With Kathy Jackson being charged of 70 offences, all the rats who promoted her as a "brave whistleblower" are suddenly silent. Luckily, Peter Wicks remembers.
YESTERDAY, reports confirmed that Kathy Jackson has had 70 charges of criminal misconduct laid against her.
This is a woman who has had praise piled upon her by all of the usual right-wing columnists and shock-jocks. Ray “Had His Day” Hadley, Chris “How Did That Pop Out Of My Pants?” Smith, Andrew “I’m not Racist But…” Bolt, Paul “Try Hard” Murray, were amongst the many happy to fly the Jacksonville flag up on high.
In the Australian Senate, she had buddies like Eric Abetz and George Brandis she could rely upon. In the evening she dined with Liberal Party figures such as Peter Reith. In Parliament, there were remarkable scenes as both Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne sang her praises.
This went even further once the Coalition were in government, with Pyne putting up an apology motion in parliament to apologise to both Jackson and her accomplices for any harm done to their reputations by Craig Thomson’s words — words, of course, that ring true years later.
Jackson was one of those screaming out about the need for a royal commission into trade unions — until she became a victim of it. In fact, she often credited herself with bringing about the royal commission all on her own.
Funny that the Liberal Party will listen to someone of Jackson’s moral standing to call a royal commission into the unions, but not listen to the thousands of retiree’s who have had their life savings stolen when it comes to a royal commission into banks.
But I digress…
With all of this you would think Jackson being charged would be a huge win for the Labor Party, shock-jocks, columnists, and Liberal Party MP’s by the dozen all looking like they were, to borrow a term from Michael Lawler, “c*ntstruck”.
Alas, they won’t be cheering too loud in public.
This is because Kathy Jackson will go down swinging and she will be looking to land one on the chin of Bill Shorten.
I have no doubt Shorten will be quietly chuffed to see Jackson in her current legal predicament, but he may also be concerned with what mud will be slung his way.
He should be. Jackson has shown in the past that she is happy to slander Shorten, releasing an affidavit to the press previously despite a Federal Court ordering her not to. Fortunately, this affidavit was seen by most as the rantings of a deranged and crazy person, something she later declared she actually was to another Federal Court as she checked herself into a luxury psychiatric facility. Bill does have some cause for concern, however, as I have pointed out previously, due to his former wife and her relationship with Jackson.
However, the Labor member with real concerns would be David Feeney. If Feeney thought he had a bad campaign, it will seem like a honeymoon compared with what is likely to come.
Feeney’s name has allegedly come up in the joint Federal and Victoria police investigation several times related to his dealings with Jackson over the sale and purchase of one of Feeney’s properties. There is also the issue of Feeney’s role for years as one of the chief fundraisers for Jackson’s faction come union election time.
It is a shame that a waste of the comfy chair in Parliament, Feeney sits on will hold Labor back from not only making a meal out of this, but upsizing it as well.
Arguably a most infamous roll call in this ...
— Ed Hunter (@EdwardJWHunter) August 31, 2016
The Kathy Jackson enablers https://t.co/c2Fv4uLh0P @IndependentAus
Whether wittingly or unwittingly Kathy Jackson was part of what can best be described as a coup.
Tony Abbott used her accusations along with the right-wing media support to mount an attack on Craig Thomson, a Labor MP at the time, attempting to force him out of Parliament in order to bring down the Gillard Government, which hung precariously by one seat.
Abbott, however, was outsmarted by Thomson who, despite leaving the Labor Party, stayed on in parliament as an Independent, thus leaving Gillard with the necessary numbers.
With his desire to pursue his coup regardless, Abbott turned his attention to the Speaker Peter Slipper to try to force Gillard to lose a vote when she replaced the Speaker. This was the start of the notorious Ashbygate saga.
Those who think that calling these acts an attempted coup is a bit strong need only look back to the highly questionable and controversial removal of Gough Whitlam.
Many of those involved in the promotion of Kathy Jackson, who is possibly the biggest union fraudster in Australia’s history, sit in government currently, some in Ministerial positions. For Labor to let the Coalition off the hook over this would be an offence of hideous proportions.
The laying of charges is only the start in what will no doubt be a long drawn out legal process, but one I’m sure will be an entertaining process indeed.
Speaking of shock-jocks right-wing allies of Jackson, one of her greatest allies and defenders has been Michael Smith. This evening I sent him an email to ask if he was still convinced that the
“Victorian Police are not investigating Kathy Jackson."
No response as yet.
Hasn't Michael Smith gone quiet since his glowing praise of Kathy Jackson.
— Marcellus Wallace (@bdrinkwater) October 16, 2015
What ever could the matter be? #auspol pic.twitter.com/G8l41opPFv
Read how Independent Australia exposed Kathy Jackson as a crook through our dedicated Jacksonville page. You can follow Peter Wicks on Twitter @madwixxy.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
The only news publication with the guts to go after Kathy Jackson waaaay before anyone else came to the party was @independentaus #auspol
— Peter Wicks (@madwixxy) August 31, 2016
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Not to put too fine a point on this article from Nick McKenzie about Kathy Jackson: https://t.co/RDndTABYFk pic.twitter.com/f5LioXHrtZ
— Dave Donovan (@davrosz) August 31, 2016
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"A feminist superhero, an inspiration" - Miranda Devine's take on Kathy Jackson:https://t.co/fXw2HkKpUK #auspol pic.twitter.com/lqFkYHRKiL
— #STOPTHECUTS‼️ (@johndory49) September 1, 2016