Nixon focussed despite sacking calls

Bushfires reconstruction chief Christine Nixon says she's determined to put the
controversy of her movements on Black Saturday behind her and "get on with it".
Ms Nixon said she was determined to stay on in the job despite calls for her removal
or sacking following revelations she went to dinner with friends as bushfires swept
Victoria on February 7 last year, killing 173 people.
She made the comments on a visit to the Gippsland town of Maffra where she was
invited for a Sunday roast with a family who lost a loved one on Black Saturday, the
worst bushfire disaster in Australia's history.
"I want to get back. I want to be able to not lose the focus that we had on the
people who were the people who were affected by the fires, we've come such a long
way," she told the Nine Network.
"And this really takes away the focus from them, and that's what's happened in this
last while, but now we get on with it."
Ms Nixon said she appreciated the support she had received from Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd, Premier John Brumby and state and federal MPs since the controversy erupted
two weeks ago, but she said the clincher was support from the community.
"There are some dissenters. There are some who don't think I should have done what I
did but there are many others who say, `Well, you've admitted you made a mistake and
would have done things differently', as they say they would have and many other
people would have, I think as well," she said.
"For me, they were the group that counted ... I thought that with a lot of people's
help and skill, we've been able to bring this recovery and be able to help people,
and I think that's why I took it on.
"I didn't do it for anything else, and that's the focus.
"So, I guess that makes a difference. When you watch what other people have been
through, and it's a bit like, `Get over yourself Christine. It's not about you, it's
about them'."
Ms Nixon, the former Victoria Police chief, was appointed to head up the bushfire
reconstruction authority shortly after Black Saturday and has twice been grilled
before the Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission over her movements on February 7.
Almost two weeks ago, it was revealed she left the state's integrated emergency
control centre about 6pm on February 7, knowing that Victorians were likely to die
in the raging bushfires, and was out of contact for almost three hours.
Last week, she further revealed she had a haircut on the morning of the disaster and
met with her biographer during the day.