Jeff Kennett fires back at Christine Nixon, launching extraordinary attack

Jeff Kennett says he has no respect for Christine Nixon and will never forgive her actions as police commissioner on Black Saturday.

The former Premier hit back at Ms Nixon with both barrels after she accused him of misogyny on 3AW Mornings.

Speaking on 3AW Drive, Mr Kennett said he could not recall any conversation they’d had in the past that would have left Victoria’s former top cop with the impression he didn’t like her, simply because she was a woman.

But he did attack her credibility.

“If you go to a Women’s Weekly interview that Christine Nixon gave, you’ll see in the article she said – ‘I’ve never, ever, spoken to Jeff Kennett’ – my wife pointed it out to me,” Mr Kennett explained on Wednesday afternoon.

“I laughed at that because we often used to speak, we often spoke at the Grand Prix and we were always polite to each other.

“I don’t know if Christine is telling the truth, or not, but she certainly wasn’t when she gave that interview to Women’s Weekly.”

Mr Kennett then detailed several examples of when he’d appointed women to senior positions before it became what he called “politically correct” to do so.

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview

He then launched an extraordinary attack on Ms Nixon over her leadership during the Black Saturday bushfires of 2009.

“I don’t respect her at all, for what she did,” Mr Kennett said.

“I don’t hate anybody, but I can’t forgive her.”

By JAKE BOURKE