“Beware the crow that coos like it’s a dove”

That is a saying that some would have been best to take note of.

This week, the walls moved in a little closer again on the Coalitions darling girl who loves to blow her own whistle. I speak of course of Kathy Jackson, and it’s about time too.

Further evidence has come to light from the excellent work of Fairfax investigative journalists Nick McKenzie, Ben Schneiders, and Richard Baker. This evidence supports my investigations and backs some of the claims I made here over a year ago.

With this new evidence of the seemingly systematic bleeding of the union members hard earned money under Kathy Jackson lets have a quick refresher of what Tony Abbott and Christopher Pyne think of her.

 

Tony Abbott and I differ greatly on what makes a brave and decent woman, however oddly enough I agree with Tony Abbott on some things. The 70,000 members do deserve answers and it’s about time Jackson and her Branch Committee Of Management cronies gave some for her unauthorised use of credit cards and unauthorised expenditure.

Let’s not also forget that others from the Coalition have showered Jackson with praise. Eric Abetz and George Brandis leap to mind, and who can forget the cosy feed she had with Peter Reith.

The evidence uncovered by Fairfax of over $1 Million expenditure just on personal credit cards paid back to her by the union members is deeply offensive.

This Million Dollars does not include the over $200,000 of cash withdrawals by Jackson as she admitted in court. Nor does it include the slush funds, or the invoiced “services” from her own companies Nertanto #10 and Koukouvaos Consulting, the immense pay rises on the advice of a friend, the trip to France, the huge liquor binges, the child care payments, the expensive dinners, and so on and so on. Evidence of much of this is available on the Jacksonville Resource Page.

Michael Williamson is current languishing in prison for five years for $1Million worth of fraud, Jackson has well and truly exceeded that figure if allegations are proven.

It would seem to the casual observer that this evidence uncovered by Fairfax, and the evidence that I have uncovered is the reason Jackson wanted to take over HSU East from Michael Williamson. She would have needed access to these records to ensure they were destroyed and hide her alleged crimes. This is also may be the reason she worked so hard on her allies election campaigns last union elections, you may also remember aiding her in these campaigns were the likes of Ray Hadley, Chris Smith, Paul Murphy and Michael Smith.

As I have been trying to have Jackson investigated in a serious manner for a number of years now I am grateful to see the mainstream come on board. John Tyquin and the Victorian Police have shown that they cannot be relied upon to investigate despite having access to evidence, this has led some to view the Victorian Fraud Squad as political pawns rather than police. 

However there are a couple of things that probably won’t be reported in the main stream just yet that are important to remember.

Firstly details of the union expenditure of the HSU number 3 Branch during Kathy Jackson’s time as branch secretary are largely unknown.

The reason for this is that bank records related to that expenditure cannot be retrieved unless by the Victorian Police, who seem loathe to do anything that smacks of effort in this matter.

It is estimated by some that approximately 70% of the union’s expenses under Jackson’s control cannot be seen as she used her own personal cards for union business, a fact highlighted today by the Fairfax article. This is despite having two union credit cards at her disposal.

To the sceptical amongst us it could easily be viewed as a matter of spending that she wanted known was done on a union card, spending she wanted hidden would be done on her personal card and reimbursed by the union. This opinion would be entirely reasonable as I am unable to think of another reason to use your own cards for union purposes.

Whilst we cannot tell what Jackson was spending union member’s money on, we can see via the unions bank records that Jackson’s payments on her personal credit cards were being direct debited from the HSU Number 3 Branch cheque account, we can also see that those amounts were substantial.

HSU 3 Branch Cheque Account Breakdown

Statements HSU 3 Branch July 09 to July 2010

Members will no doubt be hopeful that the Royal Commission will use its powers to source details of exactly what the hidden expenditure was used for by Jackson.

There are many allegations and rumours about what this spending could have been on, but one of the most alarming of the allegations that has been doing the rounds relates to a medical procedure.

Numerous sources have told of Jackson allegedly having breast augmentation or reduction surgery at the union members expense in 2006.

I have no issue at all with cosmetic surgery, however the members after all of this time would like to know if they ended up paying for it as many of them suspect. Jackson’s word on this will not satisfy the members minds either as Jackson’s word has proven to be even less reliable than a Tony Abbott election promise.

The other thing to remember as more information on Kathy Jacksons alleged misuse of union funds and her desperate attempts to hide them come to the surface is that she has a man standing behind her and supporting her in her actions.

The man I speak of is not Jackson’s alleged workers comp rorting glove puppet Marco Bolano, it is her Tony Abbott appointed partner Michael Lawler.

Michael Lawler many of you will remember is Vice President of Fair Work Commission (formerly Fair Work Australia), a position he was appointed to by Tony Abbott himself. Fair Work Australia was of course the government body that performed the notorious investigation into the Health Services Union, well most of it anyway a convenient omission was the branch that Lawler’s partner Jackson was secretary of, although only for the period in which she was secretary. How handy indeed.

Since then there have been claims from Lawler that he has had nothing to do with the HSU and its ongoing problems, however these claims have proven to be as false as Milli Vanilli’s musical credentials as evidence has emerged that suggests otherwise.

Reports on the HSU saga in early 2012  had Michael Lawler making the initial contact to police that initiated Operation Carnarvon, and also allegedly making threatening phone calls to a member of staff Carol Glen. A far cry from having no involvement.

Then there was the case of the document called Kafka, which had file properties shown above and below that clearly showed the accessing of the unions network and saving of documents with software registered to Fair Work Australia by someone named Jackson. This would also indicate that Jackson may have had access to FWA’s network via her fiancée’s computer, which has to breach a huge number of laws I’d imagine.

Then there was the accessing of the HSU network by a computer with the ID Lawler, which makes for one hell of a coincidence.

This breach of security prompted a letter of complaint from the Acting General Secretary Peter Mylan to the President of Fair Work Australia Justice Guidice linked below that also copied in NSW Police.

Mylan letter to Guidice

Other things that indicate Lawler was involved in the union was the employment of his two sons. Michael Lawler’s sons were both employed by Kathy Jackson’s branch, despite them living in Sydney and the union being based in Melbourne. There has yet to be any evidence surface of any duties performed or tasks done by Lawler’s sons. Lawlers sons payslips can be seen via the below link.

Lawlers Sons Payslips

When KPMG were called in to do an Independent Enquiry into the FWA investigation into the HSU, you will not win any prizes for guessing which Vice President refused to co-operate with an investigation his own organisation commissioned.

That’s right, Michael Lawler refused to allow KPMG access to his computer equipment. The big question is why? Lawler was the only employee of FWA named by KPMG as refusing to co-operate.

KPMG review FWA

Why during a branch meeting did Kathy Jackson’s phone allegedly suddenly blare out Michael Lawler’s voicemail a few times? Was she trying to dial his number in secret so he could eavesdrop on the meeting?

With Jackson’s halo finally crashing down upon her head, and Lawlers attempts to distance himself from the stench that he allegedly help create it is great to see that the Main Stream Media are finally putting out some of the facts rather than the same old Jackson spin we have been spoon fed by News Limited and the Sydney office of Fairfax.

Some of that spin I exposed in May last year in relation to an article by Kate McClymont which she won a Walkly Award for has now been backed up by police statements according to the new Fairfax evidence.

Judging from the material that is emerging which is based around police evidence rather than tall stories, it is about time some of the real whistle blowers were recognised.

It is clear that rather than the villain’s that Kathy Jackson, the shock-jocks, and many of the journalists have spent years portraying, the owners of Communigraphix John and Caron Gilleland seem to be the unsung heroes in the saga. As I first wrote about over a year ago, the Gillelands told both Jeff and Kathy Jackson about the American Express credit cards last century in 1999 and sat on the information, only releasing it when it suited Kathy’s agenda.

As I have also reported before, it is now also quite clear that the Gillelands have gone well beyond the call of duty in assisting the fraud squad with their investigation.

Far from reaping rewards as some would have us believe, they have lost their business, their home, and most precious of all their privacy.

But at least they have maintained their dignity.

Which is far more than I can say for others.

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