Former NSW minister Milton Orkopoulos may have paid young men to stay quiet about consensual sexual relationships, not for allegedly abusing them as teenagers, his barrister has told a jury.
The then-MP for Swansea had a reputation to protect and would have good reason for not wanting it revealed he was bisexual or took drugs, Paul Johnson told jurors on Friday.
Orkopoulos, 65, has denied any wrongdoing, pleading not guilty to 28 charges, including sexual offences against four underage boys he allegedly supplied drugs to over a decade, ending in 2003.
He has also been accused of perverting the course of justice by asking one complainant to retract an allegation.
That man says he was touched on the genitals and then watched naked in the shower while on holiday at Seal Rocks some time between 1993 and 1995.
Orkopoulos' barrister Paul Johnson told the jury that man is an "unreliable storyteller" with an ability to "conjure up" facts in the witness box that he'd never mentioned before.
"There's no doubt this story has changed significantly," Mr Johnson said on Friday.
The document he claims to have signed could have been to address a court order the jury has been told about, which he would have wanted changed, Mr Johnson said.
"For all we know, if this document actually exists, rather than sitting at (Orkopoulos') solicitor's office, maybe it's sitting in the bowels of (a court)," he said.
"There's also no certainty on what this document actually said." Witnesses, including the man who says he signed it, had not read it.
Even if it was retracting an allegation, the allegation at that time was something "which you might think is a bit off, but is certainly not a crime," Mr Johnson told the jury.
Crown prosecutor Cate Dodds said on Thursday Orkopoulos preyed on boys like a "wolf in sheep's clothing", giving them drugs and sexually assaulting them.
He was motivated by sexual desire for young boys, acting on those desires opportunistically, she said.
Evidence from three other complainants, including one boy who was allegedly injected with heroin before being sexually assaulted in Orkopoulos' car, was relied on to show the former MP had a tendency to act in a particular way.
Mr Johnson highlighted inconsistencies in that tendency evidence on Friday, questioning the timing when things were alleged to have occurred.
"There isn't a huge contest about what happened between them, rather when they met," Mr Johnson said.
Orkopoulos said he had sexual relations with one of them, but not until they were above the age of consent, Mr Johnson reminded the jury. Contact continued until he was about 22, Mr Johnson said.
Payments the Crown alleged were attempts to buy a sexual assault survivor's silence were infrequently paid, often less than $100, and well-documented, Mr Johnson said.
If Orkopoulos was paying for silence it could be because he had an adult sexual affair with another man he consumed drugs with, Mr Johnson said.
"Wouldn't he still want to keep that a secret? "He's married. He's a public figure whose reputation is everything," he said. Orkopoulos also did not attempt to keep the payments secret.
"They were all documented," Mr Johnson said.
He said complainants, who were young men but still over the age of consent, could have been embarrassed and ashamed they "did gay stuff with" Orkopoulos and added to their stories over time to place blame on him.
Mr Johnson suggested on Thursday there was financial incentive for reports made to police in 2020.
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