Deja vu all over again

We hate having to go on about Corrections, but this story from Phil Taylor in today's Herald is a must-read. It would appear that Barry Matthews has "previous", as they say in crime and punishment circles:

It would come as no great surprise to Corrections chief executive Barry Matthews to find himself being elbowed towards the door by a politician.

Mr Matthews, 62, has been there before.

In the last year of his previous job, commissioner of the Western Australia police, he was privately asked to resign by the state's police minister.

That's not too dissimilar to his current predicament - Corrections Minister Judith Collins calling for his head after a damning audit report this week.

It comes with the territory.

Consider this: "Inquiries and apologies are not enough. It is time for [the Corrections chief] to accept that his lack of responsible leadership
has put the community at risk. It is time for Mark Byers to resign."

Mark Byers was Mr Matthews' predecessor as Corrections CEO, and the quote is from a 2002 press statement by New Zealand First MP Ron Mark in which Mr Mark said, "I didn't think Corrections could get any worse."

Mr Byers didn't resign. A longtime public servant, he retired three years later after nine years at the helm (he was appointed in 1995 when Corrections was set up as a stand-alone department).

Mr Matthews refused to fall on his sword in Western Australia. The police minister's request for him to go followed a Royal Commission of
Inquiry into corruption in the state's police force which found pockets of rot, but nothing comparable to revelations in Queensland and New South Wales.

Mr Matthews, who yesterday ruled out resigning as head of Corrections, has said he didn't quit in Western Australia because the request to do so didn't relate to his performance and because he wasn't a quitter.

We wonder if Mr Matthews will be reading this Herald story today, and pondering the irony of it all!