SES boss Adam Dent admits he ‘’really screwed up’’ when he chose to drink and drive and says he will personally cover any work travel expenses that result from his six-month driving ban.
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Speaking to the Mercury the day after his sentencing in Wollongong Local Court, Mr Dent said his actions on December 30 were ‘’inexcusable’’ and a ‘’real kick in the guts’’ to himself after a difficult year.
‘’I’m really ashamed of what I’ve done and I make no excuses,’’ Mr Dent said.
‘’My challenge now is to make sure it doesn‘t impact my work in any significant way or cost the service any more than it otherwise would.’’
He will walk to work and pay for taxis when necessary to meet the demands of his job which require him to travel up to 30,000km a year.
Magistrate Michael Stoddart refused a request by Mr Dent’s lawyer to allow him to keep his licence.
Instead he cancelled it for six months and fined the 35-year-old $1000.
Mr Dent said he knew three quarters of the way into the sentencing that he was ‘’going to cop it and thought fair enough’’.
‘’I did it and I need to wear the consequences for what I’ve done,’’ he said.
‘’The facts speak for themselves. I was wrong I blew over the limit and landed in court.’’
NSW Emergency Services Minister David Elliott has chastised his youngest ever commissioner.
“I have told him that he's an idiot for taking the risk and that I am disappointed,’’ Mr Elliott said.
‘’He’s admitted he has done the wrong thing and now he has to cop it on the chin. He retains my confidence as Commissioner.”
Mr Dent took the SES top job 13 months ago at a time when the organisations was dogged by allegations of corruption and misconduct within its ranks.
‘’It’s been a pretty hard year the service was hurting … for all sorts of reasons,’’ Mr Dent said.
‘’In such a challenging year, to end it like this, was a real kick in the guts to myself and not something I’m proud of.
‘’This isn’t something I’d normally do, and that’s why I am so upset at myself.
‘’I’d like to think I’m harder on myself than others are on me,’’ he said. ‘’It was genuinely an incorrect judgement of my sobriety.
‘’I wouldn’t have ever knowingly done that.’’
Mr Dent says there were contributing factors at play.
‘’I have lost 70kg in the last two years,’’ he said, revealing he weighed 154kg in 2013 when he opted for lap-band surgery.
‘’It certainly doesn’t excuse my behaviour, but has some bearing in terms of my ability to judge.
‘’I genuinely was surprised with the reading. I did not feel intoxicated and using the old rule of thumb of drinks per hour, which is a stupid and inexact science particularly when you are not pouring your own glasses, I got it wrong.’’
The lesson was that the ‘’only safe option is to not drive and I should have made that choice’’.
