What to make of the Andrew Coster interview on Q and A yesterday

Firstly why did he do it.

Obviously he felt he had been thrown under the bus by Judith Collins, Mark Mitchell and Richard Chambers at their recent press conference

So he was prepared to throw them under the bus as well. And he does have a point when the IPCA report did not mention corruption but the politicians and the new police commissioner inferred it.

The protection of his name is the reason he negotiated with the Public Service Commissioner regarding the delay in resigning from his latest job and frankly I don’t blame him

But the problem is he has no proof of his claims. And so now we have a he said, he said situation with nobody able to provide concrete proof of their claims.

He may have briefed Mitchell and Hipkins of the situation but which situation was he talking about.

An affair gone wrong or a police force covering up for one of their own. and how much detail of anything did he giver in these informal briefings. Who knows?

The fascinating fact he mentioned is that the police is a 3 billion dollar business which makes the job of Police Commissioner one of the biggest in our economy.

Ask any CEO whether they take notes of any conversation about their business and they’ll tell you it’s imperative. One would have thought it’s imperative for any Minister of the Crown as well.

My whole impression of the interview is that everyone was a bit loose. It’s a tawdry tale of bad judgement at the top of our public service. And the buck always stops at the top

It also reminded me that the political battles at the top levels of our public service are vicious affairs with everyone playing a hard game.

And with Richard Chambers in a competition with a very competent police officer, who had a hidden sex life and predilection for animals, you wonder how he never knew anything

One can only hope that Coster and Ms Z find a new normal and peace and everyone learns to take their jobs more seriously

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