Christine Nixon says she won't resign as head of Victoria's bushfire reconstruction after admitting she went out for dinner on the night of the fires that killed 173 people because she "had to eat".
The state's police chief at the time, Ms Nixon has said that after receiving a briefing about the fires as they savaged Victoria at around 5pm on February 7 last year, she went to a pub for dinner with friends.
Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, Family First senator Steve Fielding and the police union have all called for Ms Nixon to resign or be sacked from her job as head of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority (VBRRA).
But Ms Nixon says she won't resign and her future is in the hands of two groups. "One is the fire-affected communities and the thousands of people I've met and dealt with over the last 13 months and the government will have to make that decision," she told Fairfax Radio on Wednesday.
Ms Nixon explained she left the Integrated Emergency Co-ordination Centre (IECC), after being told people could die, because she was hungry.
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She pointed out she wasn't rostered for work that day. "I had to eat. It's as simple as that," she said.
"It wasn't a celebration or anything else, it was a simple matter of a meal with two people and then I went home."
She said "very capable people" had been left in charge and she was monitoring the bushfires over the internet, radio and by mobile phone.
She added she doesn't believe any more lives could have been saved if she stayed at the centre, but she does regret not staying. "I think in hindsight, yes I should have," she said.
Ms Nixon left her role as police chief commissioner shortly after the fires to head the newly established VBRRA.
But Mr Baillieu said if it had it been public knowledge she left the centre on Black Saturday it's unlikely she would have been given the VBRRA job.
"Whether she goes of her own accord or whether she is dismissed by the government, her position is not tenable," he said.
"I would have thought she would go of her own accord because I think it's very, very difficult now for her to maintain the confidence of the people she works with." Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Premier John Brumby defended Ms Nixon.
"Christine and the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority have been crucial to helping fire-affected communities rebuild," Mr Brumby said in a statement.
"The government supports Christine continuing in her role at VBRRA." Mr Rudd backed her to stay on as head of the joint state-commonwealth body.
"The prime minister has full confidence in Christine Nixon and the work she is doing leading the bushfire reconstruction in Victoria," a spokesman for Mr Rudd said. Bushfire survivors, however, have expressed their anger at Ms Nixon.
"It's disgusting. I own a company and if something goes wrong I am there, the buck stops with me," Kinglake resident Chris Harvey, who lost his home and 15 neighbours, told AAP. "She goes out for a meal.
There is a lot of anger in Kinglake."
Marysville resident David is also dismayed. "It reminds me of the story of Nero fiddling with his fingers while Rome burned," David, who did not want his surname published, told AAP.
"I don't have a lot of faith in Christine." The police union says it's impossible for anyone to back Ms Nixon. "This is a scandalous situation.
There is no excuse for it," Police Association secretary Greg Davies told reporters on Wednesday.
"It's unthinkable that the victims of this disaster now have to look at the very person who was supposed have their hand on the tiller but had their hand on the cutlery is now supposed to be responsible for rebuilding their lives."
