Police Commissioner Karen Webb has defended her visit to a luxury car dealership, saying she has “no regrets” while her officers risked their lives pulling bodies from raging floodwaters.
Ms Webb attended an International Women’s Day event at Sydney’s Maserati dealership in Alexandria on Tuesday that was held to raise money for Police Legacy and the PCYC.
She was the star speaker at the exclusive high-end event, with her invitation believed to have come through her husband.
During the event Ms Webb, who is the state’s first female police commissioner and was sworn in on February 1, was pictured smiling as she stood in front of a blue $400,000 car alongside TV presenter and model Kate Peck.
While Ms Webb attended multiple events across the city, police officers conducted rescues and pulled bodies from raging floodwaters that swept through the city.
Thousands of people were evacuated from Sydney’s northern beaches, with the deluge resulting in the deaths of three people.
Meanwhile, residents across the state’s north are struggling to put their lives together after devastating floods tore through areas such as Lismore and Ballina last week.
Ms Webb quickly came under fire her for her choice to pose for photos while large parts of the state were under duress.
But she defended her decision to go to the events, telling 2GB’s Ben Fordham it feels like a “slap”.
“It’s one small thing I’ve done in a big week of visiting flood areas,” Ms Webb said on Thursday.
“I would have been criticised if I didn’t show up … you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t.”
Ms Webb said she visited the NSW north coast last week before going to the Nepean/Hawkesbury region on Saturday.
She then travelled on Wednesday to Ballina and Woodburn, town where police officers were among the residents who lost their homes.
“Then we went to Lismore and I can tell you, on the ground up there, it’s like Armageddon,” she said.
The commissioner said she has no regrets about her decision to go to the International Women’s Day events.
Ms Webb said her husband works at the Maserati dealership and had been a supporter of police “for years”.
“I can imagine that people wonder what’s going on, but it was a two-hour event that I whipped into and out of, and I was on the phone during the lunch organising resources for the floods,” she said.
“It was to celebrate International Women’s Day and I can’t account for the weather on that particular day, but it had been organised in advance and would have been a poor showing and I would have been criticised if I didn’t turn up.
“You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
Earlier in the daxjmtzywy Ms Webb visited private Burwood girls’ school MLC, where tuition costs up to $47,525 per year.
