This week Ben Schneiders of Fairfax media wrote of a startling new revelation in the HSU matter and one that is sure to raise many questions when Kathy Jackson is cross-examined before the Trade Union Royal Commission.

Giving evidence before the Trade Union Royal Commission Kathy Jackson declared under oath that the $250,000 that was used for what some have described as the NHDA slush fund came as a payment from Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital after the union discovered millions of dollars in unpaid entitlements for cancer workers and brought this up with the hospital.

This all sounds very noble indeed.

I say some have described it as a slush fund because we only have Jacksons word that it was ever used for union purposes at all and her word is proving less reliable each day. The only “union purposes” that the money was used for were conveniently paid for using cash from cash withdrawals that she claims memory lapses of and a bizarre set of circumstances has seen all the evidence of go missing. The rest of the expenditure is on what would appear to be personal spending at places like Bunnings, David Jones and JB Hi Fi.

Far from being a slush fund bank account, the account is a personal bank account authorised for use by Kathy and Jeff Jackson, the address for the account is a private residence.

As for NHDA it is not a registered organisation or incorporation as is normally associated with slush funds. The only references to it at all are in HSU financial statements and on the bank account itself.

Unfortunately for Kathy Jackson, financial records obtained by Schneiders from Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital appear to paint a completely different picture to that portrayed at the Royal Commission by Jackson, Kate Wilkinson and her other allies.

Fairfax reports that financial records from Peter MacCallum indicate that there was no pay-out of millions in entitlements to workers at all. Quite an alarming finding indeed.

Perhaps even more alarming is that there was also no financial record of the quarter of a million dollars being paid to the union, despite there being individual records of vastly smaller individual expenses.

This would indicate that the payment by the hospital was hidden, and raises even more serious questions as to why this would be the case.

Michael Smith, who has been a companion of Kathy Jackson to the Royal Commission as well as seen with her at court proceedings has published the below picture on his website.

This picture is what Smith describes as a

“detailed billing account rendered by the Clerk of Mr Langmead’s chambers to the Victoria No 3 Branch of the HSU in relation to the “Peter Mac” matter.”

Now I may be just a layman, however it looks like words and numbers typed on a blank document to me.

It does not have any identifying features such as a letterhead or a signature. It certainly is not an invoice as it has no invoice number, nor does it even have any GST calculations on it. If this is what Langmead thinks is a detailed billing account I’m sure glad I’m not his accountant.

However using this figure we can assume that Kathy Jackson has spent roughly $33,000 of union members funds on a Barrister to give advice and provide a “deed of release”.

This is reportedly something that would normally be handled by an Industrial Officer and cost around $3,000, however clearly a decision was made to use a Barrister instead at more than 10 times the cost to members, which begs the question as to why yet again.

So what exactly did the members get for their $33,000?

They got screwed.

As part of her evidence to the Royal Commission, Kathy Jackson has provided the Memorandum Of Advice from David Langmead that is linked below.

David Langmead Memorandum

This Memorandum tells us that the appointment of an expensive Barrister ensured that no member was paid there entitlements and instead was offered to keep their jobs.

As the Memorandum states;

“As part of this settlement HSUA is agreeing not to pursue any claims in relation to the alleged breaches, and will not assist or encourage claims by others”

Maybe I’m naïve, but I would have assumed that the entire reason for a unions existence would be to encourage and most certainly assist members in receiving their entitlements?

Instead the union paid 10 times more than necessary for a Barrister to assist the employer in encouraging the members to sign away their rights.

This would make the union not only complicit in the workers losing their entitlements but actually being an active participant in the deception and deprivation of those members they claimed to represent.

David Langmead has been quoted as saying;

“It is untrue and defamatory to suggest that any union official, officer, legal advisor or other person associated with the union received any money that was due to be paid to workers.”

Well let’s not split hairs Mr Langmead.

Maybe these people did not receive money that was owed to the workers, but some of these people you mention received payment from a firm that owed money to its workers and didn’t pay them primarily due to the advice given to them by you and the aforementioned union officials.

So just who is this David Langmead character then? Many of you are probably wondering.

David Langmead is a Barrister who at the time was representing Jacksons Branch of the HSU on legal matters.

David Langmead is also the husband of a woman by the name of Beth Jensen.

For those of you who think Beth Jensen’s name sounds familiar you are right. Beth Jensen is not only one of Jacksons closest friends, she is also the person responsible for Kathy Jackson and Marco Bolano’s ridiculous salaries.

Langmead’s wife Beth Jensen was paid $27,000 as an “independent” consultant who recommended that Jackson receive a 66% pay rise and Bolano a 70% pay rise, as well as other staff that were close to Jackson at the time, even including a 25% increase for Michael Williamson.

David Langmead is also a close friend of Iain Dick, who some of you may also remember was conveniently the auditor for the Number 3 Branch at the time. The pair reportedly even used to go on road trips together frequently.

How nice it must be to have such good friends.

So from what I can gather, and judging from the evidence that has been presented before the Royal Commission, the beneficiaries of the millions of dollars that was owed in entitlements to the cancer workers were David Langmead to the tune of $33,000, and Kathy Jacksons private NHDA bank account to the tune of a quarter of a million dollars.

To the cancer workers whose entitlements were being chased? Not a dime it would seem.

To add insult to injury it has been reported to me that this money that was owed to workers by Peter MacCallum Cancer Hospital was due to an increase in the pay rate from around three years earlier that was never passed on to employee’s.

The reason this pay increase was not passed on was because the union that looked after these employee’s had completely failed to update the Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. When there is a doubt on pay rates the Human Resources department will refer back to the EBA as its bible.

The union that failed to ensure the EBA was updated and workers received their pay rise? The HSU Number 3 Branch run by Kathy Jackson.

It seems obscene that Kathy Jackson has directly profited from the underpaying of her own members.

This is a woman that Tony Abbott described as being a woman of “great honour”?

This description by Abbott made me think of an old saying that perhaps may be appropriate.

“There is no honour amongst thieves”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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