More on this heroic stand by Libs to defeat a fowl act by the even fowler Vic imposter Labor "Govt" continued...Earlier on Friday, he described the long-haul debate, which started at 7pm on Thursday and went through into Good Friday, as inappropriate.
“It’s not a day for parliament to be debating and fighting. It’s a day that we should be coming together to back the Royal Children’s Hospital,” he told reporters.
“The government is playing politics with the CFA on the day the CFA is out fundraising for the Royal Children’s Hospital.”
The Liberal MPs has requested pairs on religious grounds because the debate took place on Good Friday.
The government granted pairs and sent Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford and Small Business Minister Philip Dalidakis home, the Herald Sun reports.
But Mr Finn and Mr Ondarchie came back to the chamber when a vote was called for the bill to be read a third time and the bill was defeated 19-18.
Liberal MPs Craig Ondarchie and Bernie Finn were granted a pairing for religious reasons but walked back into the Legislative Council on Good Friday to vote against the changes.
Attorney General Martin Pakula accused the Coalition MPs of hiding in their offices until Ms Pulford and Mr Dalidakis left parliament.
“This is totally unprecedented. Two Liberal MP’s asked for (what turned out to be) fake pairs for ‘religious observance’. They hid in their offices till Labor MP’s who paired them left the building. They then snuck back in for the vote. Never ever happened before,” he tweeted.
Reason MP Fiona Patten, who voted in support of the bill, labelled it “the dirtiest political trick I have ever seen in my 20 years around parliaments”.
“It started with Bernie Finn getting up saying that he felt physically sick working on Good Friday while Craig Ondarchie sat eyes closed praying saying it was his most religious day,” she said. “They have completely lost the trust and respect of the crossbench.”
The Herald Sun reported Labor upper house member Cesar Melham described the move as “dishonourable’.
“If you pair someone for a good reason then you honour that. These people are the most dishonourable people on earth,” Mr Melham said.
“If they truly are good Christians the only place waiting for them is hell.”
Liberal MP David Davis said the government’s pressure to push through the bill and have parliament sit on Good Friday was “simply disgraceful”, the Herald Sun reported.
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/victoria-fire-reforms-voted-do...And what the Lefties wait for with baited breath - COMMENTS from real peopleAndrew 4 DAYS AGO
Suck it up Andrews! The sooner you get voted out the better for Victoria and society in general.
Reta 4 DAYS AGO
A responsible decision by the Opposition. The consequences of the 199 days of leave entitlements are yet to fully realised in terms of workforce availability and financial impact. Until those aspects are worked through, Victoria will need firefighting volunteers aplenty. Half the paid workforce away for 6 months plus each year signals a need to double the worforce....at what cost? The rural areas take great pride in their volunteer firefighting and their interest centre on local priorities not city based power grabs. Good to see the Opposition is awake to the governments ever increasing list of dirty tricks.
Roger 4 DAYS AGO
"A dirty political trick". Sounds like the Andrews Labor government was hoisted on it's own petard. ROLL ON THE ELECTION WHEN THE CORRUPT UNION BOSS ALP GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE THROWN OUT FOR A GENERATION.
Peter 4 DAYS AGO
Terrible bit of junk union legislation.
Peter 4 DAYS AGO
Where was the pair for the Australian Conservatives MP? Labor hypocrites.
Tallulah 4 DAYS AGO
@Peter apparently never asked for one. Makes sense because Labor granted act of the two Libs a pair.
Kevin 3 DAYS AGO
@Tallulah @Peter She had no advance notice that the Parliament would be sitting on Good Friday, so she hadn't asked for a pair for that day. No-one would have expected it to be necessary.
Right! said Fred 4 DAYS AGO
If this were Mother Theresa complaining of a plunge in ethical standards and morality I'd be inclined to take notice - having the ALP squealing so loudly only makes me laugh - talk about the pot calling the kettle black (I hope I'm allowed to say that
)
Gosling 4 DAYS AGO
Mother Theresa would have been right at home.
Mark 4 DAYS AGO
Oh oh.really bad precedent. Another step lower for politics. Now there can be no complaining from either side about a thing that could genuinely be complained about. Asilly low move they will regret
Roger 4 DAYS AGO
Mark Sure. When it's the Labor party which gets snookered it's always the fault of the Liberals and when it's the Libs who gets the same treatment it's the "all pollies are the same" routine. Go jump in the lake the lot of you Laborites inside and outside big media.
Erasmus 4 DAYS AGO
So Labor tried to push through the bill on Good Friday knowing the Conservative Party member, who would vote against it, was sick and they had refused to offer him a pair. So the Liberals plotted to defeat Labor’s plot. Sounds fair enough to me. Seems Andrews couldn’t use our money to win this one.