Drop allegations against Nixon: lawyers

Lawyers for embattled bushfire reconstruction chief Christine Nixon say "gratuitous"
allegations the former top cop deliberately misled the royal commission should be
dropped.
In an explosive final day of hearings before the Victorian Bushfires Royal
Commission, Ms Nixon was singled out for criticism for going out to dinner with
friends while Australia's worst peacetime disaster unfolded on February 7, 2009.
The former police chief commissioner, currently the chair of the Victorian Bushfire
Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, was also slammed for failing to disclose this
detail when she first appeared before the inquiry on April 6.
She said at a later hearing she did not think it was relevant to include in her
statement where she had dinner.
The commissioners were asked to find Ms Nixon deliberately misled the royal
commission, a point vehemently disputed by lawyers for the state government and Ms
Nixon.
Outside the commission, Ms Nixon continued her defiance.
"I'm very pleased that today I've had the opportunity to have my case put to the
commission, to deny the suggestion that I misled the commission," she told
reporters.
Senior counsel assisting the commission, Jack Rush, QC, said Ms Nixon had an
unrealistic view of the leadership that was required on Black Saturday.
He said Ms Nixon left the state control centre as the bushfires were claiming lives
without ensuring she properly delegated her duties.
This was "entirely inconsistent" with her role as chief commissioner of police,
deputy coordinator in chief of emergency management, and state coordinator of
disaster planning, he said.
"To leave without ensuring that a responsible person was in place on location, to
manage the inevitable consequences of the disaster unfolding, we say is an oversight
of grave proportions," Mr Rush said.
"It is not unrealistic to expect the state's most senior leaders to have an
engagement and involvement and dedication to the unfolding disaster."
In a scathing reference to Ms Nixon's defence that she was always contactable on her
mobile phone, Mr Rush said: "This important work cannot be exercised at the end of a
phone."
In other damning allegations, Mr Rush said there had been a lamentable lack of
responsibility and leadership by the most senior fire and emergency service
personnel on Black Saturday.
Those in charge at the top demonstrated a "passive" management style and "lacked
initiative", Mr Rush said.
Neither the state nor deputy coordinator of Victoria's disaster plan was in charge
between 6pm and 8.50pm on Black Saturday, "as the greatest disaster in the history
of the state unfolded", he said.
However, the state government lawyers urged the commissioners not to make adverse
findings against any individuals, including Ms Nixon and outgoing Country Fire
Authority chief officer Russell Rees.
Ms Nixon's lawyer, Jim Kennan, SC, said the claims about his client were a
gratuitous attack on someone of an "unblemished standing".
The allegations were outside the commission's terms of reference, he added.
"The allegation is extremely serious. Effectively, it's an allegation that she
attempted to mislead on oath," Mr Kennan said.
He said the Police Association's support of the allegations was a personal attack.
Allan Myers, QC, for the state government, said no purpose was served by criticising
particular individuals, apart from courting an air of controversy.
Earlier, Mr Rush said the aim of intense examination of emergency services leaders,
including Mr Rees, was not to claim scalps.
He said Mr Rees did not consult a predictive map of the fires, failed to monitor
warnings, and did not speak to a single incident controller.
Emergency Services Minister Bob Cameron, however, escaped the sharp criticism
reserved for Mr Rees and Ms Nixon.