Monday, May 5, 2014

2011: Year of the Black Op

While I'm on the subject of NSW's ICAC, cast an eye over the following:

"They were the Young Liberals on a covert mission, codenamed Black Ops. The dress code was black, the meeting time was 10pm, and it was BYO ladder. Their mission: to tear down 'illegally' posted campaign posters on telegraph poles, allegedly including their own. Inspired by the bluff Brad Pitt in cult movie Fight Club, a former adviser to minister Chris Hartcher fired off an email on August 11, 2011, to whip the party's youngest members into action. Aaron Henry, the author of the missive, assured the Independent Commission Against Corruption that they were not waging a covert war on their political opponents and were even removing their own posters. 'Come on Mr Henry! Are you telling us that 'Black Ops' was Young Liberals sneaking out at night, removing your own signs?' said Geoffrey Watson, SC, counsel assisting the commission. 'It's a light-hearted thing in order to keep Young Liberals engaged and meeting us to go out and do work at 10pm at night,' said Mr Henry. An incredulous Mr Watson said that it was more likely the group was 'slashing' the posters of their political rivals, but Mr Henry insisted this was a very small part of the crack team's work. The Young Liberals members appeared to have a preoccupation with dark arts. The inquiry has previously heard that fellow Chris Hartcher staffer and Young Lib Tim Koelma also had a 'Black Ops'. Mr Koelma's ingenious scheme was to destroy the career of Sydney Water chief Dr Kerry Schott, who was proving to be a serious roadblock for Liberal donor Nick Di Girolamo getting a billion-dollar deal with the state government. 'Yay black ops!' Mr Koelma wrote in an email to his brother Eric, attaching an 'anonymous' and false complaint to the ICAC about Dr Schott. Mr Koelma's 'Black Ops' did not work out so well as his brother Eric was revealed as the anonymous complainant to the ICAC." (Welcome to Fight Club, Young Liberal style, Kate McClymont, Michaela Whitbourn, Sydney Morning Herald, 1/5/14)

Now, keeping the above in mind, allow me to take you back to another 'Black Op' carried out in Marrickville in the same year, 2011. Too lazy to repeat myself, I simply refer you to my posts, Dirty Tricks (24/4/11) and In the Dead of Night (29/9/11). And don't forget to read the comments.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love reading your blog, and I get that you're too lazy to repeat yourself, but is there any chance you could add hyperlinks to the titles of the articles you reference to?

As far as I know it is easy to add URLs to your text. This would be very helpful in being able to easily reference to your past writings.

MERC said...

No need. Find year, then month and scroll through. Easy.

Anonymous said...

Thank you. Keep up the good work.