He subsequently worked for Senator Stephen Conroy as deputy chief of staff from 2005 to 2009, and briefly as a senior adviser to Victorian premier John Brumby.

His appointment was seen as part of a strategy by the new CEO David Thodey to repair Telstra's relationship with the federal government, which had deteriorated under his predecessor Sol Trujillo.

[11] Following the murder of Fiona Warzywoda in the electorate in 2014,[12] Watts campaigned for preventing and removing family violence across Melbourne's West and Australia.

[13] In 2014, Watts launched the bipartisan "Parliamentarians against Family Violence" with Coalition MPs Andrew Broad and Ken Wyatt.

[14] Australian of the Year, Rosie Batty addressed a meeting of the group in 2015, expressing that "Cross-party commitment is important to the issue of family and domestic violence".

[17][18] In an opinion piece published by the Chifley Research Centre, Watts called for action in response to the issue of family violence.

He has written on the importance of engaging with the states, territories and relevant stakeholders, as well as the use of effective communication in achieving successful policy outcomes to the issue.

Subsequently, he has called for an increase to the cap on working holiday visas for Indonesians and argued that it is time Australians consider Indonesia as "critical" to both the economic prosperity and security of the country.