Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush sorry for using helicopter to fly from Melbourne to Hobart
A state police commissioner who flew interstate on a force helicopter admits he made the wrong decision but insists there was no additional burden on taxpayers.
Victorian Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush travelled from Melbourne to Hobart for a meeting with his counterparts from around Australia and New Zealand on Monday.
A commercial airline flight between the two cities takes about an hour.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“It was the wrong decision,” Mr Bush said in a statement.
“We should have looked harder for a commercial flight.”
“While there were no impacts on our operational capacity, community safety or financial costs to Victoria Police as the flight fell within our contracted hours with the air wing provider, it creates a poor impression at a challenging time for our organisation”.
While Victoria Police has a fixed-wing aircraft, a spokesperson said that asset was “deemed unviable due to strong winds in Tasmania” on Monday.
Mr Bush instead used a police chopper that is mostly used for training and also acts as a backup for the force’s main helicopter.
The force’s helicopters are leased and a certain number of hours are already paid for each month under the agreement.
“This threshold will not be exceeded for October, hence there was no additional financial cost associated with this flight,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Bush went to Hobart for the Australian and New Zealand Police Commissioners Forum, where cross-border police operations, national security decisions and police deployments are discussed.
New Zealand Police Commissioner Richard Chambers joined him on the helicopter flight, as the two men had attended the same counter terrorism conference in Melbourne.
Mr Bush is due to return to Melbourne on a commercial flight.
It’s the first major faux pas by the chief commissioner since taking the job in June.
A police spokesperson said the only other time he used a force chopper for travel was when he flew to Porepunkah in northern Victoria to the scene of a deadly police shooting in August.
The alleged gunman wanted over the deaths of Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart remains at large, despite hundreds of officers out searching for him at the height of the operation by air and by foot.
The force said that despite the large search, police chopper hours are still below this month’s allotted time.
