Many have said it is about time for an update from the land of Jacksonville, and given there is a bit going on and some new information to share perhaps they were right.

As I’m sure you would all know there is a Witch-Hunt/ Royal Commission in progress at the moment that will be looking into the HSU as well as other unions and looking at allegations of slush funds and corrupt practices.

One result of this Royal Commission is that it has supplied the likes of Kathy Jackson and Marco Bolano with a handy excuse for not commenting on anything.

In the past they have had no issues with providing comment during police investigations or during court hearings, but now the I can’t comment “because of matters before the Royal Commission” excuse is getting a great workout.

That’s because the microscope is suddenly on them.

The first of the slush funds under Kathy Jackson’s control was exposed by Fairfax on the 29th April and was seemingly used to fund election campaigns for politicians whom she supported. This was of course done without the knowledge of the membership she claimed to represent.

However, more have been discovered.

It has emerged that the Royal Commission is looking into the funding of HSU election campaigns by Philip Morris the US Tobacco giant.

These campaigns involve Kathy Jackson, Marco Bolano, and their principle backer Federal Labor Senator David Feeney.

For what it’s worth Marco Bolano has stated that he is now aware that Philip Morris contributed to his 2009 election campaign, although claims not to have known this at the time the donations were given. This is despite the donations allegedly being in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Firstly what the hell is big tobacco doing funding a campaign in a Health Services Union?

David Feeney has also acknowledged that he has obtained donations from Philip Morris up until 2004 when Labor banned donations from manufacturers of tobacco products, but also acknowledges that he maintains contact with Philip Morris.

Now we have a 2009 HSU election campaign that Feeney is backing that is being heavily backed financially by Feeneys contacts and former financial supporters. Hmmm.

Kinda fishy smelling and miraculously convenient.

If after investigation it turns out that Feeney sought any of these donations or if any of the Philip Morris money found its way via the HSU to benefit Feeney’s campaign, I would assume that the Labor Party would be forced to take action against David Feeney. As a party the ALP would have to show they are serious about their own rules and in order to do that I would expect to see Feeney expelled from the Labor Party and someone else be given his Senate seat, anything less would be an insult to members and a sign that the party doesn’t respect its own rules.

Just what the hell is a Labor Senator doing funding campaigns for these people anyway?

Let’s not forget that these people are backed by virtually every right-wing shock jock on air, and praised by right-wing columnists. Kathy Jackson also speaks at Liberal Party think tank events and is praised in parliament by Tony Abbott.

This week has also seen details of yet another slush fund emerge.

A fund tied to the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Association was found to have allegedly pumped tens of thousands of dollars into the 2009 and 2012 campaigns for Marco Bolano.

I guess this shows that with enough money for campaigning anyone is capable of winning. Although by 2012 the membership had clearly wised up with Bolano’s campaign failing abysmally just as the other Jackson/Feeney campaigns did.

Fairfax also revealed that back in 2009, the Jackson/Bolano ticket also received $30,000 from another slush fund called Industry 2020. This fund was linked to the Australian Workers Union.

It would seem that Kathy Jackson, David Feeney, and Marco Bolano have spent more time organising slush funds to benefit themselves than they have looking after the people they supposedly represent.

This made me look back over some of the bank account statements on my resource page and relook at some of the transactions I had categorised as miscellaneous. Below is a link to the breakdown of a 13 month series of statements with some queries in the miscellaneous section highlighted.

HSU 3 Branch Cheque Account Breakdown

The $8,000 payment to Beth Jenson for recommending enormous pay rises to Jackson and her factional allies is alarming but not surprising.

The $1327 payment to Michael Lawler once again shows his involvement, and also raises questions of why a union is making payments to the VP of the industrial relations umpire and watchdog.

Also shown is a mystery payment of over $50,000 to creditors that could be anyone, as well as $42,000 being paid into the aforementioned NHDA slush fund exposed by Fairfax last month.

However what is scary is the $153,485.98 that is listed as Aust Health Payment EP000887.

This $153K got me wondering if it was another slush fund so I contacted the union to find out what it could be.

The way It was described to me is that it is a consolidated entry for numerous payments for all sorts of legitimate accounts. However the bank is apparently unable to give a breakdown of what went where, this leaves a huge question mark over the account as the money could have literally gone anywhere and nobody would know.

The Financial controller at the time, Jane Holt has some serious questions to answer it would seem.

Also emerging have been further examples of Jackson’s extravagant spending on the members dime.

Below is a link to a spreadsheet with details of the spending and how it was paid, also below are links to pdfs of the receipts.

Some of the receipts are quite faded and although readable to the naked eye, proved difficult for the scanner so I have put their totals on the spreadsheet only.

Further receipts Kathy Jackson

Ivy Receipt

Vintage Cellars

There seems to be a lot of members money being spent on alcohol, not just beer for a branch bbq either, we are talking Moet Chandon, Verve Cliquot, Gin and Midori. One of these benders cost the members a cool $973.79.

Jackson is clearly not a believer in the “free lunch” either, we have a $446.30 lunch instead.

Also coming to light are the details of a stay at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on the members dime, the receipt is linked below.

Bellagio

At least she managed to get a discount rate via the internet I suppose.

Then there is the flight itinerary for 24th September 2011 below.

Lawler And Jackson Flight

Don’t get me wrong, I understand the need to travel for work, and I don’t think that $136.70 is an exorbitant spend.

However I would like to think that Michael Lawler who as the Vice President of FWA who earns an estimated $400K pa of the taxpayers money can afford his own plane ticket. I hope he can provide some proof that he returned the money.

Last but not least we have a Jackson family holiday at Mount Bulla which the HSU Branch 3 have confirmed was paid for by the union membership.

The Jackson Family Ski Trip

In Jacksonville it seems that just when you think there can be no more to find evidence emerges that shows that we are still likely only just scratching the surface.

Let’s hope that this Royal Commission flushes more evidence out of those who may be hiding it and let’s also hope that the Victorian Police break with tradition and actually do a better than half-arsed job of investigating Kathy Jackson and her allies instead of leaving it to myself and the Melbourne office of Fairfax.

It would make a nice change.

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