More than 50 members of the Victorian Firefighters Union gathered outside the Centrepiece event venue as Labor delegates attended the party’s two-day conference inside. While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan delivered speeches to party faithful inside, Victoria’s frontline firefighters spoke about the harsh realities they say they are facing under the Labor government. Bob Psaila has served as a firefighter for 28 years, and throughout that time he has relied on a Melway to respond to emergencies — shockingly, he says
that is still the reality today. “We are the only fire service in Australia which doesn’t have mobile data service terminals. “Like an uber driver taxi driver can see where they are on their phones, we can’t, we are still using Melway’s. “That’s how bad things are.” Fire union secretary Peter Marshall wants to make it “very clear that this is a government that shouldn’t be returned to government”. “We haven’t had a pay increase for five or six years and have 140 trucks that
are out of condition and should be off the road.” “Make your vote count, put Labor last. That’s where we’ll be at polling booths come the state election.” Visiting from Bendigo, Grassmere Captain, CFA Volunteers President John Houston said the regional cohort is beyond sick of broken promises. “We want change, and we want a commitment that they’re going to honour,” said Mr Houston. “If it’s not this government, which I don’t think it’s going to be, then the pressure’s going to be on the
next.”
Victorian Firefighters Union, Labor state conference, Anthony Albanese, Jacinta Allan, Bob Psaila, Peter Marshall, John Houston, Melway, mobile data service terminals, CFA Volunteers, Bendigo, Grassmere, state election
Putting Labor last?? wild, sounds like they’re just mad about pay again.
Melway?? like the old map book? That seems honestly insane if true. How are they not upgraded yet.
Wait so they want voters to “put Labor last” because firefighters don’t have mobile terminals? I mean… wouldn’t that be more like the tech company’s fault? Also 140 trucks out of condition sounds like a ridiculous number, are they sure that’s not exaggeration.
I’m not even from Victoria but this feels like the same story everywhere—promises, speeches, then nobody fixes the stuff. If they haven’t had a pay increase for 5 or 6 years that’s crazy. Also “Melway” makes it sound like they’re still driving around with paper maps in 2026. I get why they’re yelling at the conference, but politics is always messy so who knows if it’ll actually change anything.