__________________________________________________________ TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS __________________________________________________________ The attached transcript, while an accurate recording of evidence given in the course of the hearing day, is not proofread prior to circulation and thus may contain minor errors. 2009 VICTORIAN BUSHFIRES ROYAL COMMISSION MELBOURNE TUESDAY 6 APRIL 2010 (129th day of hearing) BEFORE: THE HONOURABLE B. TEAGUE AO - Chairman MR R. MCLEOD AM - Commissioner MS S. PASCOE AM - Commissioner __________________________________________________________ CRS WORDWAVE PTY LTD - A MERRILL COMPANY. 4/190 Queen Street, Melbourne. Telephone: 9602 1799 Facsimile: 9642 5185 17295 1 MS DOYLE: Commissioners, I call the first witness this 2 morning, Ms Christine Nixon. 3 <CHRISTINE NIXON, sworn and examined: 4 MS DOYLE: Your full name, as you have said, is Christine 5 Nixon?---It is. 6 You are presently the chair of the Victorian Bushfire 7 Reconstruction Recovery Authority?---That's correct. 8 But previously you held the position of Chief Commissioner of 9 Police for Victoria Police for eight years?---Yes, I did. 10 You held that role between April 2001 and March 2009?---That's 11 correct. 12 With the assistance of Victorian Government Solicitors, have 13 you prepared a statement dated 22 January 2009?---Sorry, 14 I'm just checking the date. 15 That's the date on the version I have been given. I think it 16 was actually supplied much later in 2009?---And this 17 is - just so I'm clear, this is the statement relating to 18 my responsibilities as the Chief Commissioner. 19 That's right?---Yes, I did. 20 It has obviously got an incorrect date on the top of it, but if 21 you have got a copy of that statement, it has now been 22 identified for you. It is (WIT.3010.009.0377)?---Yes. 23 That is the statement that deals with your duties as Chief 24 Commissioner of Police, the events of 7 February and 25 related matters?---Correct. 26 Are the contents of that statement true and correct?---Actually 27 I would like to make one alteration, if I could. 28 Yes, if you can direct our attention to where things should be 29 altered?---To paragraph 44. 30 Yes?---And I have, since this statement was prepared, caused 31 some other inquiries to be made and I would like to alter .Wordwave:MB/SK 06/04/10 17296 NIXON XN Bushfires Royal Commission BY MS DOYLE 1 it, if I could, to the point that I actually asked 2 Assistant Commissioner Fontana to brief Minister Cameron 3 by phone at approximately 5.40 pm. 4 So as corrected it should read, "I asked Assistant Commissioner 5 Fontana to brief Minister Cameron by phone"?---"At 5.40 6 pm." 7 The sentence now reads, "I asked Assistant Commissioner Fontana 8 to brief Minister Cameron at 5.40 pm"?---That's correct. 9 With that correction, Ms Nixon, are the contents of that 10 statement true and correct?---Yes, they are. 11 I tender that statement. 12 #EXHIBIT 836 - Witness statement of Christine Nixon 13 (WIT.3010.009.0377). Log of Assistant Commissioner 14 Fontana (VPO.001.081.0166). Delegations and position 15 descriptions (INDX.820.001.0001). Victoria Police manual 16 extracts (INDX.821.001.0001). Letter from VGSO 17 (CORR.1003.0165_R). Emergency Management Act as at 18 February 2009 (TEN.254.001.0001). Kilmore prediction map 19 (TEN.020.002.0001). 20 MS DOYLE: I will take you to the other report which deals with 21 recovery matters later in the morning?---Thank you. 22 I want first to ask you a number of matters that arise from 23 this document which is now exhibit 836. As you note in 24 the statement, prior to your appointment as the Chief 25 Commissioner of Police in Victoria you were a member of 26 the New South Wales police force for 29 years?---I was. 27 And you say in paragraphs 4 through to 6 of your statement that 28 you were involved in a number of roles and functions in 29 New South Wales?---Correct. 30 Including some in which you gained emergency management 31 experience. I just want to ask you about the emergency .Wordwave:MB/SK 06/04/10 17297 NIXON XN Bushfires Royal Commission BY MS DOYLE 1 responses in which you have been involved. Focusing on 2 paragraph 5 of the statement, you give the example of in 3 1997 being emergency management controller as part of your 4 role as regional commander, assistant commissioner within 5 the Greater Hume region. Was it in that role that you 6 were then involved in some of the emergencies you mention 7 in the following sentence, major fires and an outbreak of 8 Newcastle disease in chickens?---No, sorry. I had a 9 number of roles as region commander and I first went as an 10 operational region commander in what was called the 11 Greater Hume region, which is the western suburbs of 12 Sydney and down into the area around Bowral, so that was 13 my first operational experience as a region commander and 14 I was involved in chairing and meeting with people in that 15 area around emergency management. The 1998 statement that 16 I made is in regard to while I was actually the region 17 commander in a region called - I can't think what it was 18 called. I guess it was the region around Gosford area 19 when in fact there was an outbreak of Newcastle disease 20 and some fires in the central coast of New South Wales. 21 What role did you play with respect to the fires on the central 22 coast?---New South Wales has a structure that means that 23 the assistant commissioner is the operational coordinator, 24 for want of a better description. So I was responsible to 25 have met and prepared and worked with a range of the 26 agencies involved in fire and other emergency situations 27 and to put in place procedures to be able to deal with 28 with whatever the incident might be. So in this 29 particular case I was there in support of the combat 30 agency, for want of a better description, fire services. 31 During those fires, did any part of your responsibilities .Wordwave:MB/SK 06/04/10 17298 NIXON XN Bushfires Royal Commission BY MS DOYLE 1 involve responsibilities for warnings or evacuations with 2 respect to those fires?---In some cases there were 3 instances where clearly warnings were given to the 4 community, but I think they were given by the fire 5 agencies. We also had an emergency management officer who 6 was a full-time officer within my office in that region 7 and he also would have been involved in giving some of 8 those as well. 9 But were you personally responsible for any aspect of warnings 10 or evacuation pertaining to those fires?---Just a slight 11 change from the fires, but certainly - I can't remember in 12 detail the fires, but I do remember in detail the 13 Newcastle disease. Newcastle disease is a disease in 14 chickens and certainly I was involved in briefings to the 15 community about that disease and to the broader community 16 around the central coast and Newcastle and also around the 17 broader, I suppose, state itself around the problems of 18 Newcastle disease. 19 Over what period of time, was it a matter of days, weeks or 20 months that this outbreak of Newcastle disease required 21 that level of attention from you?---I obviously was 22 involved in that as well as doing my normal 23 responsibilities as a region commander, but it would have 24 been intermittent over - I think it was about over a month 25 or two. 26 You then refer in paragraph 6 to having had the post of senior 27 police officer managing the search for a snowboarder who 28 had gone missing in Mount Perisher. What was your 29 responsibility there? Were you coordinating the 30 search?---No, I was the overall controller. Again I was 31 the senior emergency management person, but we certainly .Wordwave:MB/SK 06/04/10 17299 NIXON XN Bushfires Royal Commission BY MS DOYLE 1 had inspectors and others, search and rescue people, who 2 were responsible for directly coordinating that search, 3 that response. I had a role in that which was really to 4 gain additional resources and so we brought search and 5 rescue people from Victoria who came to assist us. I had 6 a role obviously to brief my senior management and to keep 7 the families informed. I had quite a lot in that instance 8 to do with the families who had lost their children. 9 You then say at the end of that paragraph 6 that as regional 10 commander for the south-eastern region you were 11 responsible for police operations during two major fires. 12 Those fires, did you have any responsibilities pertaining 13 to warnings or evacuations?---Certainly the two fires, one 14 was in Kosciuszko National Park and that would have had 15 less, it was really more about people not being able to go 16 into those areas, but again it would have been the local 17 police commanders who would have done that. My role 18 really was to ensure they were given appropriate support. 19 In terms of the other fire, it was in an area called Moss 20 Vale, Wingello, which is just out of Wollongong.