Labor turns its back on 'victim' Christine Nixon

Legal expert has suggested the former top cop could be held in contempt of the bushfires royal commission for criticising the inquiry in her new book.

Leading barrister Peter Faris, QC, who has appeared for clients at other royal commissions, said Ms Nixon's comments about a "kangaroo court" could be contempt.

"This is probably a contempt of the royal commission but I can hardly imagine that for practical purposes there would be any prosecution," he said.

He was puzzled that Ms Nixon was upset at the robust way she was cross-examined by Ms Doyle.

"She's a police officer. Police get cross-examined all day," Mr Faris said.

"They are very experienced at being cross-examined.

Former Liberal federal MP Fran Bailey, whose electorate of McEwen was devastated by the fires, said Ms Nixon's "kangaroo court" comment was disgraceful and a betrayal of the Black Saturday survivors.

Ms Nixon writes in her book that royal commissions can become "the worst kind of kangaroo court" and "a public flogging".

Ms Bailey told The Australian: "I would see that as an act of betrayal of all of those good people who survived Black Saturday."

She said Ms Nixon's comments that she had suffered particular criticism from "reactionary male voices" and that there was a "fattist" agenda at work against her, was "an absolute nonsense".

But Ms Nixon defended her comments last night. "I'm not paranoid," she told the ABC's 7.30 program. "I am just suggesting there were people who took delight in what happened to me."

Melbourne University Publishing chief Louise Adler, whose company is publishing the book, said Ms Nixon was treated more harshly because she was a woman and overweight.

"If you want to analyse success in a leadership role, one looks at all sorts of criteria," she said.

"I wouldn't have thought body image was of any relevance whatsoever. The coverage by the tabloid media has been constructed in such a way as to give the impression this woman is not equipped to do this job."

Former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who holds Ms Nixon partly responsibly for an Office of Police Integrity investigation that destroyed his career, said Ms Nixon could not shift the blame for the flaws in her testimony to the royal commission.