Sack NSW whip over Pinochet: Greens THERE are calls for the NSW government's upper house whip, Peter Phelps, to be sacked after he defended a brutal military dictatorship. Mr Phelps spoke in NSW parliament to mark the 40th anniversary of Augusto Pinochet's overthrow of Chilean president Salvador Allende. "There are many who believe that General Pinochet was a reluctant hero, a morally courageous man," he said. We have to accept that sometimes it's necessary to do bad things to prevent terrible things. The Pinochet regime left more than 3200 dead and some 38,000 people tortured. Mr Phelps conceded he killed many people. But, he added: "If you know of any way to overthrow a government other than military force then let me hear about it... It's all too easy to say we believe we should never sanction dictatorship or that we should have no truck with evil, but such principles are foolish and self defeating in the real world. Greens MP John Kaye has called on Premier Barry O'Farrell to sack Mr Phelps as government whip over his "highly offensive" comments. "It is extraordinary that a senior government position holder is justifying the very worst kind of terrorism," he said. Mr O'Farrell told News Corp the comments were insensitive and that he should have found a better example "than a murderous, military dictator" to highlight the excesses of communism. In 2011, Mr Phelps described traffic lights as "a Bolshevist menace" and said they should be ripped up, adding that "Roundabouts represent freedom and democracy at its finest."