Victoria's Opposition Leader Matthew Guy ordered two of his MPs back into parliament to vote against a controversial government bill on Good Friday after they begged to be excused for religious reasons.
Upper house Liberal MPs Bernie Finn and Craig Ondarchie were each granted a pair - meaning an opposite MP would abstain from voting - but returned to the Legislative Council at the 11th hour to successfully vote down the fire services bill.
"It was my decision all members should be back. Pairing or no pairing, I had made it clear that I expected all of them to be back," Mr Guy told reporters.
"It was my decision, not theirs."
The legislation would have made the Country Fire Authority a volunteer-only organisation, created a larger new professional service, and included cancer compensation for firefighters.
The government says the laws were needed to break a year-long pay dispute deadlock with the CFA that has seen a minister resign and fire officials leave.
Mr Guy said Labor was taking advantage of Australian Conservatives MP Rachel Carling-Jenkins' illness to try and ram through the bill on a day parliament had never sat on before.
Flouting the trust of the pairing convention was justified because the vote properly reflected the will of the parliament, given Dr Carling-Jenkins' opposition to the bill, he added.
"They've preyed on the absence of a sick MP in order to get a bill through the parliament," he said.
The government says Dr Carling-Jenkins did not request a pair.
On Tuesday Fairfax reported she did not get a pairing deal with the government and said "I can't help bad timing" about the vote coinciding with her illness.
Mr Guy denied his team had used religion to cheat their way into winning a vote and that pairings should now be put in writing in the upper house, like they are in the Legislative Assembly.
Premier Daniel Andrews said the government is now "exploring all our options" to revive the bill.
"What I think we saw on Friday ... confirms for all Victorians what many already knew and that is that the Liberal Party and Mr Guy in particular cannot be trusted," he told reporters.
"He certainly can't be trusted on what he says in the Victorian parliament, he showed every Victorian that through his appalling behaviour on Friday."
The government says it will also now review how pairs are handled for the remainder of parliament until the November election.
Share
