THE firestorm which has blown up around the CFA shows no sign of abating.
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The political conditions surrounding the issue are akin to a scorching summer’s day with a nasty northerly wind.
Flames have broken out and they are being fanned in the furnace of a lengthy federal election campaign entering its final week.
On one side is the Victorian Labor government which through Premier Daniel Andrews has acted to end a long-running CFA enterprise agreement by siding with the United Firefighters Union.
They are opposed by concerned volunteer firefighters, upset at the agreement which saw the Emergency Services Minister resign and the CFA board ousted.
Jumping into the fray, Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said protecting the volunteers under the Fair Work Act would be the “first item of business” for his re-elected government.
In that context, the Liberal Party has circulated a pamphlet in Indi claiming “only Malcolm Turnbull and Sophie Mirabella will protect the CFA”.
Not surprisingly it has upset the Liberals’ opponents and particularly Indi Labor candidate Eric Kerr who said claims in the flier were “lies”.
There is no doubt, despite the CFA being a state organisation and funded by the Victorian government, there will be some blowback for Labor in the federal election as a result of the issue.
That is why it is surprising Mr Andrews did not wait until after July 2 to act.
Surely as a son of the bush, Mr Andrews should have understood the degree of ownership country citizens feel for the CFA and the wide respect for volunteers.
At the very least, Mr Andrews’ actions have damaged the fabric of the CFA and it is not surprising the anger at his actions has been felt keenly.
With news that UFU members have been at pre-polling booths in Indi, the matter will continue to simmer over the next week.
The unwillingness of the union’s leader Peter Marshall to speak candidly about the enterprise agreement only fuels suspicion about what it means in practice.
Regardless of the result of the federal election on Saturday, the issue will continue to fester and a rapprochement between the volunteers, CFA management and the Victorian government will need to occur.
The concern is how much metaphorical ground is razed in the meantime.