CFA dispute: Prime Minister promises to enshrine CFA volunteer rights in law if elected

UPDATE: MALCOLM Turnbull has told CFA firefighters he’ll ensure they can’t be subordinated if re-elected, as Premier Daniel Andrews vows to end the dispute before fire season.

• Deal risks our CFA’s future: Jack Rush QC
• Tony Abbott: Labor’s assault on CFA attacks our heart and soul
• Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten dodges CFA seats
• Free sticker: Show your support to our volunteer heroes

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull has told a group of volunteer firefighters in Geelong he’ll ensure they can’t be subordinated if re-elected on July 2.

And Premier Daniel Andrews has vowed to end the CFA dispute before the dry fire season, batting away concerns expressed by Jack Rush, QC, a senior counsel assisting the bushfires royal commission.

Mr Turnbull said: “It’s an assault not just on the safety of Victorians ... it is an assault on what is the very best in our Australian spirit.”

If he is re-elected, “we will immediately amend the Fair Work Act to ensure the Victorian Government cannot have its way”.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull talks to CFA volunteers. Picture: Jason Edwards

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Election and Member for Corangamite Sarah Henderson speak with CFA volunteers in Geelong. Picture: Jason Edwards

He said he has invited Bill Shorten to join him in supporting legislation to stamp out union takeovers for firefighting volunteers, but “of course” he would not.

Mr Rush warned the deal was damaging morale within the CFA and could be against the Country Fire Authority Act, in an editorial in the Herald Sun today.

Despite Mr Rush’s warnings and well respected experience on the issue of firefighting in Victoria, Mr Andrews batted away the concerns saying he would push ahead with the deal.

“On Mr Rush, he’s entitled to his view, but I have a very clear message to him and to every Victorian ... this dispute will not go into another fire season, I will not let that happen because it’s not safe,” said Mr Andrews.

“My message to Mr Rush and to all Victorians, I simply will not have volunteer and career firefighters on the ground, while Fair Work Australia is filled with CFA bureaucrats at war with their own workforce ... there are big changes that need to take place and it won’t happen until we need to resolve this and we will ... we are not allowing this to run into another dry fire season.

“The legality in relation to the EBA as I’m sure Mr Rush knows, is not a matter for me ... it’s a matter for Fair Work Australia ... the legality is not determined by the cabinet, it’s determined appropriately by Fair Work Australia.

Mr Turnbull wears a CFA badge as he attends as he attends an event in Geelong. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Earlier Mr Rush had written “as the Country Fire Authority Act states, the CFA is “first and foremost a volunteer organisation” (CFA Act Section 6F).

“Why has this state lost a brave emergency services minister? Why has the board of the CFA been sacked?

“Why has an outstanding CEO of the CFA resigned?

“All this has happened because these people took their responsibilities under the CFA Act seriously.’’

“The enterprise bargaining agreement, central to the sackings, is contrary to the CFA Act.”

Mr Rush’s comments came after a Supreme Court ban on the CFA voting on the Andrews Government’s controversial pay deal has been extended until July 20, as the CFA board was forced to issue a statement clarifying the role of its new chief executive.

The VFBV will then meet with the authority to discuss their concerns on July 8, with the CFA barred from taking the deal to a vote until at least July 20.

After the news was announced on Wednesday Mr Andrews declined to comment on the extension to the Herald Sun but announced it in the Victorian Parliament.

Mr Turnbull continues to campaign in the marginal Liberal seat of Corangamite in Victoria, held by former ABC journalist Sarah Henderson by a margin of just 3.9 per cent.

Bill Shorten will be in South Australia talking jobs and outlining his “positive plans” for the state, which has the highest unemployment rate in the nation.

Follow live coverage on the Prime Minister’s visit to Geelong here