FIX IT CHIEF
Police won’t say if ‘rainbow flag order’ started dispute Minister tells force ‘resolve top brass issue quickly’
POLICE Minister Lisa Neville has acted to intervene in the crisis embroiling the force’s top brass, which has left Geelong without a permanent police chief for months.
Victoria Police’s western region Superintendent Craig Gillard has been on leave since late last year amid a dispute with Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh — a row which has entangled another senior officer.
Ms Neville said she regarded both senior police figures well but told the Geelong Advertiser she had asked Victoria Police to urgently sort out the matter.
“I have asked Victoria Police to try and resolve the matter as quickly as possible in the best interests of the Geelong community,” Ms Neville said.
Victoria Police last night refused to detail what prompted the disagreement between the Geelong chief and the Assistant Commissioner.
“We are not prepared to comment on the nature of this dispute. We are however committed to resolving this as quickly as possible,” a police spokesman said.
But insiders have told the policing priorities of the pair were ‘chalk and cheese’.
“She is all about social equity and touchy-feely policing whereas Gillard has risen through the ranks as a beat cop whose main aim is reducing crime,” one source said.
The Addy has been told of an incident where Supt Gillard had to talk to serving police member and then-Surf Coast Shire mayor Brian McKiterick about the council’s rainbow flag issue.
Sources said Supt Gillard was receiving pressure to pull Cr McKiterick into line because of his opposition to flying the flag outside council’s offices — a task the superintendent was not thrilled about carrying out.
Yesterday, Cr McKiterick did not deny Supt Gillard had spoken to him about his position on the flag policy.
But he said it would be “inappropriate” to comment on the issue and referred inquiries to the Victoria Police media unit.
Police refused to say last night whether Ms Walsh was behind the push to have Cr McKiterick tone down his public opposition to flying the rainbow flag.
When news of the conflict broke on Thursday, a Victoria Police spokeswoman said it was “working hard” to resolve the issue.
The impasse has left the western region, which encompasses the Greater Geelong, Surf Coast and Colac Otway regions, with a rotating boss for up to three months.
It is understood the top brass row came to a head when Supt Gillard made a candid assessment of Ms Walsh’s failings, which was accidentally phoned through to the Assistant Commissioner herself.
One version of this story has Supt Gillard failing to hang up the phone properly while another has Supt Gillard bumping redial and acciden- tally leaving the negative review on her voicemail.
It is understood force command acted to ease tensions between the pair but that despite an apology Supt Gillard remained unforgiven and their working relationship reached arctic temperatures before he went on sick leave.
On Friday, Ms Neville’s office refused an interview request from the Addy, saying legal restrictions meant the minister could not get involved in disciplinary actions within Victoria Police.
But in a statement, Ms Ne- ville said she had urged the force to get on top of the issue.
“Having worked closely with Superintendent Craig Gillard and Assistant Commissioner Tess Walsh over the last three years I have a high regard for both of them and their commitment to keeping Geelong safe,” she said.
Revelations of the turmoil came days after another Assistant Commissioner — Brett Guerin — sensationally quit amid an Independent Broadbased Commission Against Corruption probe about his offensive online comments.