Vic premier hopes for calm over CFA deal
Premier Daniel Andrews is hoping his calls for calm over a controversial pay deal for Victorian firefighters are heeded.
Months of escalating tension over a proposed deal between the CFA and the United Firefighters Union boiled over recently with threats to MPs, fighting in a newsagent, tension at firestations and high profile resignations.
"This has gone a little bit too far. We don't want violence, we don't want threats, we don't want intimidation," Mr Andrews told reporters on Thursday.
Emergency services minister Jane Garrett resigned from his cabinet rather than support the pay deal, while the CFA board was sacked and the chief executive quit.
They all believed the deal - which Mr Andrews pushed through cabinet - gave too much power to the union at the expense of the CFA's 60,000 volunteers.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited a CFA station in Geelong and again promised to use the Fair Work Act to stop the deal.
The new CFA board will put the new pay deal to employees for a vote after July 23 - weeks after the July 2 federal election.
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