UFU member launches court action to challenge Jane Garrett’s Labor preselection

A SENIOR United Firefighters Union member has launched legal action to challenge the preselection of former emergency services minister Jane Garrett.

A SENIOR United Firefighters Union member has launched legal action to challenge the preselection of former emergency services minister Jane Garrett.

Geoff Barker is suing the Labor Party in the Supreme Court over the process to decide its Upper House ticket in the Eastern Victoria region, after a complaint to the party was unsuccessful.

The move follows UFU boss Peter Marshall urging Labor powerbrokers to block Ms Garrett’s switch from her Lower House seat of Brunswick.

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Ms Garrett said she had made a submission to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Right’s Commission report into bullying and ­harassment in the fire services, which the UFU managed to keep secret this week after a 16-month legal battle.

Former emergency services minister Jane Garrett is confronted by United Firefighters Union members. Picture: Kylie Else

The Herald Sun can also reveal ex-emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley applauded VEOHRC commissioner Kristen Hilton’s efforts to address cultural problems in the MFB and CFA.

In a leaked letter, he said the report would “provide strategic guidance to achieve the necessary reform that is required”.

“This includes consistent and comprehensive efforts to address the prevailing systemic, cultural and attitudinal barriers to equity and diversity and reduce workplace harm,” Mr Lapsley said.

Victims of bullying and harassment have continued to contact the Herald Sun to share their horror stories and express their disappointment that the VEOHRC report’s release had been blocked by the Court of Appeal.

Emergency Services Minister James Merlino said the government had already taken ‘significant steps to improve culture and address the lack of diversity in our fire services’. Picture: AAP

Ms Garrett told the ABC the decision to stop its release was “very difficult” for people who had given evidence.

Emergency Services Minister James Merlino said the government had already taken “significant steps to improve culture and address the lack of diversity in our fire services”.

The UFU said the report was “fundamentally flawed”, but that it was committed to “progressing workplace cultural improvements”.

Federal Industrial Relations Minister Kelly O’Dwyer slammed Mr Marshall for using the courts to “suppress the voices of victims of intimidation and sexual harassment”.

Opposition emergency services spokesman Brad Battin said the saga made it look like Mr Marshall was in charge, rather than Premier Daniel Andrews.

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