Former Labor minister Andre Haermeyer calls on Daniel Andrews to back down in CFA dispute

Former Labor minister Andre Haermeyer has called on Daniel Andrews to do a Mike Baird-style ‘backflip’ in the ongoing CFA dispute.

Mr Haermeyer was the emergency services minister for six years in the Steve Bracks Government and served as shadow minister for another six years in the 1990s.

He said he couldn’t stand by and watch the saga go on any longer.

‘Maybe at some stage you need to accept the problem is with the UFU and not with the board of the CFA, or the MFB, or a minister or senior operational command,’ Mr Haermeyer told 3AW Mornings.

‘At some stage you just need to draw a line in the sand and ask how much political capital are you going to burn up on behalf of somebody that seems to be the problem.’

Mr Haermeyer said the UFU was ‘like no other’ union and that boss Peter Marshall ‘wore him down’ at times.

‘There is a sort of overbearing intimidation, the 2am phone calls, the constant wearing you down,’ he explained.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview on 3AW Mornings