Hinch backs bid to block CFA deal

Support is building within parliament for Malcolm Turnbull’s proposals to block the proposed Country Fire Authority deal, amid Mr Hinch’s support for the Prime Minister on the issue.

The Coalition’s proposed legislation was revealed yesterday, reigniting the dispute between the commonwealth and Victorian governments over a proposed industrial agreement that allegedly subjugates the CFA’s volunteers to the United Firefighters Union.

It also prompted an embarrassing backdown from federal Employment Minister Michaelia Cash, who was pilloried for misrepresenting one of the most controversial claims about the agreement.

Mr Turnbull yesterday accused Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews of having a “sinister ­purpose” in foisting the union-friendly deal on the CFA, while Mr Andrews’ deputy, James Merlino, said the Prime Minister and Senator Cash were not telling the truth.

The laws unveiled yesterday are designed to protect volunteers by ensuring that clauses in enterprise agreements that undermine volunteers would be unlawful under the Fair Work Act.

But is not clear they will pass the Senate and legal experts were divided yesterday on whether the commonwealth’s unorthodox move would succeed even it did pass the parliament.

Mr Hinch last night tweeted he supported “100 per cent” the government’s actions on the CFA issue.

“I had talks with Michaelia Cash about it last week in Melbourne and during the campaign I went to a lot of sausage sizzles and field days and I’m pleased that the government is going to do this to try to thwart Premier Andrews and the union,” Senator Hinch told the ABC today.



Mr Turnbull gave a press conference with Senator Cash at Coldstream in the fire-prone Yarra Valley, vowing he would do what he could to avoid the attempted takeover of the CFA by the militant United Firefighters Union.

“We will not stand by and let the discriminatory and offensive terms of this agreement undermine the effective use of the CFA’s volunteer firefighters,’’ he said.

But Mr Merlino, the state’s Emergency Services Minister, ­attacked Mr Turnbull and Senator Cash and warned their ­approach may have unforeseen consequences.

“I don’t know Michaelia Cash but today she admitted that she had not read the proposed agreement and she lied in regard to how the seven-on-the-ground clause works,’’ he said, referring to an opinion piece that the minister was forced to verbally correct ­yesterday.

“We always said the Liberal campaign was a campaign of lies and misinformation and today the Prime Minster and the federal Employment Minister have confirmed it.”

He said the agreement would deliver 25 extra firefighters to the fire-prone CFA District 13, in which the Prime Minister did his press conference yesterday, and he challenged Mr Turnbull to ­explain why he opposed this.

Mr Merlino, who fluffed his lines yesterday during his comments about the contentious “seven on the fireground” clause, also struggled with questions about the cost of the union-friendly deal his government wants to foist on the CFA.

He rejected the $700 million cost estimate attributed to CFA management and said $160m was the cost “over and above indexation” before adding “the Department of Treasury and Finance and the CFA continue to work through the costs of the agreement”.

The latest version of the proposed agreement states that seven professional firefighters have to be dispatched before volunteers can begin fighting a fire in areas where both volunteers and professionals operate.