‘Am I Being Followed?’: Victorian Emergency Services Minister Finds Bullet Etched With ‘RAT’ and His Old Firefighter Number on His Car as Fears Grow for MPs’ Safety Weeks Before State Election
- Labor MP Paul Edbrooke discovered the bullet on his car bonnet in the Frankston area, inscribed with the word ‘RAT’ and the service number from his firefighting days.
- The minister says his children drive the same car, and the discovery has left him wondering whether he is being watched.
- The firefighters’ union condemned the threat, but its leader was later recorded questioning whether the bullet had been placed there at all.
- The incident comes days after federal independent MP Helen Haines lost both legs in what police believe was a deliberate car attack.
It was a single bullet. Small enough to fit in a closed fist, yet carrying a message impossible to misread.
When Paul Edbrooke walked to his car on Saturday, he found the round sitting on the bonnet. Scratched into its casing were three letters, ‘RAT’, alongside the number he wore for years as a Victorian firefighter.
For a man who once ran towards danger for a living, the discovery cut deep. The threat was personal, deliberate and, he says, aimed squarely at him and the people closest to him.
Mr Edbrooke, Victoria’s Emergency Services Minister and the Labor member for Frankston, has described the incident as a fresh low point. He has reported it to police, and detectives are now investigating.
Speaking on 774 ABC Melbourne, the minister said he was horrified.
His children also drive the car, he explained, and his mind immediately turned to whether someone had been tracking his movements, who knew where he was, and whether he was under surveillance.
The Victoria Police Security Investigation Unit has confirmed it is examining a threat against a member of parliament allegedly made in the greater Frankston area. A spokesperson said detectives would look into the circumstances.
Mr Edbrooke said threats against him were nothing new, but most had been confined to the internet. A physical object, placed on a vehicle his family uses, marked a serious escalation.
He does not know who left the bullet. But he pointed to what he called a small minority within the United Firefighters Union who, he argued, see intimidation as an acceptable tactic.
He stressed that this group did not reflect firefighters more broadly.
The minister accused that faction of swallowing whatever their leadership told them and believing that bullying him would force the government to hand the union what he labelled a taxpayer-funded slush fund.
He was blunt: it would not happen.
He also urged every politician to call out the threats and stop campaigning alongside UFU members.
The bullet did not land in a vacuum.
The UFU has been locked in a bitter industrial fight with Fire Rescue Victoria since 2021, and the union is currently pursuing action before the Fair Work Commission over an enterprise bargaining agreement.
The dispute has become openly political.
The union is running a campaign urging Victorians to put Labor last at the state election on November 28, arguing the government wants to weaken firefighter protections ahead of the fire season.
Mr Edbrooke rejects that claim.
He says the government is ready to deliver the pay rise firefighters are seeking and carry over their existing conditions, but will not include any ‘slush fund’ in a new deal.
In a public statement, the union condemned the threat ‘without qualification’ and called for a full police investigation.
Victorian branch secretary Peter Marshall said threatening anyone, even a minister the union strongly opposes, ran against everything it stood for, and that whoever was responsible did not speak for firefighters.
Mr Marshall also addressed remarks he had made the previous day, when he said the Premier and the minister were ‘in the gun’. He insisted he meant at the ballot box, and that anyone present or watching the footage would understand that.
Yet the tone shifted behind closed doors.
In an audio recording of a snap union meeting, obtained by the ABC, Mr Marshall questioned whether the bullet had been placed on the car at all.
He suggested that if the claim were untrue, it was designed to distract from members’ EBA campaign.
He later told hundreds of members the incident had nothing to do with the union, and said the minister was wrong if he believed the union would stop campaigning against him.
The timing could hardly be more alarming.
Just a week earlier, federal independent MP Helen Haines, 65, was struck by a car outside her Wangaratta electorate office in what police believe was a deliberate attack.
She lost both legs and remains in a serious but stable condition at the Alfred Hospital.
Analysis: What This Means for Australia
The bullet on Mr Edbrooke’s bonnet is more than a nasty episode in a long-running pay dispute. It is the latest sign that hostility towards elected officials in Australia is spilling from screens into streets, driveways and electorate offices.
For national security, the pattern matters. Online abuse is difficult enough to police.
Physical tokens of violence suggest someone was willing to locate a target, approach his vehicle and leave a calling card. That demands a different level of response.
For law enforcement, the pressure is immense. Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush has said officers are taking a proactive approach to politicians’ security in the run-up to the election.
With campaigning about to intensify, that promise will be tested daily.
For communities, the consequences may be quieter but lasting.
Mr Edbrooke himself warned that incidents like this erode democracy, forcing MPs behind tighter security and making them less accessible to the very constituents they serve.
The social cost is also real. Firefighters remain among the most trusted workers in the country.
An industrial row descending into accusations of intimidation, whoever is ultimately responsible, risks damaging that public goodwill just as the bushfire season approaches.
Leaders on both sides have closed ranks.
Premier Ben Carroll said he was disgusted, describing Mr Edbrooke as tough and predicting he would only work harder for firefighters, police and his Frankston community.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson said there was no place for such threats in Victoria or Australia, and that her thoughts were with the minister and his family.
Security analysts say the fusion of industrial anger, election-season tension and an already heightened threat environment creates a volatile mix that authorities cannot afford to underestimate.
Law enforcement insiders warn that symbolic threats, such as an inscribed bullet, are taken seriously precisely because they signal planning and personal knowledge of the target, rather than impulsive anger.
Political observers believe the episode will intensify calls for stronger protections for MPs, particularly at local offices and public events where politician safety has long relied on goodwill rather than guards.
More than a dozen Victorian MPs have already told the ABC they hold concerns about their own safety.
Industrial relations watchers note that the dispute itself shows no sign of cooling.
The union has vowed to keep fighting at the ballot box, while the government insists it will not budge on what it calls a slush fund.
For now, the question that haunts Mr Edbrooke remains unanswered: who left the bullet, and how close were they watching?