Speaker 1: It's weekends on two GBN four BC with Luke Grant
Speaker 1: Sunday Morning. This is a time where we spotlight and
Speaker 1: Australian who's done extraordinary things. It's Nick caldus Ao. He
Speaker 1: was rightfully honored amongst the King's Birthday honors announced just
Speaker 1: a week ago. He's currently the Assistant Commander in chief
Speaker 1: of the Abu Dhabi Police Force and, amongst other things,
Speaker 1: one of Australia's most significant police officers. I'm delighted to
Speaker 1: say he's on the line from Abu Derby. Thank you
Speaker 1: for your time. You must be somewhat humbled, my friend.
Speaker 2: It is. I'm very humbled, Luke, and I'm very grateful.
Speaker 2: I hope in some ways it's not just a recognition
Speaker 2: of me. It's a recognition of all the communities, including
Speaker 2: my own Arabic community, the Egyptian community, the Coptor community
Speaker 2: that I'm not only a part of, but I've worked
Speaker 2: very close to you with and the supported me out
Speaker 2: of decades. Yeah, and I hope it's a recognition of
Speaker 2: these class police men and women as well, who spent
Speaker 2: the best part of four decades, you know, being a
Speaker 2: part of So I'm very grateful and humbledt just came
Speaker 2: out of left field, but I'm very grateful.
Speaker 1: Tell me about how Nick, born in Egypt ends up
Speaker 1: with the family in Australia.
Speaker 2: My grade in nineteen sixty nine, and I always was
Speaker 2: a very cold July day where arrived in the city
Speaker 2: and we didn't know anyone or anything, which makes a
Speaker 2: little more remarkable. I look at where I've been, what
Speaker 2: I've done, I don't know how I've got you. We
Speaker 2: came and we settled in Maryville initially and then moved
Speaker 2: around to Sydney for a little while. I joined the police,
Speaker 2: and when I'm from there that I think. One thing
Speaker 2: my father, who passed away many years ago, instilled in
Speaker 2: all of us is about hard work, doing the right thing,
Speaker 2: and actually caring about people and as you go along
Speaker 2: in your way. And I hope I've done that along
Speaker 2: the way. But you know, I look back on it
Speaker 2: all work and I just feel ddibly blessed to have
Speaker 2: worked for the people I've worked with and done of
Speaker 2: the things I've done.
Speaker 1: Did you always want to be a copper or was
Speaker 1: that something that you know, it seemed like a good
Speaker 1: idea at the time. Did you grow up wanting to
Speaker 1: be in the police force.
Speaker 2: I did actually very much so, and all my family
Speaker 2: expected I'll do it sooner or later. It took me
Speaker 2: a little while, but I actually didn't see colors tall enough.
Speaker 2: And in the late seventies and early eighties there were
Speaker 2: height requirements for yourself after police. When I finally got
Speaker 2: up there got some went in the Crease headquarters that
Speaker 2: in what is what used to be the Avery building
Speaker 2: in the College Street. I was tall enough, there was
Speaker 2: no problem. I was actually too skinny. You didn't believe
Speaker 2: that now, But I had to put on a bit
Speaker 2: of wa.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, you've you've got to you've got to
Speaker 1: be got to make yourself strong. That's what you've got
Speaker 1: to do. Your need food, don't you.
Speaker 2: You let's refer yeah, but yeah now and then once
Speaker 2: I applied, I if you went in and the class
Speaker 2: that I went through, the class one, seven nine, we're
Speaker 2: just fantastic and we're still in touch most of us,
Speaker 2: and jeez have reunions.
Speaker 1: And then, Jeez, in all the work you've done, it's
Speaker 1: it's you know, it's a bit like talking to a
Speaker 1: footballer and asking them their favorite performance. But you've been
Speaker 1: you've worked in the homicide squad, obviously involved in some
Speaker 1: of the most complex, high profile murder investigations. Is there
Speaker 1: one that not necessarily sticks out because you know you've
Speaker 1: got the job done quickly, but was perhaps complicated and
Speaker 1: required excellent policing to get a result. Is there is
Speaker 1: there one that you particularly reflect on.
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I'm a bit low to sort
Speaker 2: of seeing one out, But I guess the one that
Speaker 2: took the longest and was in many ways satisfying to resolve,
Speaker 2: what's the murder of John Newman, the member of Parliament. Yes,
Speaker 2: it took seven or eight years for us to get
Speaker 2: a conviction, and the other seven and eight years where
Speaker 2: there it appears all the way to the High Court
Speaker 2: was convicted, that he sentenced to life and never to
Speaker 2: be released. And it's made out in my mind that
Speaker 2: he did it, and that he's planned an inquiry, a
Speaker 2: raw commission if you like, into his conviction, which was
Speaker 2: essentially an inquiry to what we said and did fifteen
Speaker 2: years before. So it was quite torturous, and that it was.
Speaker 2: I never heard any of my teammates say, look, it's
Speaker 2: too hard, I want to get out. We're all stuck
Speaker 2: to the task. We all stuck together, and I among
Speaker 2: my closest friends, and I'm really proud of all of
Speaker 2: them and the fact that we've stuck together and got
Speaker 2: a job done.
Speaker 1: I know this is probably a bit of a Hollywood thing,
Speaker 1: but Nick, how do you stop something like that, which
Speaker 1: I guess to some extent becomes an obsession? How do
Speaker 1: you stop it overtaking your life? Can you actually do that?
Speaker 1: Because you end up living and breathing this thing, don't you?
Speaker 2: You do the real danger of that. But I think
Speaker 2: I've had over a decade in the homicide squad, and
Speaker 2: you do learn to sort of not compartmentalize. But work
Speaker 2: is work, home, his own family's family, and you try
Speaker 2: and not let it intrude on your thoughts while you're
Speaker 2: with home and family and so on. I think most
Speaker 2: of us are pretty good with that. But this was
Speaker 2: quite significant, look because it was described by the certaencing
Speaker 2: judge Justice Dunfords a political assassination man who was killed
Speaker 2: not because of what, you know, anything he did, but
Speaker 2: because of simply who he was. And it was pretty
Speaker 2: clear that the fellow who killed him from you know,
Speaker 2: was his political opponent and wasn't going to get anywhere
Speaker 2: until he got rid of in so he thought, okay,
Speaker 2: I thought that out he did. It was quite tragic.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was. Yeah. I'll ask you quick. I'm kind
Speaker 1: of uncomfortable, but I want to I remember a number
Speaker 1: of colleagues, might even include me. This radio station thought
Speaker 1: that you were the perfect appointment as police commissioner. You
Speaker 1: decided to step away and pursue something different. Can you
Speaker 1: look back at that fondly? Do you look back at
Speaker 1: that with frustration? I probably shouldn't pry, because I had
Speaker 1: great respect for you, But I want to ask you that, mate.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that you that's a good cause. There's no
Speaker 2: disrespect man, and I'm not offended in any way. Look up,
Speaker 2: I need thirty five years commissioner. At the time ender
Speaker 2: script he only got another four or five year contract.
Speaker 2: If he wasn't going anywhere, and one's being offered all
Speaker 2: sorts of things, I decided it was time to go.
Speaker 2: I don't look back with any sense of frustration. I've
Speaker 2: said in the book I've written. I regret nothing. I
Speaker 2: moved on. I made a decision consciously not to stay
Speaker 2: in Sidney once I got out. Would I should I
Speaker 2: was never really me, and I took on the leadership.
Speaker 2: Well we investigate, You're not a nation of investigation. The
Speaker 2: kind of the workers in Syria yep. And then a
Speaker 2: bunch of other things. Obvious thinking in the world conditioned
Speaker 2: the military suicide. And I'm now working with the Deabi
Speaker 2: police in the United Arounates. I'm quite proud of that.
Speaker 2: So you just you move on, you look ahead. That's
Speaker 2: been you know what our family does. We left things
Speaker 2: behind in Egypt as well. You just have to look ahead,
Speaker 2: do as you know as well as you can with
Speaker 2: whatever you've got in front of you, and enjoy life,
Speaker 2: which is what I hope I've done.
Speaker 1: Wow, your work as the Royal Commissioner in the veteran
Speaker 1: suicide is Look again, it's a silly question, but I
Speaker 1: spoke to you during that process. I could just sense,
Speaker 1: and you don't need me to say this, but I
Speaker 1: could just sense how important you knew it was, and
Speaker 1: you work there is exemply But I wonder if we've
Speaker 1: actually met your expectations in the way we've dealt with things.
Speaker 2: I think it's too early to tell whether the law
Speaker 2: Commissioners had the impact that everyone wanted it to. Have.
Speaker 2: The government very quickly responded, in fact that he had
Speaker 2: record time because they're working enough. How important it was
Speaker 2: accepted one hundred and four one hundred and twenty three recommendations,
Speaker 2: including the main run of establishing their body that monitors
Speaker 2: welfare and reports publicly. We're working on all of that now,
Speaker 2: so I'm optimistic about the future. I've been accused of
Speaker 2: being an eternal optimist, but it was really important work.
Speaker 2: It was definitely hardgoing that there was a lot of
Speaker 2: sadness really that I am the stuff that even we
Speaker 2: had a welfare regime and place for everyone. But the
Speaker 2: thing that struck me be is that the similarities between
Speaker 2: the problems in the military and law enforcement and emergency
Speaker 2: services is startling. It's exactly the same problems. I've had
Speaker 2: a bit to say about that. I was granted a
Speaker 2: meeting with all the Police Commissioners of Australia and New
Speaker 2: Zealand through ramspar this customer for frank discussion and we're
Speaker 2: all doing bits and pieces in terms of welfare and
Speaker 2: research and try to view these problems. But I won't
Speaker 2: go over it all again. But when we finished the
Speaker 2: Royal Commission, in the closing he had this. I did
Speaker 2: say that this has been a national disgrace, how we've
Speaker 2: treated our veterans and serving members, how we've taken along
Speaker 2: off the ball of society. Our media and the political
Speaker 2: class did not pay enough attention the fifty seven inquiries
Speaker 2: that preceded US seven hundred and seven recommendations, most of
Speaker 2: which were not acquitted fully. And it was in plain sight. Anyway,
Speaker 2: we're there now, we've had the inquiry, We've highlighted the problems.
Speaker 2: We took an und an unusual approach. We decided to
Speaker 2: talk to the media and do as much coverage as
Speaker 2: we could get it all out there, basically, and a
Speaker 2: lot of people from the legal fraternity, he felt that
Speaker 2: they were uncomfortable with that. It's on precidented for the
Speaker 2: Royal Commissioner, a sitting raw commission, to say so in
Speaker 2: US and do so much with the media. But you
Speaker 2: felt that the only way we're going to achieve real
Speaker 2: lasting change was to actually bring all the problems out
Speaker 2: into the sunshine and let them be dealt with a
Speaker 2: name and dealt with hopefully. And I hope and pray
Speaker 2: we've done that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, you were brilliant, brilliant you're the assistant Commander
Speaker 1: in chief of the Abu Dhabi Police Force. So what
Speaker 1: does work look like? How different is it to the
Speaker 1: days when you were operating in uniform in New South Wales.
Speaker 2: It is very different, obviously culturally and every other way.
Speaker 2: There's some really incredibly clever people here in the police
Speaker 2: and in government generally, and I think I'm beginning to
Speaker 2: recognize after only a couple of months that actually much
Speaker 2: more advanced than Australia in many ways in terms of
Speaker 2: use of technology and other ways they're dealing with things,
Speaker 2: and they're very open minded, which is what attracted me
Speaker 2: to the role. And I'm very grateful and again humbled
Speaker 2: to be asked to play this part. I'm bringing a
Speaker 2: different perspective, I guess, to the way things done and
Speaker 2: bringing the international connections that I'm happen to build over
Speaker 2: the decades to be and there's it's going to be
Speaker 2: a very interesting few years, ji a couple of years
Speaker 2: while I'm here. And again my father has taught me
Speaker 2: to don't move on until you've made your mark, and
Speaker 2: I hope I will make my Marqi and certainly not
Speaker 2: be it. I play some small contribution in the revolution
Speaker 2: here and I really hope to build the connections between
Speaker 2: the Gulf and the air countries and Australian law enforcement
Speaker 2: more strongly than they have been in the past.
Speaker 1: Well, Nick, we said this part in the sund out
Speaker 1: to talk to remarkable Australians and you're certainly one of those.
Speaker 1: Nick Calder's AO. Congratulations and can I get to say Nick,
Speaker 1: thank you for everything you've done, not just here but
Speaker 1: all around the world. An exceptional human being and we
Speaker 1: valued the opportunity to talk to you and I wish
Speaker 1: you well.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Luc, and thank you for your
Speaker 2: continuing support of those in uniform make both military and
Speaker 2: police and services. It's been fantastic. Just I'm really grateful
Speaker 2: to you for thinking of not at.
Speaker 1: All Nick Caldas outstanding, all the best mate, and plenty
Speaker 1: of feedback just decoing everything that I've been saying, a
Speaker 1: bit of a fanboy moment for me, because I do
Speaker 1: think he's remarkable and look on the back of that
Speaker 1: chat to Nick, New South Wales Police Legacy and collaboration
Speaker 1: with seven Australian police legacies, have launched National Police Legacy
Speaker 1: Day to celebrate the important work done by the nonprofit
Speaker 1: charities around the country to support police officers and their
Speaker 1: loved ones. The newly established National Police Legacy Day observed
Speaker 1: annually on the seventeenth of journe It aims to bring
Speaker 1: attention to the difficulties faced by police families left behind
Speaker 1: after tragedy, the significant financial strain and emotional distress and
Speaker 1: challenges rel added to the family structure and daily life.
Speaker 1: This National Police Legacy Day will feature a variety of activities,
Speaker 1: community events, fundraising efforts and a call to illuminate buildings
Speaker 1: around the state in a blue light in the evening.
Speaker 1: The Opera house sales will be blue in Sydney and Premier.
Speaker 1: You've done well there, tick, So you'll see that on
Speaker 1: the seventeenth Tuesday. And when you see blue, we'll hear
Speaker 1: about this. You'll know, wow, got to get behind that.
Speaker 1: We thank all police all over the country for their service.