The first thing people notice about Trish Blake is her blue hair. It is a deliberate style choice, she says, so that people in her office know they can talk to her on a normal level. “I just love it, and it has become a thing now,” she told reporters. “Even my family, they ask ‘what’s the next colour?’ And I say, no, it’s just the hairdresser and I who discuss it.”
Blake, who has been commissioner for some time, has seen all kinds of cases – dodgy car dealers, real estate agents – but one sticks with her. “The racist real estate agent,” she says, without providing further details. It is rare in state government agencies to have someone so candid about their work, but Blake does not know any other way.