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From the chief commissioner’s office on the 37th floor of the Victoria Police Centre the view is the best in Melbourne and the seat one of the hottest in Victoria – that is if there was a seat, as the incumbent, Mike Bush, prefers an ultra-groovy stand-up desk.
To the west is the Yarra River snaking to the bay. In the foreground is the open Marvel Stadium, the Melbourne Wheel and a network of freeways.
To the south is the bay to the Heads. Closer are prestigious suburbs such as Brighton, now areas of choice for home invaders.
To the east city skyscrapers, and a suburban sprawl to the hills. It is from this height you see Melbourne as a massive city wrestling with the crime problems that come with being a massive city.
As a New Zealander parachuted into Victoria’s often trouble-plagued job as police chief commissioner, Bush needs to maintain a helicopter view to shape a long-term strategy while dealing with spot fires – often lit by teenage arsonists working for organised crime.
In a business that thrives on trophies – plaques, medals, awards and souvenirs – Bush’s office is surprisingly sparse. On a coffee table are a couple of Victoria Police pewter coasters – legacies from the early 1980s – a chief commissioner’s cap, a Richmond Tigers baseball cap and a line of books. There are biographies from country cops and senior police, favourite quotes from a successful businessman, the Yoorrook Justice Commission report, and The People’s Force, by Bob Haldane, a history of Victoria Police.
People learn from books, and we learn a little about people by the books they read. Some non-Victorian chief commissioners didn’t take the time to learn the culture of the force they were to lead and the history of our most vulnerable citizens. This one is not making the same mistake.
Truth is Bush spends as little time as he can in that office, preferring to visit police in their workspace rather than bringing them to him.
He is the 10th chief commissioner I have dealt with professionally, and the first appointed from overseas since Alexander Duncan was selected from Scotland Yard in 1937 to modernise the force.
The role is like no other. You run a $4 billion-dollar business with more than 20,000 staff, set up five-year plans, juggle a budget, deal with daily crises and need to lead in the dark times, such as when two officers, Neal Thompson and Vadim De Waart-Hottart, were shot dead at Porepunkah.
Big CEOs don’t visit junior staff in hospital – a chief commissioner does. You cannot delegate the role as flag-bearer.
When chief commissioner Shane Patton was not offered a contract extension, there was no obvious replacement.
Bush was a career New Zealand policeman who joined as a cadet in 1978 and had been commissioner there between 2014 and 2020.
Consulting for the Australian Federal Police and the Fiji Police, he started missing the job. The call from headhunters about the Victorian post came at the right time, but only on his terms.
“I felt a local candidate would be better, but if there was a need to drive change, then it might benefit from a fresh set of eyes,” he says. “When I was told there was an appetite for change I applied.”
Well-connected with senior international police through law enforcement and terrorism committees, Bush made calls to his Australian contacts and was encouraged to apply. He was in demand, placed on the shortlist for chief constable of London’s Metropolitan Police.
His having been shortlisted here, along with former Victorian police officer Tracy Linford, who was then Queensland’s deputy commissioner, cabinet chose Bush.
For his first three months he appeared to do little – touring the state, talking to police and taking the temperature of an organisation that was battered and spread too thin.
It was a sign of confidence that he didn’t need to hold weekly media conferences to update the public and placate politicians. As tobacco shops burned he stuck to plans to research before reacting.
He found a top-heavy police force, drowning in paperwork and committed to non-core duties at the expense of traditional police roles.
In late August last year he released the Victoria Police Corporate Plan, filled with the usual noble objectives but with a specific goal – to reduce violent crime by 5 per cent every year.
This figure was not plucked from thin air; it reflected the reductions he achieved in New Zealand. He wants police to have a community approval rate of 80 per cent. In his previous job, public confidence in police rose to 84 per cent.
The Bush model is simple in concept and difficult in execution – it is better to stop a crime than solve it. And that means a visible police presence.
The strategy that prevention is better than cure is as old as policing and part of Sir Robert Peel’s nine principles. In 1829, Peel, known as the father of modern policing, wrote, “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.”
Bush stripped back the leadership team. He reduced watchhouse hours, returned police to patrols and announced a program to recruit ex-police as reservists to staff the counters.
The new chief commissioner knows how hard it is to change strategies and work conditions in a culture that clings to the past.
Police who are brave on the street are often risk-averse in the boardroom, clinging to what they know. They may whinge about the way things are done, then recoil in horror at suggested change.
To make, rather than just talk about, change, Bush is hands-on, constantly arguing that the rewards from innovation outweigh the risks of change.
He has set deadlines to force his people to act and not just talk about action.
By late 2028 he wants an extra 1550 police to fill present vacancies and wants two regional training academies set up. He knows that if he can’t recruit more police he will lose existing staff through burnout.
“We are lighting a fire under recruiting and will have double squads going through the academy.”
This is a deliberate internal challenge to change systems that have left applicants waiting more than 12 months to get in the door.
His hands-on approach was explained in a 2018 New Zealand interview. “People who delegate transformation out will never succeed. Unless the chief executive and leaders in the organisation own and champion the change, it will never happen.”
He told me he intended to see out his five-year term reflecting the view that reform is led from the top. “The first two or three [years] to make the changes needed and then two to embed them.”
Some leaders like robust debate and collective decision-making. Bush is more the type who sets the course and expects his people to row in unison. Key initiatives won’t be buried in committees.
Last week he did the rounds on the eve of his first anniversary in the top job. It was the media version of speed dating in which he did a series of interviews, cleverly dropping newsworthy crumbs to everyone. He suggested mandatory graduated sentences for violent crimes, a review of the justice system to bring on trials quicker, less time-wasting and morale-sapping paperwork, a “robust” pursuit policy and stronger asset seizure laws.
He told us he wanted defined jail terms for first, second and third offences. This almost certainly won’t happen, but his philosophy is sound, which is to provide clarity for “victims, offenders and the community”. Who could argue with that?
His comments have been welcomed by police around the state who want their chief commissioner publicly fighting for them.
The lack of government reaction is fascinating.
Lately senior police who spoke up were told behind closed doors that their contracts would not be renewed if they didn’t pull their heads in.
Shane Patton wanted money for recruiting, IT upgrades, to employ ex-police as reservists and tougher bail laws. The requests were refused.
In 2014, chief commissioner Ken Lay released his blue paper on the future of policing that included (you guessed it) police reservists, IT investment, closing watch-houses and increasing police hours on the road from 54 per cent to 80 per cent.
With an election looming, crime is now the priority giving Bush a stronger hand. Aged in his mid-60s, he will be a one-term commissioner, further freeing him from toeing the line to be rewarded with a second contract.
He is a strong public performer who can push a message and is quick on his feet, but the media is not a priority, which is a pity because his troops and the community need to be reassured by a chief commissioner’s strong presence.
There have been missteps – taking the police helicopter to an interstate police conference smacked of boys’ toys but, to his credit, he quickly owned the mistake. Publicly disagreeing with the opposition’s plans to recruit overseas police was an unwise venture into politics.
Police should remember that the sea of politics is inhabited by piranhas and one should refrain from putting a toe in it.
With an election five months away and crime and corruption key issues, Bush will need to push his reform agenda while keeping clear of partisan politics – or lose some toes in the process.
John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.
