Australian minister says he is being followed after bullet etched with ‘RAT’ left on car

A bullet etched with the word "RAT" was left on the car of an Australian minister, just days after an attack on MP Helen Haines.Paul Edbrooke, a former firefighter and the Labor member for Frankston in the Australian state of Victoria, found the bullet on the bonnet of his car on Saturday, after being away from it for about an hour at a community event in his electorate.It was also etched with his old five-digit firefighter identification number.Victoria Police said detectives from its security investigation unit are investigating a threat against a member of the state parliament, which was reported to them on Sunday."I was pretty shocked to find that it was a bullet, not just a bullet, but a bullet with the word 'RAT' inscribed on it and my firefighter ID on it," Mr Edbrooke told reporters. "The very fact of the matter that this has been put on my car means someone has been following me. It means someone knows what my car is, and that's really quite scary. But I'm not going to be intimidated by this, and I refuse to be bullied."The car is also driven by his children, who are young adults, he said."It's a car they drive. They've been in this car. It could have been them that found the bullet, and that terrifies me. It's totally unacceptable," he said.Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks with Victorian Premier Ben Carroll, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett and Victorian Police Minister Paul Edbrooke following the attack on Asutralian lawmaker Helen Haines in Wangaratta, at the Commonwealth Offices in Melbourne, Australia (Reuters)Mr Edbrooke said the identification number was a personal detail "only firefighters would be aware of".He said he was getting aggressive threats and abuse on social media from a "small minority" of people in the United Firefighters Union (UFU) but that was not representative of firefighters. He said he did not know who left the bullet."This is just a small group of people in a union who believe everything they are told by a leadership and think that by somehow intimidating me or bullying me I will support them and give them a taxpayer funded slush fund for their union," he said.The union is in a long-running dispute with Fire Rescue Victoria, an agency he oversees, over its pay agreement, which the parties have been unable to resolve since 2021, and is taking the agency to the Fair Work Commission, Australia's workplace tribunal. It has also vowed to run an advertising campaign against the state Labor government, staff polling booths with firefighters and distribute authorised material urging voters to put Labor last in next month's election. The union's Victorian secretary, Peter Marshall, condemned the threat. "Threatening anyone, including a minister we strongly disagree with, is the opposite of everything this union stands for," he said in a statement. "I condemn it without qualification." He said whoever left the bullet "does not speak for or act for firefighters or this union". Mr Marshall also defended a video the union posted on Friday, in which he said Mr Edbrooke and the state premier, Ben Carroll, were "in the gun". He said he meant at the ballot box.The incident comes days after the attack on Ms Haines, who lost both legs, and there is no suggestion the two are linked. "Off the back of the horrific alleged attack with Helen Haines last week, it's incumbent on all of us to make sure we're trying to take the temperature down," Victorian opposition leader, Jess Wilson, told ABC Radio Melbourne. The Greens said in a joint statement from their MPs that there was "absolutely no place for threats and intimidation towards MPs, public figures or anyone else in our society". Mr Carroll said he was "disgusted" by the incident and that Mr Edbrooke "won't be intimidated by this".Mr Edbrooke urged other parties to reconsider their relationships with the union. Members of the Liberal party, One Nation and the Greens have met the union in recent months, and the Greens appear to have the closest relationship, the Guardian reported. The Greens candidate for the seat of Pascoe Vale, Angelica Panopoulos, is due to host a joint event with the union on Saturday, which was described on social media as a "free day of family fun with the Greens and United Firefighters Union".