THE Country Fire Authority crisis will be taken to the streets on Saturday with a convoy of tankers to travel from Wangaratta to Mansfield with a stopover in Benalla.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The rally, which will begin in Wangaratta at 9am, has been arranged by Benalla group officer Jim Rankin, who said he wanted CFA volunteers to send a strong message to Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews they were not happy about the proposed deal struck by his government and the firefighters' union.
"We just want to raise public awareness of the way we are being treated," Mr Rankin said.
"We want to send ä strong message to Daniel Andrews to back off or face some severe consequences.
"If the EBA goes through in its current form, then I believe there will be a mass walkout of CFA volunteers right across the state.
"It's my personal belief because it has got that serious.
"Anyone is welcome and the SES has already indicated they will participate.
"It is only intended to be a regional thing, but we are getting lots of inquiries from all over the place.
"It be could be bigger than Ben-Hur."
Mr Andrews was confronted by angry CFA volunteers on a visit to Ararat on Wednesday.
Earlier, this week the Molyulla CFA brigade flagged a breakaway in response to the deal struck between the government and firefighters' union which has resulted in the resignation of emergency services minister Jane Garrett and dismissal of the CFA board.
Euroa MLA Steph Ryan will take part in the convoy on Saturday and issued a challenge to Mr Andrews to meet and listen to volunteer concerns in his former hometown of Wangaratta on Saturday.
"This would be a perfect opportunity for him to hear directly from the communities that he says he is from," she said.
"It would be a perfect opportunity for the Premier to come and explain why he is ramming through a deal that will disadvantage CFA volunteers."
The Border Mail is attempting to contact Mr Andrews to respond to the invitation from Ms Ryan.
"To those who say it is the Opposition whipping up hysteria, you only have to look at the groups or bodies who have come out and said the EBA is flawed," she said.
"People like Jack Rush don't pick fights for political causes."
Federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash has confirmed a re-elected Turnbull Government will use will use powers under the Fair Work Act to help prevent the EBA from coming into effect.
"Under the Fair Work Act, the Commission cannot approve an EBA that contains discriminatory terms," she said.
"The proposed EBA currently includes discriminatory terms.
"The Victorian Government’s own legal advice confirms this."
Benambra MLA Bill Tilley said last night: "The Coalition at a federal level is a powerful and committed ally in this fight and the significance of this promise from Michaelia Cash is that it will stop the EBA in its tracks and also prevent this happening again.
"Daniel Andrews has continued to ignore the pleas of the volunteers who are strident in their opposition to the union agreement.
"You don’t have to take my word for it or that of any other politician, you simply have to listen to the people on the frontline.
"They are the ones who protected lives and property in major fires in 2003, 2006, 2009 and 2013 in and around the valleys and on the outskirts of Wodonga.
"They are the ones who turn out to the grass fire that ripped through the Indigo Valley in December."