SECOND STATEMENT OF KIMBERLEY KITCHING - … · SECOND STATEMENT OF KIMBERLEY KITCHING ... By the time I arrived Mark had already come and gone. ... was with Andrew. , and the lunch

SECOND STATEMENT OF KIMBERLEY KITCHING

Allegations concerning David Saunderson

1. At paragraph [127] of Leonie Flynn's September 2013 witness statement, and at paragraph [27]

of Robert McCubbin's September 2013 witness statement, allegations are raised that David

Saunderson was employed at the HSU to design and produce campaign flyers for my

preselection campaigns. That is not true.

2. David Saunderson was employed by the Branch from about April to about June 2013. His

appointment was approved by the Branch Committee of Management.

3. David Saunderson was employed to redesign all of the Branch's branded product, including a

survey of the members regarding whether the name should be kept, the new name for the

Branch, the new logo, letterhead, merchandise, business cards and other items. He performed

that work. He also contributed to the redesign of the Union journal. David has good design and

writing skills.

4. I was a candidate for pre-selection for the federal seat of Gellibrand. The pre-selection

occurred during the day of Sunday 7 April and the evening of Monday, 8 April 2013. I took a

week's leave from work in the first week of April to do work in connection with my preselection

candidature.

5. I paid the costs of printing my Gellibrand campaign material. I have invoices. They are

Attachment 1 to this Statement. Those invoices were raised and paid before David

Saunderson's commencement date as an employee of the Branch. David did not create my

Gellibrand material while he was a branch employee, or at all.

6. I was a candidate for pre-selection for the federal seat of Lalor for a few hours on Friday, 12 July

2013. The pre-selection arose suddenly on Julia Gillard's resignation. I nominated at about 2.00

pm. I withdrew my nomination at about 6.00 pm that afternoon. In contrast to the Gellibrand

pre-selection, I did not produce any campaign materials for the Lalor pre-selection.

7. Leonie Flynn says that she found a pre-selection campaign document for Lalor in a bin in the

office. A copy of that document is produced by her at Annexure 10 (tab 1.10) to her September

2013 witness statement. I had not seen that document or any similar document before I saw

the document produced to the Royal Commission by Flynn. I do not know who created it.

ROE tests – 15 February 2013

8. I refer to the allegation that I performed ROE assessment tasks for other people on 15 February

2013. I confirm that I deny that allegation.

9. I was at work at the Park Street, South Melbourne office of the HWU for part of the morning

and for part of the afternoon on 15 February 2013.

10. I have seen a Citylink toll account record which suggests that I was driving from home to work

over the Bolte Bridge at 7.54am.

11. Before going to work, I went to a cafe in South Melbourne. I spent some time on the telephone

at the café. The morning news included the unexpected resignation (from State Parliament) of

the then opposition treasury spokesperson, Mr. Tim Holding. I spoke by telephone to various

people about Mr. Holding's resignation and matters relating to it.

12. I have unsuccessfully sought from Telstra an itemised bill for my mobile telephone account for

15 February 2013. The plan for my phone account is such that the invoices issued to me do not

record particulars of individual incoming and outgoing calls.

13. I have a record of an ATM cash withdrawal in South Melbourne, at 9.42am.

14. After I had been at the cafe for a while, I withdrew cash from the ATM (9.42am). The ATM is

two blocks away fromthe office.

15. From the bank I went to the office. As far as I know, there is no security system record of my

using my fob pass to open any locked doors to enter the office or move within it. I did not at

that time usually keep the door to my office locked.

16. According to records of the mobile telephone accounts for Branch officers and employees, I

spent more than 9 minutes on the phone with Lee Atkinson from 10:08am. Lee's phone is

recorded as calling my number. An extract from that Branch telephone account (the first page,

and then pages which relate to Lee Atkinson’s telephone account) is Attachment 2 to this

statement.

17. I have a brief file note of my conversation with Lee in a notebook I was using that day. A copy of

that note is Attachment 3 to this statement.

18. From reviewing that file note, I am able to recall the conversation. Lee spoke to me and gave

me some details about a particular industrial problem which had arisen at Barwon Health. An

issue had arisen concerning the employer seeking to introduce parking charges for employees.

Members at Barwon Health wished to discuss that matter with their union representatives. Lee

explained to me that there had been some meeting arranged at Barwon Health for later that

morning, but now the employer was apparently saying that Lee could not attend.

19. Arising from that conversation I agreed to assist by speaking to some of the employer's

representatives. Lee gave me the names and direct telephone contact numbers for the relevant

people at Barwon Health.

20. Because it was an urgent matter, I called to speak to one of those people, the HR Manager Mark

Wilkin. He was not available and so I left a message for him. I then called the other number and

spoke to an HR Officer Bree Bushell. I was not able to solve the problem in my conversation

with Bushell. Soon after I finished that conversation I received a return phone call from Mark

Wilkin. I spoke to him for some time and, again, that conversation did not result in a solution to

the problem.

21. I estimate that, over the course of my telephone conversations with Lee and then the Barwon

Health representatives, I was on the phone between 10.08 until after 10.30 that morning.

22. I was in the office between about 10 and 1:30. I followed up some other industrial matters, and

addressed some employment matters internal to the branch. The day before, 12 February 2013,

I had initiated the termination of employment of one of the organisers, Mr. Kevin Bradford. I

had some tasks to complete concerning arrangements for Mr. Bradford's telephone and email

accounts to be closed down, and for urgent industrial matters to be dealt with in the geographic

organising area concerned. I was also working on necessary documentation to establish the

Branch's new staff on permanent employment arrangements in accordance with the

employment policy.

23. During the morning I continued to have telephone conversations and exchanged text messages

with various people concerning Mr. Holding's resignation and matters relating to that.

24. I was in the office at 12.55 pm. I have found a record, stamped with that time, of my logging a

customer support query with Globalnet concerning some problems the Branch was having with

its office telephone system.

25. At about 1:30 I left the office to go to a nearby shop to purchase a gift for my mother, whom I

was to be seeing the following day.

26. At 1.35pm I received a text message from Kerry Georgiev (the branch's then Finance Officer)

saying that she had forgotten to get some milk for the tearoom, and asking me to pick some up.

I infer from the content of that message that I was out of the office at the time it was sent, and

that is consistent with my recollection.

27. I went to the shop and made the purchase of my mother’s present. According to information I

have received from my bank, that transaction occurred at 1:54pm.

28. I purchased some milk for the office. According to the reimbursement receipt, that purchase

was made at 1:57pm.

29. I had arranged to have lunch at the European Restaurant in Spring Street, in the city. I arrived at

the European later than I had intended. I think I arrived there at about 2.15pm. I knew that my

husband Andrew was going to be there earlier and that he would be with a friend called Mark

Darras. By the time I arrived Mark had already come and gone. Another friend, Clinton Carey,

was with Andrew. , and the lunch

was organised partly to mark that occasion.

30. I was at the European for about an hour and a half. I did not dash in and out within an hour or

anything like that. I had some champagne, some wine and a meal, and I was in no hurry. I was

about to fly to Brisbane the next morning for a break with my family and I was feeling ready for

my holiday to start. I had not had any time off since Diana Asmar had taken office in late

December.

31. I have been shown a copy of an email message to me from Dean Sherriff, with a time stamp of

2.57 pm. The message is "Hi Kimberley, I need to book the training computer in order to

complete the right of entry test. Could you let me know please? Thanks". I have seen no record

that I responded to the email and I do not recall doing so. I believe that I would have been out

of the office at 2.57 pm. This would account for the fact I did not respond to the email.

32. I have seen some records which suggest that I sent some work email messages at 3.43pm and

3.46pm, and so I presume that I had returned to the office by that time. Beyond that, I do not

remember the particular time I returned to the office. My memory is that, by the time I was

back in the office, there was only about an hour or so of the usual working day remaining. I left

the office for the day at around 7.00pm.

ROE tests – industrial days

33. I attended two 'industrial days' (meetings of the industrial staff) at the Branch office in February

and March 2013. Diana Asmar addressed the industrial staff on a number of topics on each

occasion. She did not say that I was going to do organisers' ROE tests, on either occasion.

ROE tests – Peggy Lee

34. Peggy Lee says, at paragraph [45] of her witness statement, that I told her that I had completed

ROE tests for organisers. I did not say that or anything like that to Peggy Lee, or to anyone else,

on any occasion.

Second Statement of Kimberley Kitching

Attachment 1

Second Statement of Kimberley Kitching

Attachment 2

Second Statement of Kimberley Kitching

Attachment 3