Victoria's police chief commissioner Mike Bush. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Victoria's police chief commissioner has apologised for using a police helicopter to fly to Tasmania for a conference.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush travelled to Hobart on Monday afternoon using the Victoria Police Air Wing.
He was attending an annual conference attended by chief commissioners from Australia and New Zealand.
Commissioner Bush said using the police helicopter to attend the conference was "the wrong decision".
"We should have looked harder for a commercial flight," he said in a statement.
"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."
A spokesperson for Victoria Police said the decision to use the helicopter was made because the winds in Tasmania were too strong for the fixed-wing aircraft.
"The flight to Hobart was conducted on Victoria Police's secondary Air Wing, which predominantly conducts training flights and acts as a back-up for the primary helicopter," the spokesperson said.
"There was no impact on community safety, operational capacity or service delivery, with the primary Police Air Wing and fixed-wing aircraft both available."
Victoria Police said the flight did not cost taxpayers any additional money.
"Victoria Police has a set number of monthly flying hours that are paid for, as per the commercial agreement with the company our aircraft are leased from," the spokesperson said.
"This threshold will not be exceeded for October, hence there was no additional financial cost associated with this flight."
The chief commissioner's staff officer and New Zealand's police commissioner were also on the flight.
- ABC
