Counsel assisting the Trade Union Commission recommends Tony Abbott’s hero Kathy Jackson to face criminal charges, yet Australia’s mainstream media headline more baseless Gillard smears. Peter Wicks from Wixxyleaks reports.
Late yesterday afternoon the Trade Union Royal Commission (TURC) dropped a bombshell.
Counsel Assisting Jeremy Stoljar yesterday made his submissions (which can be seen in full via this link) and while this does not mean the Commissioner will follow suit, it certainly gives a strong indication of where things are headed.
I have not had the time to plough through all of the documentation as there is a mountain of it, however there are a few things to note.
Firstly, Julia Gillard has no case to answer. Despite, all of the antics and smear, Gillard was found by Stoljar to have done nothing criminal — as IA has been reporting for years. Australia’s desperate mainstream media aren’t worrying about that though, headlining Stoljar’s sidenote that some of her conduct as a solicitor 20 years ago may have been “questionable”.
They can’t let it go and admit they were wrong. They really are pathetic.
How The Australian reports Gillard didn't nothing illegal or wrong. #auspol #gillard pic.twitter.com/qQJJvn1dYX
— Mr. Jordon (@Paul197) November 1, 2014
For Kathy Jackson though, things are actually – really, in fact – looking bad. Of course, Australia’s dismal mainstream media, after years of spinning Gillard as a criminal and Jackson as a brave whistleblower, are running this detail towards the end of their latest Gillard smear stories.
There will be more to come I’m sure as I work my way through the documentation, but here is how Stoljar summarised HSU governance during Jacksons time as Secretary.
“The matters set out above raise serious governance issues at the Victoria No 3 Branch, during the period Ms Jackson was Secretary.
It is difficult to imagine a more inappropriate series of arrangements. On Ms Jackson’s own evidence, significant sums of members’ money were kept in a kitty and handed out at her discretion. There were insufficient checks and records concerning other movements of money, including the use of credit cards.
The picture that emerges is of a union during the period 2000 - 2012 characterised by lax governance; frequent breaches of union rules and procedures of transparency and accountability; and ‘smear’ and ‘dirt’ campaigns, during which critical records were destroyed or tampered with, and reputations trashed. This is no model for a modern or effective union.”
For many of the allegations against Jackson, Stoljar made no findings, as the matters are part of the $1.4 million case currently before Federal Court and so deemed inappropriate to comment on.
That time Andrew Bolt defended Kathy Jackson's slush fund, demanded The Age say sorry for 'smear' #turc #auspol pic.twitter.com/nxPNp9mut6
— News Australia (@NewsAustralia) October 31, 2014
However, on the Peter Mac settlement, there are elements of the matter not before Federal Court such as the $250,000 payment to the HSU from the cancer research facility and hospital.
Jackson admitted during the Royal Commission to grossly inflating the union’s costs in order to have them total $250,000. One example of this was her legal costs, which were inflated from $1,122 to $65,740 according to Jackson’s own testimony.
Some may call that a rort — others a hefty mark-up.
Jeremy Stoljar in his submission refers to it as follows:
“Obtaining property or a financial advantage by deception.”
Stoljar then goes on to say:
“Ms Jackson falsely represented to Peter Mac that the HSU had incurred, or would incur, costs that she knew it had not, and would not, incur. That false representation constitutes the relevant deception.”
This backgrounder from @independentaus on Abbott/Pyne/Devine 'hero' Kathy Jackson is quite incredible #turc #auspol http://t.co/b9dIsyQ7FC
— News Australia (@NewsAustralia) October 31, 2014
This deception, you may recall, was designed as a payment that would ensure none of the workers would receive the roughly $3 million in entitlements they were owed.
Another thing you may remember is that, at one stage, Jackson tried to say that any money paid to the workers would have taken money away from cancer research. This was her justification for ensuring that the workers she represented were ripped off while she purloined the payout.
By inflating the bills and wilfully deceiving the Peter Mac Cancer Institute, Kathy Jackson herself was taking quarter of a million dollars away from cancer research, effectively taking the cash not just from the workers, but also from those suffering from cancer. You don’t get much lower than that in my view.
Stoljar concluded with this;
“It is submitted that there is sufficient evidence to warrant Ms Jackson being referred to the Victorian Director of Public Prosecutions so that the Director can consider whether to prosecute her for possible contraventions of the Crimes Act 1958 (Vic).”
We will see how soon the Victorian Crime Squad act now that the Commission is pointing the finger at Jackson.
http://t.co/7oBdcninF8 is there other roporting of this?
— Mari R (@randlight) October 31, 2014Or maybe Abbott should announce another taskforce? I won’t hold my breath on that...
There will be more to come. More about Jackson, that is. for the nutbag Gillard conspiracy theorists, it's all over.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
Remember this: Press Council ... Fairfax fabricated AWU Gillard stories http://t.co/lQH7QlUEK4 @IndependentAus #Auspol #LNPfail #OneTermTony
— Ray Marx & RKD (@marxdeane) October 31, 2014
Monthly Donation
Single Donation
Buy this @JohnGrahamArt original - Jackson 5 - from IA's online store. http://t.co/Dm36dqhPWY pic.twitter.com/uUvpyubM1s
— IndependentAustralia (@independentaus) October 29, 2014
