Emergency Services Minister Paul Edbrooke has hit out at the United Firefighters Union after a bullet engraved with the word “RAT” and his former firefighter number was left on his car windscreen in Frankston over the weekend.
The threat against Edbrooke came just days after federal MP Helen Haines was allegedly deliberately hit by a car outside her electorate office, an incident that has put the safety and security of elected officials at the forefront of national discourse.
Haines remains serious but stable in the Alfred hospital, having lost both her legs in the car crash in Wangaratta. The driver, Brendan Nugent, is now behind bars, charged with several offences.
“This is a new low in a pattern of threatening behaviour against politicians,” Edbrooke said in a statement.
“There is a small minority in the UFU who think threats and intimidation are acceptable - this does not represent our firefighters.”
Edbrooke worked as a firefighter in Frankston for 14 years, during which he served as the station’s workplace representative for the UFU and fought the Black Saturday bushfires in Marysville and Kinglake. He told ABC radio, the threat was clearly linked to his firefighting past.
Edbrooke said he suspected the UFU because very few people knew his five-digit ID number. “The only people I’m really getting aggressive threats from at the moment are members of that union,” he said.
“It’s one thing to be an armchair critic and say what you want from behind a computer. It’s another thing to follow somebody and put something on their car like a bullet.”
He added that the small group of UFU members he was referring to “believe everything they are told by the leadership and think that by someone intimidating or bullying me, I will support them and give them a taxpayer-funded slush fund for the union. It ain’t gonna happen”.
Edbrooke clarified that there was an issue with an income protection scheme going to the UFU, when he believed it should go to firefighters directly.
“That’s what this is about. It’s not about firefighter safety or staffing. There is no threat to that from the state government.”
He urged candidates from other parties to stop campaigning with the UFU.
“The message I’d like to get out there to all [election] candidates is: if you enjoy our democracy, the standard you walk past in the standard you accept,” he said.
Opposition leader Jess Wilson said her thoughts were with Edbrooke.
“I can’t imagine how upsetting it is for him and for his family,” she said. “There’s just no place for these sort of threats and intimidation in Victoria or this country.”
Edbrooke has also recently been the target of a fresh campaign by the UFU: Since Wednesday, it has been running televised ads urging people to put Labor last in next month’s state election, angry that the government wants to end enforceable minimum staffing for firefighters.
“Firefighters beat these arguments in court when a Liberal government ran them. Now a Labor government is running the Liberals’ case against its own firefighters,” said UFU Secretary Peter Marshall in a statement announcing the ad blitz.
“Minister Edbrooke can end this with the stroke of a pen. Until he does, firefighters will tell voters the truth.”
Marshall also addressed union members on Friday, saying Edbrooke and Premier Ben Carroll would be “in the gun” if they affected his members.
On Monday, Marshall clarified this comment. “I meant at the ballot box and anyone there, or seeing the video, would know that,” he said.
“Threatening anyone, including a minister we strongly disagree with, is the opposite of everything this union stands for. I condemn it without qualification.”
Marshall said whoever had planted the bullet did not act for his union or for firefighters more generally, and that he hoped police found the culprit.
The union has also been locked in a years-long pay dispute with the government, which remains before the Fair Work Commission. In August , Fire Rescue Victoria firefighters urged the government to intervene, alleging Marshall was stalling the negotiations.
“We stand ready to give firefighters the pay rise they want, but we won’t be including any kind of slush fund in that agreement,” Edbrooke said.
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