Federal election 2016: Labor hits panic button over CFA crisis

VOTERS say the CFA crisis will affect the way they vote in the federal election as Labor MPs bombard the Premier’s office with calls the dispute is damaging their campaigns.

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• CFA members ambush Premier Daniel Andrews in Ararat
• Jeff Kennett: Stop this attack on our social fabric

FEDERAL Labor has hit the panic button over the CFA ­crisis in Victoria, with MPs and strategists bombarding Premier Daniel Andrews’s office with calls warning it is damaging their election campaign.

This comes as volunteer firefighters confirmed to federal Liberal MPs they would campaign for them in key seats for the July 2 poll.

Senior federal Labor figures told the Herald Sun hopes of reclaiming the Liberal marginal seats of Corangamite and La Trobe were quickly fading amid the fallout.

Despite controversies surrounding Liberal candidate Chris Jermyn in McEwen, there are also fears within Labor over the future of sitting MP Rob Mitchell, who holds the bushfire-prone seat on Melbourne’s northern fringe by just 0.2 per cent.

He took to social media this week to calm angry constituents. “There are many volunteers feeling torn apart and discarded by this dispute and some of our career firefighters are being targeted as the cause of the issue. This should stop and stop now,” he said

Mr Mitchell said his community was disappointed that the State Government had not resolved this issue sooner.

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It is understood those who have made calls to Mr ­Andrews’s office demanding he fix the crisis include Mr ­Mitchell and Labor hardhead Stephen Conroy.

One Labor frontbencher told the Herald Sun the issue had become “a serious distraction’’. Another senior Labor figure called it a “slow-moving train wreck”, adding: “At the very least, it’s taking oxygen away from the key messages.

“At worst, it fits in to a narrative which isn’t helpful ... the (union) puppet narrative.’’

Despite claims by federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten that the issue was one for the state to handle, a man attended a pre-poll station at Berwick yesterday, handing out flyers to voters criticising PM Malcolm Turnbull, who has promised to legislate to protect the CFA volunteers from a union takeover.

CFA volunteers protest at Ararat Aerodrome on Wednesday. Picture: Ian Currie

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has dismissed the CFA issue was one for the state to handle. Picture: Kym Smith

The flyers were authorised by United Firefighters Union chief Peter Marshall, who met Mr Shorten several weeks ago.

Liberal MP for LaTrobe Jason Wood questioned the man, who said he was on the CFA’s paid staff but on a day off and not a union member.

“What is interesting about that is the idea that the CFA staff were turning against the volunteers,’’ Mr Wood said, adding that he doubted the man’s claims.

The CFA said it was apolitical and members were not authorised to hand out political information on behalf of the organisation.

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Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria CEO Andrew Ford confirmed to 3AW his members would campaign for the Coalition, saying: “I think our members will campaign for any chance of that sort of legislative change (Mr Turnbull’s amendments) happening.’’

Labor candidate for the Liberal seat of Casey, volunteer firefighter Hovig Melkonian, posted on Facebook that he would “speak out if I see the work of CFA volunteers being undermined”.

“This means helping CFA volunteers raise issues direct to Emergency Services Commissioner Craig Lapsley, and speaking up for them in federal parliament,’’ he wrote.

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