Bushfire inquiry to further quiz Nixon

Embattled former police chief Christine Nixon has been called back to the Victorian
bushfires royal commission to explain her movements on the day of last year's
devastating fires.
Ms Nixon on Tuesday told the commission she left the incident control centre in
Melbourne to go home at around 6pm on February 7, 2009, after being told that people
could die in the fires which ultimately claimed 173 lives.
Later on Tuesday, however, she revealed to News Limited newspaper the Herald Sun
that she, in fact, had gone out to a pub for dinner with friends that night.
She has rejected calls to quit her new role as head of the Victorian Bushfire
Reconstruction and Recovery Authority (VBRRA) amid massive public debate about her
decision to go the pub while the state burned.
"She has been asked about her availability for the commission next week," a VBRRA
spokesman told AAP on Thursday.
"Of course, she said she is ready willing and able to appear whenever they need her."
It is as yet unclear on which day she will appear.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe defended tMs Nixon's absence from
the emergency state control centre the day of the fires, when he appeared at the
bushfires royal commission nearly 12 months ago.
"The chief commissioner doesn't have to sit there," he told the commission in May
last year when asked why Ms Nixon wasn't present during the evening of the deadly
bushfires.
"There is no requirement for the chief commissioner to sit in the (State Emergency
Response Coordination Centre) during that day, providing the chief commissioner is
satisfied that the coordination arrangements and structures are in place and are
effectively dealing with the coordination function," he said.
"That's what the chief commissioner's responsibility is, to ensure that that is."
Mr Walshe stayed at the control centre while Ms Nixon dined out at the pub and later
provided updates on the fires to the media.
He admitted to the commission he had no idea where Ms Nixon was on the evening of
the February 7 fires but said he believed he was in charge of briefing the media to
free up Ms Nixon to focus on being the state coordinator of the disaster.
"Well, I took on that role to enable the chief commissioner to continue to do the
role that the chief commissioner did with regards to her responsibilities as the
state coordinator," he said.
Ms Nixon denied on Wednesday that she had misled the commission by not telling it
she had gone to the pub.
"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 on Wednesday.
She was not available for comment on Thursday.
It is believed the commission, headed by former Supreme Court judge Bernard Teague,
will seek clarification on Ms Nixon's movements during the day and evening of
February 7.
She has said she was at the State Emergency Response Coordination Centre at police
headquarters between midday and 1.30pm and arrived at the Integrated Emergency
Coordination Centre (IECC) in East Melbourne at around 3.30pm.
After being briefed by fire chiefs that lives could be lost, she left the IECC to go
home and then went to the Metropolitan Hotel in North Melbourne for dinner.
Ms Nixon has since apologised for leaving her post and has the support of Prime
Minister Kevin Rudd and Premier John Brumby to keep her job at the jointly
commonwealth and state funded VBRRA.
As police chief at the time of the fires, Ms Nixon was head of emergency response
during the inferno but said she left other "very capable" people in charge while she
monitored the situation.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe defended her absence from the IECC
when he appeared at the bushfires royal commission nearly 12 months ago.
"The chief commissioner doesn't have to sit there ... providing the chief
commissioner is satisfied that the coordination arrangements and structures are in
place and are effectively dealing with the coordination function," he told the
commission in May last year.
There have also been calls for Victoria's emergency services minister Bob Cameron to
be called before the royal commission.
Mr Cameron was ultimately in charge on Black Saturday but he has still not given
evidence to the commission over a year since Australia's worst bushfires.
"He should have been the first witness," Arthurs Creek Brigade CFA captain David
McGahy told AAP on Thursday.
"It's an absurdity. He's the minister for emergency services, he's the boss and he's
still failed to appear."
Mr Cameron arrived at the control centre at 7pm and left at midnight but did not
speak to Ms Nixon or the premier over the entire evening.
Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu said it was "absolutely essential" for Mr
Cameron to give testimony.
"At least appear before the royal commission and detail what happened to command and
control on Black Saturday," he told reporters.



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