June edition - The Police Association Victoria

OPINION
Kennett way off the mark
Last month former premier Jeff
Kennett attacked The Police
Association in the Herald Sun.
He accused the Association of
attacking the Chief Commissioner
rather than concentrating on
the EB campaign. He also falsely
claimed that members could
respond to the Association’s
poll more than once - virtually
accusing the Association of
falsifying the poll results.
This is how Association Secretary
Greg Davies responded in the
Herald Sun’s Opinion pages on
16 May, 2011.
The Police Force is often
subjected to public criticism
by those who have experienced
the very outer periphery of
policing but who, in reality, have
only watched from the outside.
Recent comments by former premier Jeff
Kennett (Herald Sun 13/5/2011) show a
quite remarkable ignorance of both policing
and the motivation of The Police Association
in the on-going turmoil surrounding the
Victoria Police Force.
Mr. Kennett has never been a friend
of The Police Association and that is fine
− he is entitled to his view about us and
we certainly don’t cry ourselves to sleep
at night because of it.
But The Police Association is not part
of any attack on the Chief Commissioner,
orchestrated or otherwise. Yes, we have
been extremely critical
of the manner in
which Simon Overland
conducted himself in
effectively suspending
Deputy Commissioner Sir
Ken Jones − and we have
been critical with very
good reason.
Mr. Kennett appears to
be saying that senior
members of the Police
Force, as "Governor in
Council" appointees, can
or should be dealt with
like assistant managers
in a shop. As a former
premier of Victoria, Mr.
Kennett would be well
aware of the legislative
requirements around the
appointment, suspension,
reduction or dismissal
of deputy or chief
commissioners. He is also
a man who fully understands the proprieties
in matters such as this.
Police officers are not permitted to publicly
criticise Government or the Force and
are often targeted for that very reason
by some commentators. Our ‘online’ poll
was specifically created so that only Police
Association members could have their
say on a critical issue. Members were all
allocated one vote each and there were no
permissions that allowed for a situation
where, as Mr. Kennett ‘guarantees’ in his
opinion piece, "many officers would have
responded many times."
Mr. Kennett is now the president of an
afL football club, which will gain a financial
windfall from the recent arrangements
for television broadcast rights. And good
on them, but TV networks have paid some
$1.25 billion for those rights, based on
ratings surveys of far, far less than 25 per
cent of the potential viewing audience.
Yet 25 per cent of the Police Force has
now had their say, with 92 per cent of
them responding "no" − they do not
have confidence in the current Chief
Commissioner continuing in the position.
That is simply the unadulterated opinion
of our members, nothing more and
nothing less.
As a former member of the military,
Mr. Kennett will be well aware that troops
respond far better to leadership that
engenders confidence, respect and loyalty.
He will also be aware that the average
foot soldier still discharges their duties
to the best of their abilities, regardless
of leadership problems − and this is also
the case with police officers in this State.
We are not calling for the dismissal of the
Chief Commissioner. Contrary to what
Mr. Kennett implies in his comments that
we are "predictably attacking the Chief
Commissioner", we have said, all along,
10 Protect Represent Support. www.tpav.org.au