This photo of former Victorian Police Commissioner Christine Nixon in The Australian today is pretty bloody unfair:
We get it. Nixon went to dinner the night of Black Saturday. Not a quick pizza on the run, mind you, but a bite at her local gastro (read: gourmet) pub, which, reports the Herald Sun today, serves fancy items such as “Hutch’s Corned Beef with Mash, Peas and Whole Grain Mustard Cream Sauce”.
Yes, the optics are terrible. It’s a tabloid treat. But then listen to some of the survivors of Black Saturday who have come to Nixon’s defence, who couldn’t give a toss about mash and peas and say she’s done terrific work as head of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority.
But her commendable work doesn’t dispel the damning timeline of that day. Going to dinner is forgiveable — but what about the fact that Nixon, who, under the Emergency Management Act, was deputy co-ordinator-in-chief of the state’s emergency response and state co-ordinator for Victoria’s disaster plan, did not ask for a formal briefing that afternoon?
Today on The Stump, Guy Rundle writes “the truth is that Black Saturday hasn’t really hit us yet. The enormity of what happened, the unnecessary waste of life, the hideous nature of the deaths, are something we shield from ourselves”. He continues:
What has happened seems to be clear. The reality of the deaths was too awful to contemplate — so attention was diverted to a koala being fed with a bottle. And when an inquiry into what happened found that a similar process of reality avoidance had occurred before the event, and may have contributed to it, the avoidance of contemplating that horror was simply rolled over to it.
Even though it became clear that — however many deaths were inevitable on that day — some or many were caused by a fatal paralysis of action and initiative, a sheer lack of audacity and leadership, an inability to take control in a situation which has totally engulfed and undermined any notion of normality, nothing has really happened.
Many survivors of Black Saturday say they have no time for anger, they’re too busy rebuilding their shattered lives. But what about us? Why does it take a debate over a pub dinner to get us talking about this again? Why have the public stopped paying attention to what went on that day?
Dr Harvey M Tarvydas
She is a good woman, has been and is competent and excellent in all her highly privileged Public Service jobs. This has all been said as has an apology and a confession by her and her many superiors that she made a wrong call that has generated a bad look.
In reality, to me, it seems to say that there was an attitude prevailing among the top brass that day which clearly relates to the eventual possibility of the event happening as it did.
Attitude spreads and infects downwards mainly but also upwards and sideways so she may have been affected and effecting but we all know that leadership to bust though the soup of human psychology, processes, command lines, vision, appreciation, on the ground methods, preparation, big picture and the good ole Aussie ‘she’ll be right mate’ AND grab the awesome danger by the throat and choke it to death was missing when it was most needed.
Maybe it was an accident that it never happened or maybe it was never there.
The answer to that is not an ‘opinion’.
The photo is unfair BUT… the lack of judgement on te day was major. Her role required her to provide leadership. She failed to do so and should now acknowledge this by stepping down.
We don’t need to see and hear about “black saturday” every day(it’s such a crap name given the date we need to remember is February 7th 2009).
What the RC needs to do is find out why the roadsides were clogged with fuel, who was responsible and how that can be changed. We also need to find out why the chain of command fell apart from the top. This includes Nixon and Rees who were appointed by Brumby/Bracks. Of course they are not to blame for the fires, but to serve in responsible positions, they are responsible for shortcomings. The RC is becoming a tail chasing exercise. covering arses and pasting ovcer cracks. It’s a massive waste of money and resources.
Interviews of fire victims by Crikey should not determine who is in control – it’s not an opinion poll. Nixon was wrong and should not be allowed to stay in a position where she clearly let down the people she now represents.
Simple- most of the public find the issues raised too confronting.
Our emergency services did as much as they could on the day and were found wanting – operational and communication SNAFUs aside- in the face of a greater force, nature. No matter what our centralised control or systems are like they can’t overcome some things. Many people find this fact disturbing.
Planning controls over land on urban edges raise too many complex issues of rights and interests and seem to be beyond the capacity of the mainsteam press to report. Land management generally, likewise.
The consequences of personal choice and the capacity and obligation of emergency services to rescue people at the last moment, in any circumstance require serious mental effort. The sheer randomness of destruction and survival disturb people deeply.
Of course, if you live surrounded by State Forest as I do, you think about these things quite a lot. Even during the fuel-reduction burns I’ve just had around me.
You’re a licky man Holden. I live by council reserves and guesss what? They won’t strike a match for fear of disturbing an ant nest.