By GEORGIA WESTGARTH and CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
NARRE Warren North MP Judith Graley has been travelling a rocky road recently, coming under fire for a Facebook gaffe involving a CFA station and for her report on a taxpayer-funded European trip.
Ms Graley’s recent visit to the volunteer operated Hampton Park Fire Brigade turned to ashes, amid allegations online that the visit was made in secret with paid firefighters.
On her official Facebook page, Ms Graley claimed she met with “extraordinary volunteers“ while pictured with Minister for Emergency Services James Merlino, CFA District Eight Operations Manager Mark Kennedy and Trevor Owen, CFA Assistant Chief Officer for the South East Region.
Disgusted local volunteers labelled it a political stunt as part of the ongoing dispute between the Victorian Government, the CFA and the United Firefighters Union (UFU).
Ms Graley is putting the Facebook stuff-up down to a mistake by an electorate office staff member.
In a statement, she said: “The visit to the Hampton Park CFA brigade was to tour the facilities and the Facebook post was made in error by an electorate office staff member. It was removed as soon as the mistake was identified.”
The visit on Thursday 4 August was posted to Facebook the following day, but Mr Kennedy who was pictured told the News they weren’t given much time to organise volunteers.
“We had a heads-up late Wednesday afternoon that they might be coming out, but it wasn’t until Thursday that they could ascertain what time,” Mr Kennedy said.
“As I understand it, it wasn’t something that had been planned out weeks in advance, the timeframe didn’t allow us to get volunteers there and volunteers’ availability at short notice is restricted.”
Ms Graley’s Facebook post said that she went to the volunteer brigade to meet with volunteers.
Despite one being there, she did not speak with the individual.
Mr Kennedy said the group discussed the possibility of Hampton Park’s brigade extending its facilities, adding that the social media post was unfortunate.
“Obviously Judith misunderstood who she was talking to,” he said.
“We didn’t say we are not volunteers – I don’t think there was any ill intent – we explained who we were, she may have thought we were volunteers not knowing any different.
“I made contact via email and pointed out that it was factually incorrect, she apologised and had it removed so it didn’t cause further angst.”
Mr Kennedy admitted the mix-up between volunteers and paid firefighters was “bad timing” as the dispute lingers.
“I was surprised at how it blew up, but not surprised, yes and no,” he said of the backlash.
“I can understand our volunteers’ frustration – there’s a lot going on at the moment and they feel like they have been excluded from an opportunity to interact with the Minister for Emergency Services,” he said.
South East Metro MP, Inga Peulich, said Ms Graley ought to be embarrassed.
“It is a real slap in the face for genuine volunteers to see an out of touch MP trying to pass off Labor’s preferred paid staff as volunteers,” Ms Peulich said.
“This disastrous Andrews Labor Government is more interested in unionising the fire-brigade to provide itself with more union fees, than it is in providing safety to the community.”
Ms Graley had already met recent Opposition criticism after a Herald Sun story into her report justifying a mid-year “field trip” to Europe in mid-2015.
In a two-page report, the MP described her quest as a “research project” for establishing a boutique museum/exhibition space in Melbourne CBD.
It didn’t include the trip’s cost nor the cities, institutions or people she visited.
She wrote that evidence “overwhelmingly” supported a boutique project in Melbourne.
“Not wanting to pre-empt a government announcement I will confine this report to a few general observations and following a government decision will produce when required a more confidential report.”
Her key findings included that “increasingly small spaces” and “smaller historic venues” were being used for displays, and were likely to be “cost efficient”.
Ms Graley also found that volunteers were “intrinsic” to these projects.
Marketing revenue from a gift shop was “essential” for the project’s financial success, she wrote.
Ms Graley’s spokesman did not respond to Star News’s inquiries about the report.
