http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/7030023/sack-nixon-for-bushfire-dinner-fielding/ (7th April 2010)
Police union joins Nixon criticism
AAP April 7, 2010, 12:34 pm
It's impossible for anyone to back former Victoria police chief Christine Nixon after revelations she had dinner at a pub on Black Saturday while hundreds of homes burned, the police union says.
Come on, even police officer has the right to a dinner, damn right, if the bushfire victims have their rights to a dinner, so too is the police chief! Thats what we call equal right to basic needs (e.g. a dinner)!
And victims of the nation's worst bushfire disaster now face an "unthinkable" situation having realised that Ms Nixon, who is now in charge of bushfire reconstruction, had left her post at 6pm the day of the tragedy, said Police Association secretary Greg Davies.
What 'unthinkable situation'... its all a media playdown, support by police officers that dislike her!
"This is a scandalous situation. There is no excuse for it," he told reporters on Wednesday.
Ms Nixon told the royal commission into the disaster on Tuesday that she had a meal and monitored the bushfires through the internet, television and radio on February 7, 2009.
What 'scandalous situation' ? This is a bit too much to say to someone who has a dinner after a long day at work!! (And nowadays, professionals monitor the bushfires through the Internet, television, and radio... professional also use what we call the GIS (Geographic Information System) to monitor effectively the situation and bring it under control. They don't need to be in the 'burning fields' to get the job done!!
But she expanded on those comments in the media, saying she went out to a bistro for dinner with friends that night and has since defended that decision. "I did say in the statement I gave to the (royal) commission that I had a meal and I didn't say, obviously, at the time that I had gone to a local hotel and had a meal with two friends," she told ABC Radio. "That's all it was, it was a very quick meal and I went back home again and received many calls and monitored the situation."
Ms Nixon was appointed head of bushfire reconstruction upon leaving her position as the state's police chief.
"It's unthinkable that the victims of this disaster now have to look at the very person who was supposed have their hand on the tiller but had their hand on the cutlery (and who) is now supposed to be responsible for rebuilding their lives," Mr Davies said.
Again the word 'unthinkable'... played by the media and others, bushfire victims have the right to a meal (dinner), so is the police chief ! Come on, grow up people!
He said Victorian Premier John Brumby should no longer have confidence in her abilities. "On the information that's available, it's impossible for anyone to back her," he said.
What 'abilities' issue?? You mean having dinner (because one is hungry) will have their 'abilities' and 'professionalism' in question?!
"This is not about a Christine Nixon witchhunt. This is about substance over style and there was very little substance on the day, quite clearly." Family First Senator Steve Fielding said Ms Nixon should be removed from the Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority immediately. "It's beyond belief that the state's top cop was more interested in going out to dinner with friends than steering the police force through this country's biggest natural disaster," he said in a statement.
Come on people... grow up! Get the facts right... And don't be a hypocrite !
