He compared the ongoing stoush plaguing the council to a “soap opera” and said he hoped the council elected a candidate capable of bringing the council together and healing wounds that had seen the union in the headlines for “all the wrong reasons”.
Olson, who fronted the cameras alongside his wife and child, said he intended to write to the union’s president on Friday requesting to be reclassified a retired member, precluding him from being able to run for office.
“We seem to be in and out of the commission, and that needs to stop,” he said.
“I accept that I may be a polarising figure, but I have delivered outcomes for members, I can’t be bought, and both sides of politics don’t like me very much.
“When you do this for so long, 26 years, you’re going to pick up some barnacles along the way.
“I’m hoping that with my departure, we also see the departure of all the garbage that’s been out there.”
He branded WorkSafe improvement notices a “political tool” and urged the regulator to spend more time concerned about the workload issues its 40,000 members were grappling with.
Olson rejected criticism of its conduct as far as the campaign fund was concerned, labelling the criticism “ignorant”.
He rejected any assertion the leadership challenge had left the union in strife or that it had detracted from addressing issues plaguing the state’s hospital system, and branded nepotism claims “mud-slinging”.
“We’ve got online education, a second to none legal service, we’ve got 100 holiday units that we own, we don’t owe any money, we are cashed up, we can run campaigns,” he said.
“If you throw enough mud. Nothing has ever been proven.”
The council is expected to meet on Monday to appoint a replacement.
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