UFU registers anti-Jane Garrett how-to-vote card as Labor swaps red shirts for whites
Infuriated Premier Daniel Andrews has called out The UFU for unleashing an extraordinary “bullying” campaign on Jane Garrett by registering how-to-vote cards that call for the former emergency services minister to be put “last” on ballot papers.
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Premier Daniel Andrew says a Labor aligned union — that was key to Premier Daniel Andrews’ 2014 election win — is “bullying” one of his MPs.
The United Firefighters Union has issued how to vote cards calling on people to put Jane Garrett last on ballot papers.
The move was viewed as an escalation in the UFU’s ongoing battle against the former Emergency Services minister after it lodged an unsuccessful court challenge against her preselection as the number one candidate in the Eastern Victorian region.
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The UFU has been waging a war on the mum of three since she resigned from Cabinet in protest against the union’s push for more control over the fire services.
But Premier Daniel Andrews has issued a public message to the union to end its campaign.
“It is bullying, it is wrong and it should stop,” he said.
“She has the number one spot in Eastern Victoria and I would call on everybody in those communities to vote for Jane because she will be a fantastic member of my team in the Upper House, just as she has been a fantastic member of my team in the lower house.”
In comments that seemed to be directed to the United Firefighters Union leadership Mr Andrews said he hoped the message got through.
“It is wrong and I’m calling it out for what it is.”
The how-to-vote cards authorised by UFU boss Peter Marshall say, “professional firefighters know that Eastern Victorians deserve local Australian Labor Party candidates … put Jane Furneaux GARRETT LAST”.
Labor ministers on Wednesday night expressed dismay at Mr Marshall continuing to target Ms Garrett and were furious he had chosen to lob another grenade so close to a state election. And in what could signal a long-term relationship breakdown, Trades Hall president and CFMEU assistant secretary Shaun Reardon on Wednesday night hit back on Ms Garrett’s behalf, accusing the UFU of bullying.
Mr Reardon, who was part of a group of union leaders that recently condemned Mr Marshall’s ongoing harassment of Ms Garrett, said the UFU’s behaviour had to be called out.
“What an absolute disgrace to think that only 10 days out from an election we have someone in our movement telling people to vote against the Labor Party position,” he said.
“Victorian workers deserve better than this whether you are a nurse, a construction worker, a teacher or a firefighter.
“Whether its in the Liberal party, the Labor Party or the Greens, bullying is bullying.”
The embarrassment comes as Labor campaigners are swapping their notorious red shirts for whites in key seats including the one held by Mr Andrews, amid blowback from the party’s rorts-for-votes scandal. ALP sources say the wardrobe change is to avoid associations with a police investigation into Labor’s 2014 “red shirts” campaign, when 21 MPs hired almost $388,000 worth of taxpayer-funded staff to lead an army of volunteers in marginal seats.
Campaigners in white shirts have been spotted in the Premier’s seat of Mulgrave and marginal electorates of Mordialloc and Albert Park.
It is not clear whether police will decide to charge anyone involved in the rorts-for-votes scheme before the election, despite Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton saying a decision was “imminent”.
One Labor source said it was a bit rich for the Premier to duck red at his pre-poll booth after insisting the party had done nothing wrong in 2014.
“Now he’s not even willing to have his own people wear red shirts,” the source said.
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