Thread by @PoliBard

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

And after a brief glitch, we're away! Missed a few minutes, but it's just the induction stuff that everybody gets. Now CA is up, and he's looking in a much better state of repair than he was last week. Rumour has it the pavement he headbutted is still in ICU......😬
#OpWatts

CA gets personal right away: When did you join the ALP?
W - 1995, resigned in 2020, elected to Parliament in 2002.
CA - And prior to that?
W - Worked as an EO for Anthony Byrne, and also for Jacinta Collins.
CA now defining branch stacking, etc for the hearing.
#OpWatts

CA - Are you familiar with Branch Stacking within ALP?
W - I am.
CA - If somebody controls numbers withing ALP, it gives them power within ALP?
W - I would say influence, don't like the word power(LOL)
LOL, CA tries to ask about power again, CR prompts with "influence"
#OpWatts

W - People who want to cheat their way into parliament branch stack, and also people already in parliament who don't want to get pre-selected against by another would branch stack. So to attain a seat, and to retain a seat. Safe incumbents don't have a reason.
#OpWatts

CR - Why would you say cheat?
W - (Here we fucking go) If you're a whitey, there are no obstacles, but ALP is full of unconscious bias, so people from migrant backgrounds have to cheat to get a fair outcome.(Shameless mofo, continuing the BS from Garottis testimony )

#OpWatts

Now CA and W quibbling about what influence actually means, and W claims he's not a good case study 😂

Now W giving some factional history about how him and Byrne walked out of the shoppies faction and formed into Mod Right.
#OpWatts

CA - Do you accept the broad proposition that having influence and controlling numbers gives you control within the ALP.
W - *Greta mode activated* Blah, blah, blah. Yes, there is a correlation in general.
CA - Including pre selection?
W - depends, more blah blah
#OpWatts

W - It's more about coalition building, and you have to behave, or people freeze you out.
CA and W going round and round in circles again regarding whether branch stacking even works. W playing down it's effects as much as he can.
#OpWatts

CA - When did you become aware of branch stacking?
W - Knew about it right away, but wasn't specifically aware of it right away. Just called himself an "inadvertent stackee" 😂😂😂😂😂
CA - It was there since 1995 to your knowledge?
W - yes
#OpWatts

CA - was stacking done by the Mod right?
W - yes, but it started earlier than that, it was Conroy's Labor unity faction, and Conroy controlled all the ethnic factions. The right split, Conroy and Shorten walked out and did a deal with Soc Left. Blames Conroy for grief.

#OpWatts

CA - Are you aware of other factions doing branch stacking?
W - Well the left invented ethnic branch stacking. But both were going at it hammer and tongs in the south east (Hello Dan)
W - Conroy adopted the more conservative communities, the left focused on progressives
#OpWatts

W - Turks, Bosnians, Vietnamese, other "anti communist" communities were targetted by Conroy. Other communities from more progressive regimes targetted by the left. A HUGE list just got read out, see the transcript later on.
CA - Did you see Burke stacking?
W - Yes
#OpWatts

W - discussing safe seat of Gareth Evans being taken over by Byrne.
CR interrupts and wants to know about the point where you "rise above" stacking just mentioned by W.
CA asks about the power struggle.
Byrne recruiting on the right, DANIEL ANDREWS on the left
#OpWatts

Now W is describing Byrne raiding the left's branches to stack them, and the left retaliating on the right's branches. Sounds hectic.(Bet Dan recalls that 😂)
CA now asks about Alan Griffin
W - Former member for Bruce.
CA - from the left?
W - him and Carr ran the left
#OpWatts

Some rubbish about a joke which I couldn't follow there.
CA now asking about a peace accord.
W - yes, we had a peace deal in the south east, Byrne said 2002, but I think it was 2001. It held until Dec 2019, but the left had been recruiting behind my back. Caught napping
#OpWatts

CA - back to Byrne's pre-selection. Asking about a certain recruiter who W persuaded to come across to Byrne's camp. Was he employed by Byrne?
W - yes he was. He did various deals to employ people in his office, with various community leaders.

#OpWatts

CA - so you saw a practice of recruiters working in electorate offices?
W - yes
CR - when did you become aware of this practice?
W - from when I came in. But I looked back further and saw more, name drops Conroy and Brumby.
CA - And more recently?
W - yes
#OpWatts

CA - and in your own office?
W - well I've got Haraco, but he's not employed to recruit(LMAOOOOOOOO) I haven't stacked, because there was a peace deal, but if there was a need, I would have done it because everyone was doing it.
CR asking "no stacking from 2001-2019?"
#OpWatts

W - It was vastly reduced cos of the peace deal in my area.
CR - Any other areas?
W - Geelong, mentions Richard Marles and John Erin. Says they took over from the left and moved out their MPs. RM & JE then became MPs, along with Lisa Neville, Marles partner at the time.
#OpWatts

W mentions Conroy's empire building again, seems to be some bad blood there. And mentions Conroy/Shorten changing the rules so you didn't have to attend a branch meeting to join ALP.
CA clarifies already stacked members were renewed during "peace accord" and W agrees.
#OpWatts

W now saying he did not financially contribute to membership renewals until he became an MP, it was all Byrne after that. W is not sure who paid for Byrne's membership renewals before became an MP, thinks maybe shoppies union.
#OpWatts

W recalls Byrne asking for a dodgy $7k donation from a Vietnamese business leader.
CR - There are going to be many opportunities for you to slag others integrity, please refrain from doing so unless it's particularly relevant to the question(LOL, saw that coming)
#OpWatts

CA - now asking about figures involved for membership renewals for Byrne, W says hard to be accurate, estimates $2k per year. Knew there was a "kitty" but didn't see it in operation.
CA - did you have fundraisers in SE?
W - yes
CA - cash or cheques?
W - both
#OpWatts

CA - Did you know about cash being used for memberships?
W - not directly but clear it happened.
CA now reads W previous description of branch stacking admin "machinery" huge list of stuff.
CA - would you agree those activities were done in electoral offices?
#OpWatts

W waffles for a minute, claims it's a lot of work, and doesn't really address the question, so Carr asks it again.
W agrees that it happened. Safe seats needed to keep their eye on it, marginal seats needed to do it.
CA asks if MK needed to do it, W absolutely agrees.
#OpWatts

CA asks if W is familiar with Psaila's testimony from the previous week, and if he was aware such activities were going on.
W claims he never met Kelly, and Psaila maybe 1-2 times, so couldn't comment generally on the activity in that office.
Now CA pushes the MK angle.
#OpWatts

CA pushing that he must have had some idea due to being in close with MK. Asks if Psaila's evidence surprised him, which is a better question.
W - No, not surprised. Assumes she did what she'd always done as she previously worked for George Seats(?)
#OpWatts

CR now wants to push that AS and MK were close due to "factional pooling" but W is pretty sure for every single example there will be some other reasonable explanation(LOL) W says that he was far more involved with Byrne than MK.
CA brings up Nick McLennan again.
#OpWatts

W describes that apparently it was just good timing that McLennan went to work for MK, apparently McLennan "hit a wall" with factional stuff and wanted a non factional role, MK wanted a non factional employee, perfect match.
CA brings up factional work done by McLennan
#OpWatts

CA now asking if W is surprised by this work? W is dithering now, trying to downplay McLennan as a factional player.
CA asks if McLennan was ever directed to do factional work by him?
CR reminds W of his warning about responding to open ended questions.
#OpWatts

W - "I've gotta be careful answering, because you've got all my text messages" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
W - McLennan was "in the freezer" because he stopped his activity and didn't hand over properly. Continues to try and down sell him as a factional operative.
#OpWatts

CA refers to having "an odd text message here or there"🤭 ( I hope you pricks appreciate how many juicy facial expressions I miss out on because I'm busy typing stuff. I'd be legs up on the recliner, stuffed full of popcorn and streaming on the big screen if I could 😭)
#OpWatts

W describes McLennan as dropping factional activities becase he "became a normal person " 😂
Now CA straight up asks "did you employ recruiters as electoral office staff?"
W wants specifics, but CA wants to know if at all, won't provide names yet.
W mentions 2 people
#OpWatts

W - One lady who recruited a small number of people and another whose name escapes him.
CA - so the general proposition of you employing recruiters?
W - well there was no recruiting from 2001-2009. He's being very slippery on this one.
But CR is on to this, intervening.
#OpWatts

CR - "Did you employ factional operatives?"
W - yes, but that had to have limits placed on it.
CA - what were the limits?
W waffles on some more about customary practice. Starts describing a lot of grey areas.(He's not shy to skewer others, but won't skewer himself.)
#OpWatts

CA - So you accept your employess did factional work and this is your justification?
W - Yes, and I may have ordered some factional work from time to time (LOL)
CA - You accept your employees regularly did factional work?
W - I didn't direct it, despite txt msgs you got
#OpWatts

W - some of it was just office gossip, bragging(LOL). ALP is voluntary, heaps of activities are after hours, there's hardly anything you can do during the 9-5 working day that's actually factional, except for renewal season.
CA - lets talk renewal time then.
#OpWAttts

CA - do you accept a lot of factional work happened in your office during renewal time?
W - blah, blah, blah, blather and bluster, get the forms, get the renewals done, it was all Byrne's fault.(He's another member of the Dindu tribe, this bloke)
#OpWatts

And it's time for a break, and fuck me do I need one! This guy is incredible, he seems to think he can paint himself as some poor migrant victim of the evil white man's political machine who had to cheat to beat racism. This is gunna get ugly later on.....

Back soon! #OpWatts

And #IBAC is back! #LetsGoChrisCar!
CA wants details about "section 30, subsection 4" which W is using as a get out of jail card for "office time factional activities"
And he's also bringing up W being named as "breaching the members guide" during #RedShirts
#OpWatts

CA - It's your position you were coerced by Mr Lenders and you were reluctant to engage in this behaviour, and you spoke to the Premier about it?
W - Yes that's the evidence I gave to the privileges committee.
CR - To who?
W - The upper house committee
#OpWatts

CA - You knew it was improper?
W - Yes, and the scale of it was too big? Can I elaborate?
CA - Yes, we'd love to know why a little bit of bad is ok, but a lot of bad is wrong.
W starts waffling, but CA stops him
CA - Is it ok to ask staff to go wash your car?(LMAO)
#OpWatts

CA - when you're given responsibility for public resources, do you agree they are solely to be deployed to aid your public duties?
W - is this about patronage?(LOL)
CA repeats the question.
CR - Do you believe party activities are included in public duties?
#OpWatts

W - waffles about a NSW MP who had a staffer doing child care, and that's not on. Belatedly agrees that public work may include a bit of party work.
CA asks "same for ministerial staff?"
W says that these public appointments are political, but work should be apolitical.
#OpWatts

Now W says he didn't have factional staff as ministerial staff, just everybody else 😂😂😂😂
CR now intervenes to discuss the overwhelming evidence the commission has received where ministerial advisors have brought political vision to decisions.
W - waffles again
#OpWatts

Just going fowards, S30 will be "section 30 subsection 4" of the parliamentary rules, as it keeps getting dropped by AS. He's using it to justify having some wiggle room for staff doing factional work, and it seems Lenders wiggled hard here on #RedShirts.
#OpWatts

W now complaining that the ombudsman didn't use stronger language than "artifice" about #RedShirts, and he's blaming her lack of harsh language as green lighting the culture of Vic Labor to rorting public time to do factional activity. She should have used the C word 😂
#OpWatts

Basically AS is now fingering the ombudsman for Labor's corrupt culture. This is quite incredible.
CR - is it fair to say that parliament did not have the will to address the will of factional activity of electoral officers?
W - spot on.
CR - what a terrible indictment
#OpWatts

It's very hard to keep up with the to and fro here, but in between that last tweet there was a discussion about the narrow brief the ombudsman had, and that's where CR was clarifying, as he hasn't been critical of the ombudsman in any way that I've heard.
#OpWatts

W and CR continuing on to discuss the finer points of what is and isn't allowed, and the legislation introduced post #RedShirts to try and address campaigning issues, but also had wider implications which should have captured branch stacking, factional activities.
#OpWatts

Quite an ideological discussion just there, well worth checking the transcript later, impossible to capture the details of it.
W now describing how appalling that #RedShirts was not just misappropriation, but also involved election cheating to gain power, and patronage.
#OpWatts

CR now asking W to address CA's point that W knew the behaviour identified by the ombudsman was wrong, but W returns to "ombudsman wasn't scathing enough, she basically endorsed S30 as allowing this behaviour"
"#RedShirts was a gold standard rort, not called corrupt"
#OpWatts

W now drops Dan Andrews name again, that he was ok with following the guide and ignoring the "artifice" criticism.
W claims again he was bullied into it by Lenders, didn't want to forge timesheets. He resisted, wanted a letter to ok it, didn't get one.

#OpWatts

W complained to the Premier about it, and was allegedly told "well do you want to win, or not?"
CR intervenes again to talk about S30 amendments, 5 & 6, which defined public duties and what public resources could be used for (Will have to look this up)
#OpWatts

CR suggests that 5&6 made it VERY clear that public resources couldn't be used for party activities.
Now W wants to draw a line between party and factional work, and say that party work is within the guidelines in S30, but factional work isn't. So, it's a grey area.
#OpWatts

W claims that parliamentarian self interest prevented the parliament from providing more robust S30 legislation that would have prevented branch stacking/factional activities on public time.
"It was a unity ticket in parliament, they were protecting themselves."
#OpWatts

CA - I think you understand the vice in diverting tax payer resources to factional activities
W - yes, but blah, blah, blah
CA - You accepted that, do you accept that factional work is not part of your public duties?
W - most MP's think that
CA - What about you?
#OpWatts

W tries to answer yet again about "what most people think, or what happened" and CR has had enough. Tells him to share his own state of mind.
W - *awkward pause* Yes, in a way. I must elaborate, i'm not doing it justice with yes/no answer.
CA - Is there a lack of line?
#OpWatts

CA - a dividing line between public and party activities?
W - it's an area that's dying to be tested, and the Ombudsman found S30 could be applied in an extremely broad way.
CR - We've got evidence the President and Speaker passed a guideline regarding electoral offices
#OpWatts

W - that was a guideline, not an enforceable document
CR - do you remember the guide?
W - your terminology is too strong, that didn't reflect the will of the parliament, just those 2 people.
CR - It says "parliament does not fund EO's to perform party specific work"
#OpWatts

CR - "including managing the party's membership. Didn't they make that clear?
W - yes
CR - And parliament saw fit next year to signficantly confine S30?
W - yes, but the guidelines from speaker and president were still unenforceable. And parliament did not.....
#OpWatts

W - did not adopt the strength of the guidelines issued by the Speaker and President. It was open to them to take into consideration those view and the ombudsman's views, but they didn't.(So the whole parliament is completely rotten, it seems.)

#OpWatts

CA - You've described #RedShirts as systematic corruption designed to misappropriate tax payer resources?
W - Yes
CA - What about only $15k, not $500k, is it still corruption?
W - Now you're in the grey area.
Ooooo, it's exhibit time, here comes the good stuff!
#OpWatts

CA going back to 2018 Nat conference. Was significant for Mod Right, yes?
W - no, the right as a whole, they were about to lose their majority nationally.
CA - You've bagged Conroy a few times. He was on nat executive until 2018, yes?
W - *has another crack @ Conroy*

#OpWatts

CA warns him he's been warned not to do that.
CA puts it there was a large scale activity to harvest ballots for national conference, and cast them on behalf of the members, motivated by W wanting to replace Conroy on Nat Exec.
#OpWatts

W - my position was assured anyway, you don't understand, i'm going to help you 😂😂😂
W - It was put to me that I needed to be on Nat Exec. I was the pre-eminent right factional leader at the time. Because I'm so great.
CA cuts him off. Wants to confirm he'd be elected.
#OpWatts

CA asks him to focus on the questions asked, not the speeches he wants to give 😂😂😂(This is entertaining as shit, somebody pour me a drink and take over typing)
CA asking about factional time involved, W doesn't want to admit to anything more than occasional.
#OpWatts

CA wants to know if W gave directions to carry out factional work. W admits he did, and it was with the knowledge of the #RedShirts fallout.
CA did you believe you had carte blanche to do factional activities?
W goes to blather, but CR pulls him up and redirects him.
#OpWatts

W goes to blather mode again, CR pulls him up again. W says he believed it was ok to do some party stuff, but not go full silly.
CA reminds him he used the term carte blanche earlier.
Now WC is intervening about that, and wants to address a few other points.
#OpWatts

And we're going on a WC diversion for a moment.
WC asks about W working for Jacinta Collins, and how he got that job. W states that Byrne got him that job, and was effectively his boss during that period.
WC asks about 1998 Byrne branch stacking, was he involved?
#OpWatts

W states that he was only an observer, but subsequently paid for renewals.
WC asks if W engaged in branch stacking to get elected, but W says that Byrne's activities got him into parliament.
WC now brings up the peace deal between S/E Left & Right factions.
#OpWatts

WC asks if W was involved? W says that him and Daniel Andrews were in constant discussion about it. There was an electorate redivision at the time, when Andrews went to new seat of Mulgrave.
W describes it as toxic culture, people destined for jail if it didn't stop.
#OpWatts

Griffin & Byrne were bosses at the time and also involved, but claims himself and Andrews were the genesis of the deal. Seems W is also suggesting that Andrews was pre-selected off the back of that arrangement. Not clear.
Might be a bombshell, definitely lunch time! BBS!
#OpWatts

OK and we're back, not sure if I missed anything, stream paused and I didn't notice. But we're onto 2018 April/May and ballot harvesting activities.
W being shown text messages regarding it.
CA puts it that this is corruption.
W wants it to be partial corruption.
#OpWatts

LOL, this guy is incredible. He wants soft definitions when it suits him, but only for himself.
CA pounced on "down time in the office" that W just mentioned. Mentions that a lot of staff are employed as casuals. Puts it that casuals should only be needed when busy
#OpWatts

W describes a "bad habit" of mostly employing casuals.
CA pushes that casuals should still only be needed for busy, official work.
W is waffling about how he divided up 2.5 resources now using casual time sheets.
CA pushing there is no need for casuals if not busy.

#OpWatts

Oh dear, W actually uses "entitlement" in answering that question, and CA pounces - "That was your mindset, wasn't it? You were entitled to that?"
W - oh we all did it
CA - Gets pissy again about W mentioning others, clarifies W doing things doesn't exlude others.
#OpWatts

CA now goes over some previously admitted evidence from W staffers about "gathering every vote possible" during ballot harvesting season. W doesn't like where this is going, asks for her employment records.
W - she was full time before, her Dad died, etc. Dithers again
#OpWatts

W wants to argue most of her activity would have been outside office time.
Now we're talking about Mr Sandley. W accepts he was filling in ballots in the office. CA puts that it's part of a larger pattern outlined in the text messages, W forced to agree.
Back 2 Sullivan
#OpWatts

And his text messages about driving around to collect ballots. CA asks about messages from Sullivan he received. W drags a bunch of names in and dithers, but forced to concede in the end he was directing Sullivan regarding collecting ballot papers.
W - from memory......
#OpWatts

CA - nah, lets use receipts instead 🙂
Several text messages shown, W clearly quite involved in tracking and directing ballot collections by Sullivan, and CA steps him through.
W is uncertain who sent the initial request and info to Sullivan for ballot collection.
#OpWatts

W claims Sullivan wasn't the best choice because he's non Turkish speaking. But W admits he directed him after ballot collection drive was started.
More text messages now, new ones.
"Peter already has 70 ballots filled out on Robin Scott."
"50 blank ones here too."
#OpWatts

CA - he seems to be seeking direction from you about what to do in his working day? W - yes, but blather, blather, blather, someone else must have started it.
CR - is this something he did of his own volition, or under your direction/broad approval?
#OpWatts

W - well they should have been working independently, they knew what to do, not sure why I'm getting this question.(God he's a dodger)
CR pushes back again for specifics.
W - this is gunna sound cute(LOL) I don't know why Sullivan was put onto this kind of work.
#OpWatts

(He's as bad as Dan this bloke. One minute he's got perfect recollection and understanding, nek mennit, "I do not recall who made that decision.)
CA - Sullivan moved from your office to MK office 2 weeks earlier. So he should have been under her direction at this time.
#OpWatts

W - yeah it's a bit funny
CA - CR mentioned "pooling of resources" earlier, and this seems to be an example of this?
W - yeah, nah, not me, we never pooled. But maybe it was Byrne and MK pooling, IDK. Or maybe residual loyalty to Byrne from Sullivan.

#OpWatts

CA - when a staffer moves, they are subject to the directions of their new MP, correct?
W - yes
CA - so how did Sullivan collecting ballots and texting you connect to Byrne?
W - Oh Nick McLennan definitely involved, probably. Not my fault of course 😇
#OpWatts

W - *waffles on more*(God he's hard to listen to at times)
Now he's angry at McLennan and Schriber for doing membership checks on socialist left, in his office, at Mr Byrne's behest.(NFI how that's relevant.)
CR, abbreviated - Answer the bloody question!
W - TBH, IDK
#OpWatts

CA - before your excursis in a previous answer(LOL)
CA - MK has given evidence that her staff were significantly directed to perform extensive amounts of factional work. Care to review your answer?
W - sounds counter intuitive
CR tells him again "stop leaning in too far"
#OpWatts

W - sorry i'm a fidgeter, I can hear you ok.
CA now asks about "ticketing" - basically internal "how to vote" instructions for ALP.
W talks about internal "preference whispering" and how it was decided and tracked.
(Labor are sooo industrious when they benefit from it.)
#OpWatts

CA confirms W was tracking votes cast so far and how many ballots were available in each office. Asks for "the quota" to be explained.
W - votes needed to be elected, but varies depending on turnout.
CA - remember what it was for 2018 elections?
W - maybe 200?
#OpWatts

W - we normally estimate what it will be and allow for turnout.
CA - you got updates from head office every day on ballots submitted?
W - yes
CA - and from head office direct, or your own operatives?
W - we had no special knowledge of that, 2nd/3rd hand at the time.
#OpWatts

CR - so it's quite complicated?
W - yes, we had to track other groups and know what they were doing, the right was united as they were about to lose control, and the left was going full guerilla.
Back to the text messages again from Sullivan on some quota stats.
#OpWatts

W doesn't know, but suggests that Conroy was head honcho at that time for this kind of data gathering.
CR - how significant was this conference to the upcoming Federal election?
W - VERY. It would have been the first time they took over the party, influenced policy.
#OpWatts

W - they would have gone leftwing crazy on policies the electorate doesn't like, and even if they lost, they would have made a big stink and we were worried about that.
CR - any impact on pre-selection?
W - Nope. All about policy. We can't win govt with left in charge.
#OpWatts

W - the left are the heart and soul of the party, we are the brain that keeps it sensible.
CR - Would it surprise you to learn yours is the first evidence that policy has anything to do with branch stacking?
W - well many are political junkies. Obsessed with power.

#OpWatts

W manages to get a swipe in at Dan for his lurch to the left, claims it's not electorally popular.(Well maybe not nationally, but Dantards seem to enjoy it)
Back to text messages again, asking about a HTV card for "Clare" so Psaila can take votes from MK's office
#OpWatts

W unsure why he's involved here.
CA puts it that W sits at the top of the pyramid of Mod Labor. W doesn't want to agree with that. Too much independence he reckons 😂
CR - but you were monitoring for compliance
W - yeah but I have no coercive powers or influence(LOL)
#OpWatts

CA now puts it that the 70 votes requested were delivered within 24 hours.(WOW, big work effort)
CA asking about the transition of this factional work from Byrnes office to MK's office.
W wants more details, he's fishing for future exhibits 😂
The Garotti pattern again.
#OpWatts

W - pretends he thought MK had blank ballot papers from someone else, when they were actually "hers" because they never ever ever pool resources of course.
CA - so you were directing ballots in MK's office to be filled out in a particular way
W - yes
#OpWatts

W - I don't have the authority to issue instructions, I can merely request, and if they say no, they say no.
CR - is this an example of harvesting ballots?
W - it's really complicated, but I'm here to help you understand it 🙃
CR - but the inference is you're directing?
#OpWatts

W - yeah I don't really like that
CR - leave the morality aside, is it what happened?
W - *waffle waffle, dob in some Bracks/Brumby people, blah blah blah
CR - No doubt that's interesting, how do you know that? Got receipts? You're not here to dump on other people.

#OpWatts

CA - so you're directive was really a request?
W - Yes
CR, frustrated - but was it complied with?!
W - i presume so
CA - We know so 😎
CA - This activity/system was well entrenched at this time, yeah?
W - yes
CR - MK said it's been going on as long as she can remember
#OpWatts

W - yes, it's common, we had special rooms at nat conference for it. Can I make some general commentary?
CA - Nah, might go with some targetted questions.
CA - Ballot harvesting been going on forever?
W - yes
CA - since you joined?
W - yes
CA - done openly?
W - yes
#OpWatts

CA - ballots sent to head office by the MP?
W - yes
CA - Collected by the faction?
W - yes
CA - so the first step was centralising the ballots, requiring recruiters and EO's to collect the ballots
W - yes, but everybody did it differently.
CA brings up old evidence now
#OpWatts

CA - Mr Yigit testified you couldn't get any old idiot to fill these out, they needed to be centralised for filling out?
W - well yes, but not everybody did the same thing.
CA - so they didn't all go to MK's office, they came via various offices?
W - yes

#OpWatts

CA - and some ballots needed to be reissued?
W - yes, AusPost fault, they were too slow.
CA - in one branch ~45% of ballots were reissued. Would you blame AusPost for that?
W - yeah, nah, yeahnah
Now CA is moving on to directing how votes in MK office should be cast.

#OpWatts

CA - do you agree that it's wrong to do that?
W - i was more objecting to the characterisation of it, blah, blah.
CA did it strike you that it might be wrong for you to be directing how blank ballots to be filled in at all.
W - begs indulgence to educate IBAC again
#OpWatts

CR, "Ok, but it's a simple question to answer"
W - *invokes western society*(Here comes the race card again. Apparently it's wrong to think peoples wishes don't matter, there's lots of ethnic collectivism involved)
W brings up being unable to cross the floor in Labor
#OpWatts

W - we on the right tend not to purge people, but the socialist left do, cos they're stalinist. And cos they're stalinist, from the collectivist approach, handing over your vote to achieve collectivist votes is totes cool
(Whatever it takes, apparently)
#OpWatts

(Holy fucking shit, he's going to defend non genuine memberships)
W - 100% of the Somali community hand over their votes, including the genuine ones, so it's ok that there are non genuine members handing over votes too.
W - Your civil libertarian perspective hinders you
#OpWatts

W - There's ethnic philosophy involved here.
W goes on further about collective objective. Was quite a dribble there, won't bother capturing it all.
CA - You require each member to sign the ballot envelope
W - yes
CA - and you understand that certifies a members vote?
#OpWatts

CA - do you not see that putting a signature certifying a vote when the vote is blank is a problem?
W - well that's a bit cheeky I must say(FMD this guy is incredible)
Now W is complaining they are taking the Mickey out of him.
CR pulls him back to his earlier answer.
#OpWatts

Now W is saying that CR and CC aren't intellectually capable of understanding the collectivist culture 😂
CR intervenes to remind W what IBAC's investigation is, and their role. Wants to understand W's state of mind, not just the culture, so his behaviour can be judged
#OpWatts

W goes off on another "you're not a collectivist, you won't understand" rant.(He's being a victim yet again)
CA back to business. "Do you personally see any impropriety in a system that allowed staffers to fill in members ballots and put them in pre-signed envelopes?
#OpWatts

W - it's just the vibe....
CA - so you had no problem?
W - you'll have to reinvent the whole party to change that(Fucking good idea)
CA - How do you square the ALP having an "assurance" rule about verified ballots, when the ballots aren't verified, but filled in later?
#OpWatts

CA pushing that "rules don't agree with philosophy and practice?"
W - <insert collectivist rant here>
W - this is what the voting members wanted, so no issue
CR - you do recognise the statement on the envelope becomes false by this process?
#OpWatts

Now W doesn't know what the statement on the ballot envelope even says, and wants to know so he can answer better (so should we infer Somyurek has never seen a ballot envelope? That's pretty big in and of itself)

And it's break time!! Back in 5! #OpWatts

And we're #IBAC in business!
CA asking about W's electorate office. Was it in Dandenong?
W - yes
CA - then you moved to St Andrews place?
W - yes
CA - And you didn't attend there much?
W - Yes Mr Sullivan's evidence was accurate
CA - Once in 9 months?
W - sounds right
#OpWatts

CA goes back to earlier evidence that smaller money isn't really hard corruption, but big money is. And that W would be ok with small amounts of down time in his office being used for factional activities. Asks if W ever gave directions to do it.
W doesn't recall any.
#OpWatts

W also can't see what factional work would need doing(aside from Nat conference)
CA - were your 2.5 staff fully occupied with electoral office work?
W - lots of downtime in electoral offices, $64k question is what do they do? I don't instruct them don't surf the net, etc
#OpWatts

LOL, W wants to compare it to a retail assistant.
And CA wants to play. "McDonalds doesn't have staff hanging around to make burgers when nobody is coming in."
W - well i'm not used to that way of thinking(What, business operations, LOL. Of course not, wrong party champ)
#OpWatts

CA brings up a graph where W's office received 18 incoming phone calls for a 3 month period, and prompts him that "the time between phone calls" when staff might do "other things" would be more than a day 😂
W wants to know if they were answered or not(he's got nothing)
#OpWatts

Now W is complaining about cherry picking, and wants more than a snapshot. CA points out that it's an entire years worth of data.
W still pushing back, could be something going on to reduce the number of calls in April-June. But could be a red flag. Oh definitely.

#OpWatts

CA points out that the worst case workload, Jan, equates to 2 phone calls per day.
W - I've never claimed it's a very busy office.
More receipts coming.....
Oooooo, Dr Haraco! Its an emails sent/received chart. Between dozens and hundreds per month.
#OpWatts

Ooooo, there are 2 email accounts, 2nd one shows less than 2 dozen per month mostly, and almost no replies. And we haven't been shown yet what the email address is for either. (Cmon Carr, spring the trap!)
W wants to know where Carr is going with this, he's nervous.
#OpWatts

LMAO, CA is kindly providing the further metrics Somyurek moaned about lacking before. Carr is enjoying himself here.
W - Won't bite that it's a sign of Haraco doing little work, more a reflection on the lack of work required in a safe, upper house members office.
#OpWatts

Now W wants to see email data for Haraco working in other offices 😂(He's being singled out again, the poor little oppressed factional warlord)
Now CA follows up "you received very little foot traffic at that office?"
W - Yes
CA puts it that most staff had little work
#OpWatts

Now W wants to call Sullivan cheeky(I have no idea why, I really didn't understand that bit at all.)
Now CA confronts him with a handwritten note about staff requirements for W's new office.
Number 1 is "factional"
2 is manning phones
3 is office management.
#OpWatts

CA - Ms Walters seems to understand the first reason people were in your office was for factional reasons. Why would that be?
W - It was a very cultural office, and staff would have had loads of numbers was probably her assumption.(He's fishing hard to find out more)
#OpWatts

CR - is it wrong that a significant portion of your staff were engaged for factional work?
W - I can't see what day to day factional work they've got to do. Nat conference yes, but other stuff I don't know. They gossip about factional work and call that factional work.
#OpWatts

CA shows W an email.
W - did I open it? Where's the attachment?
CA - patience, patience. Were you in the habit of discussing your EO with Ms Walters?
W - blather, blather
CA - did you remember that email?
W - I can't recall
Now CA shows the email with the office review.
#OpWatts

Seems to be a review that "the office is very quiet, no walkings, hardly any calls, staff all do their own thing, and it's probably factional work."
W - what a great review! What a shame I didn't see it.😂
CA now zeroes in on the "factional work" comment.

#OpWatts

CA - given she's in the office and you never were, would her assessment be accurate?
W - yeah, but I can't see what they were doing, there's not enough factional work to do. She(Waters) probably lacked (cultural) insight.
CA - but she had factional understanding?
#OpWatts

W - well yeah, but she put a question mark on her statement.
CA moves on to specific people mentioned, Vicki, Arzum, Manoj and Pira. And Manoj has no duties listed against him. And in another note, his activities are listed as "factional" and seem he ran in 2014
#OpWatts

Manoj also identified as a "numbers" man, which might might indicate a team captain, would be indian community.
Now Haraco comes up again, described as "Dr Hussein does his own work from the office"(over 2 F/T days.)
CA asks if any of this jogs his memory at all.
#OpWatts

W - No, I never saw this review, and it's a great review and I would have really enjoyed reading it (FMD he's incredible)
CA - given the content, don't you think Ms Waters would have expected a response? Did she fail to follow up with you on this?
W - i cant say for sure
#OpWatts

W - I was in regular contact with her, and I may have been talked through it, and just said "do what you need to" without reading that.
CA - some bosses would have seen a report about Dr Haraco, doing other work, and sacked him on the spot. What was your response?
#OpWatts

W now wants to split hairs over down time and people ignoring work to do their own thing. He wants to pretend he's offended by what Haraco did, but not recognise that he was doing that. And he's not shy about using his full staff entitlement.

And we're done for today!
#OpWatts

CR reminds W to be brief with his answers, and reminds him of a 30 second grace given earlier in the day where W ranted for 3 minutes and reminds him CA has a LOT of material to cover. W notes this(and will probably completely fucking ignore it tomorrow.)

Bye for now!
#OpWatts