Somyurek thread. Here's some grabs from the presser where Dan announced he had sacked him for branch stacking, then took questions. It's one of the most brutal pressers he's ever had to face, and some interesting questions got asked. #OpWatts#IBACDan
Here Dan gets asked about whether Scott and Khairouz will be stood aside pending investigations, but apparently no, different rules for them.
Sumeyya really picks up her stride here, and pushes Dan to justify why Kairouz in particular should keep her job, given her commentary trashing her own portfolio. But Dan holds out and says he's been personally reassured by her that her behaviour was above board.
Scorn ensues 😂
The #TrouserTerrier refuses to let go, and gives Dan a grilling about "gutting IBAC" but Dan's not having it.
Now it gets heavy, they are pushing to get Dan to justify why Kairouz and Scott should remain in place for now, and Dan is far from convincing. And there's a "Have you ever branch stacked, Premier" question thrown in just for LOLs.
And here's the question I've been looking for. Sumeyya puts the Premier right on the spot, Dan refuses to be drawn into "answering a hypothetical" and then 2 days later, Kairouz brings the hypothetical to life.
Dan still refuses to agree his ministers should stand aside, and carries on about how that's asking him to do the investigation himself, but the journo's aren't letting go of this one. Issues of probity and confidence are raised, and ignored by Dan.
LOL, "Will the ministers cooperate with IBAC and Victoria Police"
Dan: Of course 🙃
"Well they didn't with the #RedShirts enquiry!"
Dan - *shirtiness intensifies*
Now the issue that was raised by the IBAC commissioner raises it's head: Are there bigger issues within the Labor party with a disrespect for taxpayer funds?
Dan: No, of course not 🙃
Dan gets asked how much he knew, decides to play dumb. Journos are highly sceptical of this claim.
They keep pushing him on how much he knew, and he keeps playing dumb......
Now questions turn to whether Dan will accept his vote or not as an independent, and shirtiness intensifies again 😂
I'll leave it there because it starts to get a bit repetitive, but the full press conference is here if you want to watch it.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
He's evaded a lot of scrutiny in the past 8 years. Time to put an end to it.
I went with "crimes" because it covers social, political and criminal matters. And why not start with a scandal involving all 3 - #RedShirts
#RedShirts is in the news again, because police whistle-blowers have gone to IBAC with an allegation that senior police may have intervened in the process of justice to protect Dan Andrews MPs.
This follows on from presumably the same whistleblower going to The Age last year
Also reported today, Liberal MP David Davis had a copy of the complaint dropped on his doorstep overnight. Now to me, that smacks of one hell of a frustrated whistle-blower. One who tried the media, doesn't have faith in IBAC, and wants all bases covered. Quite extraordinary...
Ok so it's time for another #OpWatts thread. Just waiting for the #IBAC stream to come up. It's Carr vs Somyurek today, and I'm anticipating many spicy moments. Will be doing the usual abbreviations to condense the commentary, listed below. More may be added during the day.
CR - Comm. Redlich
CA - Counsel Assisting
W - Witness
MK - Marlene Kairouz
RS - Robin Scott
NE - Nazih Elasmar
KV - Kaushaliya Vaghela
RG - Rick Garotti
HH - Hussein Haraco
SACOV - Somali Australian Council of Victoria
BMR - Bracks/Macklin Report
CCB - Corrupt, Cheating Bastards
I do hope Chris Carr has recovered from his bicycle crash injuries, and I would also like to dispel the rumour that he was involved in a hit and run by a blonde lady driving a Comcar. There's absolutely no evidence of that been provided to me. Stop flooding my DM's. #OpWatts
Those of you following #SlugGate will know about "Community Chef" the direct competitor to iCook foods. Ian Cook claims he was run out of business by ppl linked to Community Chef.
Have a look at the diligence done before Vic DHHS took ownership of this "non profitable" company.
Community Chef was initially founded by Albo and our #DictatorDan as health minister. Along the way, councils took shareholder stakes in it, and then it was eventually sold back to Vic DHHS as a basket case, for $1 per share I believe. It was worthless, as it never made profit.
Or did it........cos someone who looked them over more thoroughly than Pitcher Partners saw they were making money on the front end via food sales, but in the back end, admin section, millions and millions were "lost."
And that's despite tens of millions of grants kicked in.
Ok it's #IBACsummary time and wheeeew boy, was it an interesting day. The usual disgusting behaviours were canvassed, and many of the usual suspects were mentioned, so I'll try and focus on the new stuff we learned, and today's witness, Kirsten Psaila. #OpWatts
First up, Chris Carr fronted up looking like he had a face to face argument with an old fashioned push mower, which turned out to be a bicycle accident. But after a brief apology for his appearance, he proceeded to give somebody else a bloody face, and poor old Kirsten got it.
Kirsten's Twitter bio clearly has "living on #DinduNuffin land" but Carr was having none of that, being armed with a bagful of receipts that resembled Santa's sack in a good year. And possibly Kelly's Monday indignation fest put him and the Commish in an impatient mood.
So it's #IBACtime again. This will be the #OpWatts thread for the day. Today's witness is Kirsten Psaila, electoral officer for Marlene Khairouz, and not in any way a branch stacker, although that opinion may be shattered by day's end.
Abbreviations list in the next tweet.
CR - Comm. Redlich
CA - Counsel Assisting
W - Witness
AS - Adem Somyurek
MK - Marlene Kairouz
RS - Robin Scott
NE - Nazih Elasmar
KV - Kaushaliya Vaghela
HH - Hussein Haraco
SACOV - Somali Australian Council of Victoria
BMR - Bracks/Macklin Report
CCB - Corrupt, Cheating Bastards
Additional abbreviations may be added during the thread. WC will be used for witness counsel, if he intervenes.
And with that, the stream is up! We'll be going through witness formalities for a few minutes, then it's over to Mr Carr, for this mornings castigations. #OpWatts
OK just a quick #IBAC primer before the hearing. Today's witness is Kirsten Psaila, who worked in Khairouz office, and likely did a lot of factional work for her. The previous witness Christine Kelly hinted at it, and IBAC has a habit of using the 1st witness to burn the 2nd.
She's likely to get a lot of questions about her use of public time, ballot renewals, non genuine members, forgeries. And the "macedonian faction" might get brought up a few times, Labor loves targetting ethnic groups for support. Maybe some grants will get discussed again.
Big names that might come up will be Kaushalia Vaghela(again) plus Scott and Kairouz(already "resigned"). Possibly not much about Somyurek, they seem to have moved the focus to Khairouz for now, then presumably Scott after that.