Bullet Threat Targets Victorian Police Minister

A bullet marked “RAT” and carrying Victorian Police Minister Paul Edbrooke’s former firefighter identification number was found on his car after a community event in his Frankston electorate on Saturday. His children use the car, he told ABC Radio Melbourne, turning an attack aimed at a minister into a threat felt inside his family’s everyday life.

“My kids drive this car and you start thinking ‘Am I being followed? Who knows I’m here? Am I being surveilled?’” Edbrooke said. “It’s not subtle. That’s a death threat: a bullet with my firefighter ID number on it and the word RAT.” He said the five-digit number wasn’t widely known outside the fire services.

Victoria Police said, “The circumstances surrounding the incident will be investigated.” The force is investigating an alleged threat against a Victorian MP in the greater Frankston area. Edbrooke said the bullet’s placement on his car marked a significant escalation from earlier threats, most of which had been made online.

A workplace dispute moves into election politics

The threat came amid an industrial dispute between the Victorian Labor Government and the United Firefighters Union (UFU). The union had launched a campaign urging voters to put Labor last at the November 28 state election. Edbrooke began his career as a firefighter and UFU member, then became a central figure in the dispute over a new enterprise agreement for Fire Rescue Victoria. He later cut ties with the union amid tensions with its Victorian branch secretary, Peter Marshall.

Two days before the bullet was found, Marshall warned Edbrooke and Premier Ben Carroll in a video on the union’s social media accounts that they were “in the gun.” “You affect our members, you’re in the gun,” Marshall said as he announced the campaign against Labor. He later said he meant the ballot box, not physical violence, and that viewers would understand the meaning.

The UFU condemned the threat “without qualification” and called on police to identify whoever was responsible. “Threatening anyone, including a minister we strongly disagree with, is the opposite of everything this union stands for,” Marshall said. An audio recording of a union meeting obtained by the ABC captured him questioning whether the bullet had been placed on the car: “I’d dearly love to know who actually put the bullet there — if it did happen at all.” He said police would get to the bottom of it if the incident was true, and that if it wasn’t, it was designed to divert attention from the enterprise agreement. He later told hundreds of members the incident had nothing to do with the union and said its campaign against Labor would continue.

Firefighters caught in the machinery

The union and Fire Rescue Victoria had been in a pay dispute since 2021, and negotiations had dragged on for more than six years. The matter was before the Fair Work Commission under intractable bargaining provisions. The government said it was prepared to give firefighters a pay rise but opposed arrangements it argued would create a union-controlled financial benefit. The UFU said the government was seeking to weaken firefighter protections, including minimum staffing guarantees and safeguards for rostering, job classifications and consultation.

Carroll said he was disgusted by the incident and backed Edbrooke. “One thing I know about Paul, he’s tough,” the Premier said. “He won’t be intimidated by this, he’ll just get up and work doubly hard for our firefighters, for our police officers and everyone he represents in Frankston.” Victorian Opposition Leader Jess Wilson also condemned the incident and told ABC Radio Melbourne, “I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to try and take the temperature down.”

Safety, access and the public

The alleged threat followed an attack the previous week on independent federal MP Helen Haines in Wangaratta. Haines, 65, was struck by a car outside her electorate office in an incident police believe was deliberate. She lost both legs and remained in hospital in serious but stable condition. There was no suggestion the incidents were connected.

Edbrooke said threats could make elected representatives less accessible to the public. “I’m afraid with actions like this we start losing [democracy], we start having a reaction where we have to have more security and MPs are less available to public members,” he said. He said he would continue his work and urged politicians across the political spectrum to condemn threats and intimidation. The ballot-box campaign, the unresolved workplace agreement and the investigation now sit alongside that warning: decisions over public work and worker protections remain contested, while the people those institutions claim to represent face the consequences.