The NSW Police Commissioner has announced what will be his sixth adviser in just two years after the last person in the role was sacked before even starting.
Commissioner Karen Webb could have a fourth Executive Director of Public Affairs in just three months after Liz Deegan was removed from the position on March 13.
Her departure came after Commissioner Webb was heavily criticized for her comments during the inquest into the deaths of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, who were allegedly murdered by serving police officer Beau Lamarre-Condon.
After Ms Deegan, who had been in the role for less than a year, left, she was replaced by controversial former Channel Seven journalist Steve Jackson.
But Jackson couldn’t even get behind the desk before his job offer was withdrawn after intense publicity surrounding his role in a bizarre saga involving another former Seven producer, Taylor Auerbach and Bruce Lehrmann.
NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb (pictured) has announced what will be her sixth adviser in just two years, after the last person in the role was sacked before even starting.
After Jackson was deemed surplus to requirements, Adam Wallace was seconded from the New South Wales Department of Health in an interim role to advise Commissioner Webb on her media dealings.
Before facing criticism over the alleged murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, his comments about the alleged Taser death of great-grandmother Clare Nowland, 95, in May 2023, were also met with disbelief.
The commissioner was criticized at the time for refusing to watch body camera footage of Ms Nowland, who suffered from dementia, being Tasered by officer Kristian White at a Cooma nursing home.
“I don’t see any value in reviewing those images now when I don’t know…what else happened before and after that incident,” he said.
In February, Commissioner Webb, fresh from a brutal interview with Natalie Barr in which she downplayed concerns about her leadership by quoting Taylor Swift’s “haters gonna hate,” reportedly refused to come forward. street.
Steve Jackson (pictured) couldn’t even get behind the desk before his job offer was withdrawn following intense publicity surrounding his role in a bizarre saga involving another former Seven producer, Taylor Auerbach and Bruce Lehrmann.
“If you want any indication of a police commissioner under siege, Karen Webb stayed in the Sunrise studio today for up to 10 minutes, refusing to leave, saying she wouldn’t be ambushed by our team,” said journalist Robert Ovadia.
In April, there were calls for a review of the salaries of senior NSW public servants after it was revealed that the dismissal of a series of senior media advisers from the country’s largest police force has cost taxpayers more than 700,000 dollars.
Commissioner Webb’s decision to part ways with four former top media advisers in just two years had resulted in severance payments of $687,613, and it was later reported that Jackson had walked away with $30,000 despite missing a day’s work. job.
The job advertisement for the position some say has become a poisoned chalice reads: ‘The chief executive…leads the delivery of public affairs strategies and programs to enhance and protect the reputation of the NSWPF and create an operational environment positive’.
The successful candidate will receive a $330,000 package and the option of a car.