Federal Election 2016: Opposition Leader Bill Shorten dodges CFA seats

BILL Shorten has dodged key election battlegrounds in Victoria amid growing public anger over the CFA dispute — instead spending the day with TV personalities and campaigning in Labor city seats.

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BILL Shorten has dodged key election battlegrounds in Victoria amid growing public anger over the CFA dispute — instead spending the day with TV personalities and campaigning in Labor city seats.

The Opposition Leader spent his first full day in a fortnight campaigning in his home town of Melbourne, but stayed well away from the marginal seats where he might be confronted by angry CFA volunteers.

Instead, he visited the safe Labor seat of Isaacs, made an announcement in the marginal suburban seat of Chisholm, and spent several hours with TV funnyman Peter Helliar and filming a cooking show with the ABC’s Annabel Crabb.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten with Peter Helliar. Picture: KYM SMITH

He ignored the four marginal seats where the CFA dispute is highly controversial — Dunkley, McEwen, Corangamite and La Trobe — as he continued to try to distance himself from the decision by Labor Premier Daniel Andrews to force a union takeover on CFA volunteers.

But Mr Shorten was tackled on the dispute by ex-AFL star Jonathan Brown on breakfast radio. Brown said Warrnambool, his home town, would back the Coalition because of it.

In reply, Mr Shorten told the three-time Brisbane Lions premiership star that he was confident “peace will be restored”.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten on morning FM radio yesterday morning with Jonathan Brown.

“Voting for Malcolm Turnbull doesn’t change anything about what’s happening at the CFA,” Mr Shorten said on Nova FM. “I think there will be a solution.”

He said: “The reason I’m confident about a solution is I’ve seen what the volunteers did after Black Saturday.”

On June 16, Mr Shorten denied he was avoiding Victoria over the CFA dispute, saying: “Certainly I’ll be getting around our electorates. More than happy to talk to volunteers and career firefighters.’’

But the Herald Sun has confirmed that since the CFA dispute exploded on June 1, he has avoided the key battleground seats, despite at least two — Dunkley and Corangamite — being on a knife’s edge.

He hasn’t been to Corangamite since May 16, and was last in Dunkley on April 30.

His last visit to Australia’s most marginal seat, McEwen, held by Labor by just 0.2 per cent, was on May 28. And he hasn’t been to Liberal-held La Trobe since April last year.

Kitchen Cabinet host Annabel Crabb.

Rather than risk coming face to face with angry regional communities, Mr Shorten clowned around with TV funnyman Peter Helliar for Ten’s The Project and filmed an episode of Kitchen Cabinet, to be aired on ABC TV next week.

He met host Annabel Crabb yesterday for a park picnic in his electorate of Maribyrnong.

LaTrobe’s Liberal MP Jason Wood criticised Mr Shorten for not showing up to talk to CFA volunteers.

“It’s a lack of respect for the CFA volunteers in La Trobe who year after year, every summer, protect us, and now they want some protection for themselves,’’ he said. “It’s weak not to front up and explain why he won’t support them.”

Angry Volunteers Fire Brigades Victoria members are now focusing attention on marginal seats, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull promised to legislate to block the enforced union takeover.

A poll this week found 52 per cent of respondents said they were now less likely to vote Labor on July 2 because of the issue. Federal Labor MPs are worried, and furious with Mr Andrews for causing the issue to blow up in the midst of the election campaign.

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