| Victoria Police Chief Commissioner defends hiring of former Labor staffer Brett Curran |
Victoria's Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton has defended his decision to hire a former Labor party adviser as his new chief of staff.
Brett Curran was the former chief of staff to Premier Daniel Andrews when he was in opposition, but previously worked with the police force.
Mr Ashton's decision has drawn criticism from the Coalition, which argues the Chief Commissioner should be seen to be independent.
In an interview on 774 ABC Melbourne, Mr Ashton defended decision saying the chief of staff was not involved in any "operational decision-making".
He said Mr Curran was not "currently" a member of any political party and his role was strictly administrative.
"He is someone who is an experienced chief of staff and the amount of correspondence that has to be managed is enormous," he said.
"It's not a Peta Credlin-type role, where it's providing a key level of some sort of advice to me.
"It [the role] manages the staff in my office and I have every confidence that Brett will do that impartially."
Premier Daniel Andrews said any attempt to attack the credibility of the Chief Commissioner was wrong.
"It is my view, and it's the position of our Government, that Graham Ashton is a person with the utmost integrity, someone who's spent his whole working life keeping Victorians, and indeed Australians, safe," he said.
Plan to manage mental health of Victoria Police staff
Mr Ashton said it had been a "tough week" for Victoria Police, with the deaths of two officers.
A female senior constable took her own life while on duty and another was involved in a fatal crash in Gippsland.
He said the deaths shone a spotlight on the issue of mental health within the force.
"Our people respond to a lot of serious events, a lot of trauma events," he said.
"It's a very, very difficult job and we've just got to make sure we're doing everything we can to manage mental health in our organisation."
His said he was working toward a comprehensive plan that aimed to better manage the mental health of all Victoria Police personnel.
"I've started a larger review of mental health management in the police because I feel that it's an issue where we need to manage the mental health of [all] our staff from the time they come into the organisation, through the entire time they're in the organisation that there's a plan to support their mental health," he said.
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