalling and sign the deal (smart move using two women to deliver this message).

Later, during question time, Hutchins made a ministerial statement saying Fair Work President Iain Ross had said the proposed deal was all OK on the diversity front.

The equal opportunity and diversity problems in the EBA are being used internally to argue against it, especially by Women’s Minister Fiona Richardson, so having Ross say it was fine was a big deal.

The problem was it wasn’t true: Ross had not said what Hutchins said he had — as she later admitted to parliament.

Any plan to ram it through a cabinet subcommittee that day probably died there.

But worse was to come — the CFA has legal advice from a silk that the present deal is unlawful and cannot be signed.

The CFA board won’t meet ­tomorrow because there’s nothing to discuss.

You might have thought illegality would give the Premier pause, but Dan’s not backing down.

Today there will be an emergency full Cabinet meeting to ram this through.

Unless someone other than Garrett has the guts to stand up to him.

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