Jo Chandler

Christine Nixon became the first female Chief Commissioner of Police in Australia, appointed to head Victoria Police, at a most crucial time—the underworld was in the midst of a bloody war, the spectre of terrorism was emerging as a powerful new threat, and there was a stench of internal corruption. In this frank and engaging memoir, Christine Nixon reflects on the journey of a woman deep into a man’s world, describing the experiences that shaped her commitment to a model of policing as a community service, committed to caring for society’s most vulnerable. She explores the challenges of managing a police force through a period of profound social and cultural change, explains the hidden tensions at the front line of politics and policing and exposes the poisonous culture war within police ranks. Fair Cop candidly shares the public and private stories of Christine Nixon—woman, spouse, citizen, constable—on a journey that encounters tragedy, corruption, ambition and humility. In its final chapters, it takes readers inside the events of Black Saturday, the disaster that would so cruelly scar the state of Victoria, claim so many lives, and test Christine Nixon as nothing before. It tracks the intimate story of her days before the Bushfires Royal Commission and recounts her efforts, as head of the Victorian Bushfires Reconstruction and Recovery Authority, to renew ravaged communities.

In Feeling the Heat, journalist Jo Chandler sets out on a quest that takes her across the Antarctic ice, under the seas and through the tropical rainforests of far north Queensland. Her mission is to explore one of the defining mysteries of our age—climate change. The story Chandler tells is an epic adventure complete with heroes and villains. It’s a love story for those with an affection for nature. A reality show like no other. It’s also a story of science in its most glorious, pure form. Chandler takes us into wild landscapes in the company of scientists trying to decode climate information that will be critical to the decisions we make for the future of the planet. Written in the vein of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, and by turn lyrical, funny, and achingly sad, Feeling the Heat reveals startling truths about that delicate, confounding organism we call Earth.