The article confirms that Jackson worked closely with the Royal Commission, as did her partner Michael Lawler, she was given advance notice on what she would be facing questions on and tips to prepare for them. She was also given scope to attack her factional rivals and it was suggested that she also attack the sections of the media who were bothering her. 

The Commission also suggested,she attack Labor Party figures and, in particular, Bill Shorten.

Bias? What bias?

Those that say this gives further weight to the argument of bias and the Commission as a taxpayer-funded witch-hunt miss the point. This does not give the allegations extra weight, it confirms them as undisputed fact.

The article quotes Eric Abetz telling Bill Shorten that he needs to get “on board” with the Commission. Why on earth would anybody climb aboard a train that was off the rails, on fire and headed for a cliff?

The hide of Abetz to say anything at any rate given it was exposed long ago that either he or his office was in regular contact with Jackson after her phone records appeared as evidence here all the way back in July 2012. Perhaps someone in the Senate should ask Abetz about the amount of contact he or his office has had with Jackson or Lawler since the Commission commenced. That could prove interesting indeed.

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/kathy-jackson-and-turc-waking-up-with-fleas,8142

 

With the Federal Court decision in the Fair Work Commission action against Craig Thomson due to be handed down today in Melbourne, get ready for the media to pile in on Craig Thomson — again. Peter Wicks reports.

With Tony Abbott and the Coalition in free-fall mode in the polls, the Trade Union Royal Commission’s integrity in the toilet, and more details of dodgy dealings being done by Kathy Jackson and her partner Michael Lawler, things must be glum for Tony Abbott, Eric Abetz, George Brandis and the Jacksonville crew.

Luckily, they have a sure-fire way of tipping the balance back in their favour — a tried and true method that has worked for years. A tactic that is as simple as those who apply it and a tactic that’s only beauty is in its simplicity.

That tactic is called the "Thommo bash".

It’s simple, really: just mention Craig Thomson’s name in the same sentence as words like fraud, brothel, prostitute, hooker and theft and let the predictable pursuant prurient public outrage do the rest. However, the most important word that would also be in that sentence is “alleged”, but you can be sure it would be the least emphasised word.

Other words that should be in that sentence but won’t make an appearance are words like innocent, disproved, cleared — as well as two other words: “not guilty”.

As the week ends, those on the Jacksonville bandwagon will once again have an opportunity to take the proverbial dump on Craig Thomson as he tries to rebuild his life.

The very different worlds of Craig Thomson and Kathy Jackson@madwixxy https://t.co/hlExHh5x0h

— lynlinking (@lynlinking) April 7, 2015

 

Today (11/9/15), the findings in the civil matter against Thomson are to be handed down and are not likely to be favorable towards him.

The reasons for this would seem to be:

• the case has been brought by the Fair Work Commission, where one of the senior judges is not only Tony Abbott appointed, but Kathy Jackson's partner;
• the allegations are based on evidence provided by Kathy Jackson, who has proven herself to be about as believable as an Abbott election promise;
• Thomson was unable to afford to provide a defence for himself, was unable to fight the allegations in court and walked out of proceedings half way through.

The thing to remember in all of this is that Thomson has fought these charges twice in court during his criminal trial and been found not guilty.

Also worth noting is that the union money used for "campaign purposes" was part of a national anti-WorkChoices campaign being run by affiliated unions. The bulk of this went into sponsorship of a Central Coast NRL team and game. This was not used for Craig Thomson's election campaign at all, as has been alleged. One match was actually called the "HSU Your Choices At Work Cup", not the "Vote Thomson Cup" that the spin would indicate.

Read more: https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/get-ready-for-latest-round-of-the-mainstream-media-craig-thomson-bash,8152

 

Meanwhile The Australian (merde-och mass mediocre media outfitter to the Turdy government) is telling us that the ABC 4-corners program is going to get a tell all story from Kathy Jackson and her mate Michael Lawler at the QC's country mansion which, as I understand it, they will inherit when the rich QC, David Rofe, dies... 

 

 

It is a very tainted submission from the TURC and one should smells a big rat. The submission places Craig Thomson, Michael Williamson and Kathy Jackson in the same basket of thieves. Craig Thomson might have misused not quite an amount of $6,000 of union funds over three years, possibly by not understanding the limits placed on what was "Union business" and personal usage of a credit card... The other two characters are responsible for stealing $2.4 millions. There is a HUGE DIFFERENCE. One should not have them in the same petty wagon.

Thomson went through hell, because he was the target of political nasty games from Tony Abbtt whose mate Michael Lawler was the major mud thrower, while Michael Lawler himself was in bed with Kathy Jackson — whom, one must add, a so-called reputable journalist pumped for information on Thomson to do Tony Abbott's bidding.  Thomson was rendered bankrupt and sentenced to 12 months jail while Jackson is still at large...

So this should be analysed very carefully:

The submission from counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar SC released on Friday, says some senior management operated with “a sense of complete entitlement in respect of the use of members’ money”.

The submission also notes that the Victoria police, operating independently but in support of the commission, is undertaking a criminal investigation into Jackson’s activities while at the union.

Stoljar has recommended the commissioner, Dyson Heydon, make findings against Jackson and Thomson, as well as the former HSU boss Michael Williamson, that reflect that they had been “personally responsible” for the misappropriation of more than $2.4 million of HSU members’ money.

“The HSU has undergone many difficulties and tribulations over the last few years. Many – though not all – of those difficulties centre around three senior figures in the Union: Michael Williamson, Craig Thomson and Katherine Jackson,” Stoljar said.

All three former officials had faced allegations of misappropriation of union funds that had been the subject of criminal and civil investigations and proceedings, both concluded and ongoing.

Williamson was accused of defrauding the HSU and the New South Wales Union by the provision of false invoices in the amount of $938,000, the submission notes.

In the case of Thomson, the submission said, allegations had resulted in criminal charges concerning misuse of HSU funds for personal expenses, for which he was initially convicted of counts with a total value of $24,000, reduced to $5650 on appeal

read more: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/oct/02/unions-commission-given-damning-assessment-of-former-hsu-officials

Bold from Gus... The media, especially the merde-och press first instigated that Thomsom had stolen more than half a million, which WAS PROVEN COMPLETELY FALSE. RATBAGs...

 

 

The term "c--t-struck" left the lips of the embattled Vice President of the Fair Work Commission Michael Lawler -  a man on a $430,000 taxpayer-funded salary.

Lawler used the phrase to describe how he feared he would be portrayed when his relationship with former head of the Health Services Union, Jackson, was made public. Jackson was found guilty in a civil case that ended in August of misusing her position as head of the union to fraudulently gain financial advantage and was ordered to pay about $1.4 million.

"I'll be characterised as that scumbag, crook, fraudster, and, at the very best, somebody who's been bewitched by an evil harridan, namely Kathy [Jackson]," Lawler told ABC journalist Caro Meldrum-Hanna.

"That I'm c-nt-struck and that I have been utterly taken in by somebody who's a serious crook," he said.

Though the c-word is common gutter parlance, the -struck suffix is lesser known. 

"C--t-struck: to be in a state of having an irrational and strong emotional and physical attraction to a woman," according to Urban Dictionary.

Unlike the 'Did he? Didn't he?' drama that followed cabinet Minister Christopher Pyne's possible c-word slip during parliamentary Question Time in 2014, there was no doubt about this.

That's because ABC didn't bleep out the profanity. 

The closed-caption archivists at Tveeder didn't miss it either:

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-vulgar-pinnacle-of-a-bizarre-four-corners-with-kathy-jackson-and-michael-lawler-20151020-gkd3b0.html#ixzz3p3Ia3ofc
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

 

We were also reminded of the love-in between Abbott and Jackson and Pyne and Jackson... BUT WE HAD NOT FORGOTTEN as can be gleaned from this site on this sorry saga... The amazing thing was that at no stage there was any remorse of having destroyed the life of Craig Thomson FOR POLITICAL REASONS — while claiming that the media was trying to destroy the life of Kathy Jackson for political reasons (bad bad Labor party and its "machine"). Bollocks... While Lawler mentioned that the media was after Jackson back in 2012, this is a complete furphy. Some of the citizen media, aka wixxyleaks, saw that there was a bad smell and investigated it... The general MMMMM (mediocre mass media de mierda, including Murdoch's) saw fit to glorify Jackson until the beginning of this year, when it became impossible to ignore her MASSIVE rorts. 

 

see also:

http://wixxyleaks.com/backs-to-the-wall-jackson-and-lawler-back-themselv...

 

Now back to that Judge again, that of the TURC... what's his name again?... See toon at top...

 

AND TO SAY THE LEAST, THE REAL CROOKS HERE HAVE BEEN THOSE OF THE LIBERAL PARTY, THE PEOPLE PULLING THE STRINGS OF THESE TWO PATHETIC PUPPETS... What is Malcolm going to do about the stench?... Ah, I see he himself got Grenched...

 

After an astonishing appearance on national television on Monday night defending his partner, former union heavyweight Kathy Jackson, it can now be revealed that Michael Lawler, the embattled vice-president of the Fair Work Commission, is pushing NSW police to prosecute News Corp journalists.

The program revealed Mr Lawler's intention to go on the front foot to defend the couple, including recording a five-hour monologue detailing the complex conspiracy he claimed was being waged against the pair.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/fair-work-commissioner-michael-lawler-wants-journalists-prosecuted-20151020-gkdzry.html#ixzz3p97ZNRh1
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

This above is an "exclusive" by Kate McClymont, apparently, though her by-line does not appear online (so far), only on the printed version of the paper (SMH). McClymont is the main journalist who used Kathy Jackson as her main informant on bashing Craig Thomson.
Craig Thomson could have misused about $5000 of HSU cash over 3 years, which is basically on par win any other CEOs' expenses thought to be legitimate business, but not really. Thomson is still contesting the charge, though.
The thing with Thomson was a major campaign through the press to discredit his morality. The "purpose" of this was to upset the delicate balance of power in the Gillard Labor Government of the time. Same with Peter Slipper...
The News limited boffins, aligned with the opposition led by Tony Abbott, now gone (thank the devil Turnbull), claimed, possibly quoting from McClymont's investigation with Jackson as her "star whistleblower", had extorted half a million dollar from the HSU and spend a lot of it on prostitutes. "This behaviour was not-on", as anything of a sexual nature is ill-fitting to parliamentarians as far as these grubby journos go.
The nature of most of these claims proved FALSE, but the damage was done and Craig had to battle, nonetheless, the allegations. When he was supposed to have used prostitutes in Sydney, he was in Perth on official HSU business. But this did not matter to the scribes... They found some other "dirt" as fed by Jackson. Meanwhile Jackson, the white lamb, had extorted $1.4 million from the HSU. 
Now, I would suggest that Michael Lawler is far sicker than he claims. He is totally unfit to hold a high office — an office given to him by guess who: Tony Abbott. Should Lawler have been sick as attested by a psych report, he would not have attempted to rescue the unrescuable, nor have attempted to do much sicker things like taping his deeds... and conversations OVER THE PHONE (which he would have to know is ILLEGAL)... He would convalesce and not taken on a case which to say the least is strongly related to his work (or sick leave) at Fair Work...
One does not work when one is claiming sick-leave ortherwise this can be seen as extortion of the public purse. As Lawler does not seem to recognise this, he must be much sicker than his psych claims.

It is my simpleton view that Kate McClymont should have done a MUCH better job in the first place. What she wrote about Thomson was poor journalism. even back then in 2012 when she wrote:

Ms Jackson denied all the allegations. Any suggestion she had destroyed documents was ''a complete fabrication'', as was any suggestion Ms Kershaw had been paid any money except her entitlements. If there was any truth to these allegations, Ms Kershaw and Mr Thomson's brother would have gone to the proper authorities, Ms Jackson said. The reason they had not was ''because they understand that the allegations recorded are entirely false and would not stand close examination''.

Mr Thomson's supporters claim the documents they allege Ms Jackson destroyed would have exonerated him.

It is understood Ms Kershaw did initiate contact with the police regarding her allegations about Ms Jackson.

Mr Thomson's camp claims that the allegedly destroyed documents hamper Mr Thomson defending the allegations against him

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/whistleblower-accused-of-money-laundering-20120203-1qxw8.html#ixzz3p9JIGAa1 
Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

see also: https://independentaustralia.net/business/business-display/jacksonville-48-what-a-way-to-win-a-walkley,5295
...Once again, this was completely incorrect, as that claim was never made, however McClymont was reluctant to apologise for her error even after it was pointed out to her.

To her credit, though, McClymont won a Walkley Award for her article on the HSU case titled "Thomson: New Credit Card Claims".

Given that being the article for which McClymont received the Walkley, one would expect it to be of the highest journalistic standard and, at the very least, the most accurate of her many articles on the subject.

The article uses Craig Thomson’s name in the headline, although he hardly rates a mention after that point, with the piece being based around HSU printing supplier Communigraphix and Michael Williamson.

The article centred around a "Herald Investigation" into rumours of credit cards from Communigraphix being used to provide "secret commissions".
"THE Labor MP Craig Thomson and the union leader Michael Williamson, who is on the ALP national executive, allegedly received secret commissions from a major supplier to their union.

The two men, both senior figures in the Health Services Union at the time, were provided with American Express cards by John Gilleland, who runs a graphic design business, a Herald investigation has found."


McClymont offered absolutely no evidence to back her allegations of "secret commissions", so I thought this was worth looking into.

I attempted to contact McClymont last week regarding any evidence she may have on this and other aspects of the article regarding Communigraphix, but have not yet to receive any response.

It turns out that Communigraphix had actually supplied invoices to the HSU for these American Express Cards; some of the invoices can be seen via the link below, or viewed on Wixxyleaks' Jacksonville resource page.
So, given all charges on these cards were invoiced, then that makes them neither secret, nor a commission according to NSW's Crimes (Secret Commissions) Amendment Act 1987. In fact all expenditure on these cards was being paid by the HSU and would have been reported as expenses to the Australian Taxation Office.

I hope Fairfax has paid their defamation insurance premium, because accusing people of paying secret commissions based on what seems to be a sloppy investigation and a questionable source could be seen by the courts as quite damaging.

So who was the source? McClymont tells it like this in her article:
At a HSU function this year Mr Gilleland's wife, Carron, privately complained to senior union officials that Mr Williamson had ''run amok'' with the credit card. 

According to one official, Mrs Gilleland said, ''He even paid his private school fees on it'' and ''this was not part of the deal''.
In fact, the conversation as reported by McClymont allegedly never took place. There was a conversation, it seems, and it was indeed in private, but it was not as reported in McClymont's piece.

The conversation was allegedly between the Gillelands and Jeff and Kathy Jackson, whom at the time were close friends. It was in a hotel room, at the end of a very long night, after a HSU function.

The conversation was based around the Gillelands seeking advice from the Jackson's as Union officials.

So the officials quoted in the McClymont piece must, it seems, be Kathy and Jeff Jackson, given they were the only Union officials allegedly involved in the conversation and the only other people in the room.

The conversation, could not have taken place in 2011 as reported in the article, however, as the Gilleland's say they did not attend any Union functions at all in 2011. Instead, they date the conversation as taking place in the evening of 9 March 1999, after dinner at the HSU Annual Convention at the Novatel in Brighton-Le-Sands. Twelve years earlier — in the previous millennium.
and so on...

 

Gus: I hope that Kate's next Walkleys will be peer-reviewed and that the judges will show some better judgement...

...

Call me old school, but I would have been much happier for the pair to have retained a few shreds of their dignity, while having their alegedly vast criminality exposed. This was great reality television, don't get me wrong, but was it investigative journalism? Not in my book. It was more 'Sylvania Waters' than 'Moonlight State'.

Just off the top of my head, where were the questions about Jackson allegedly rorting health care workers at the Peter Mac cancer hospital? Where were the questions to Kathy Jackson about the prostitute who said Craig Thomson sometimes called himself "Jeff", noting her former husband's verifiable use of prostitutes at the same named brothel? Where were the questions about her Lawler's children being employed by the union during their school holidays? About the Volvo and childcare fees being paid for by the HSU? Kathy's flagrant spending on electronic goods, alcohol, fashion accessories and other very non-union items? On Michael Lawler's computer allegedly accessing the HSU system? On Lawler's friendship with Tony Abbott? On Eric Abetz's phone calls to Kathy Jackson? And hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of others questions we have been looking for the answers to and that could have easily been asked over a ten day sojourn in someone's house, but appear not to have been.

Yes, now we know Kathy Jackson and Michael Lawler are arrogant, entitled oddballs, and they probably won't be able to walk the streets now without attracting catcalls and scorn, but being out of touch with reality is not a crime in this society. Except maybe in the eyes of the media and for shallow numbskulls. Totally destroying people's credibility and character, like Kate McClymont did with Craig Thomson, is not something I would regard as a Walkley award winning achievement. I am more interested in the substance of the pair's wrongdoing, not whether or not they are nice, or entitled, or out of touch with reality, or vulgar.

read more: https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/four-corners-on-lawler-and-jackson-not-a-puff-piece--but-a-fluff-piece,8283

 

Fair Work Commission president Iain Ross says he was "profoundly disappointed" to learn that his vice president Michael Lawler secretly recorded their phone conversations, and has suggested New South Wales Police should investigate.

Mr Lawler made the admission on the ABC's Four Corners program on Monday, claiming he recorded the conversations to clear his name "when the time came".

The vice president has been on sick leave for more than nine months, on full pay, and during that time has helped his partner, former Health Services Union official Kathy Jackson, fight a Federal Court ruling that she misappropriated $1.4 million of union funds.

Today, Justice Ross gave a lengthy statement to a Senate Estimates hearing in Canberra, describing the covert recordings as a "very serious" matter that should be investigated.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-10-22/iain-ross-responds-to-michael-lawler-taping-revelation/6877068

 

Kate McClymont is back with her favourite sources, Bonnie and Clyde, to publicise a frivolous criminal complaint one has made against Peter Wicks and other ethical journalists. Wixxy comments.

THEY SAY a picture paints a thousand words.

Monday night’s footage on ABC Four Corners provided a living image of millions.

For more than three years I have been trying to portray to readers through words the seemingly alternate reality that Kathy Jackson and her supporters lived in. This is a place I have described as Jacksonville, and Monday night viewers of 4 Corners were given a glimpse inside the strange and delusional world these people live.

I must convey my gratitude to Caro Meldrum Hanna for appearing to have come to the conclusion that she didn't need to hand Jackson or her partner Michael Lawler a shovel in order for them to dig their own hole, just letting them talk will work.

Lawler was content to lie to the camera, claiming to have been dragged into the world of politics due to his relationship with Kathy.

Lawler met Kathy through his position at Fair Work, which was a political appointment — as was his brother John Lawler's position at the Crime Commission. Michael's father Peter Lawler's career was in politics — a political staffer during the Robert Menzies government, a politically appointed ambassador and a political lobbyist for a Catholic lobby organisation. Michael Lawler was, in fact, born into the world of politics — not dragged into it by Kathy.    

However, possibly the most talked about things from the episode was the recorded phone calls and their highly questionable legality.

Lawler’s fondness for manipulating phones and recording calls prompted this tweet from the always on the ball.

‘I can give you a recording of that.’ Suddenly Thommo’s ‘my phone was cloned’ excuse makes a bit more sense. #4Corners

— Latika M Bourke (@latikambourke) October 19, 2015

However given Lawler’s comments that he’d been recording calls for a while now, I think there are some people out there who may have seen that as a threat. The kind of threat that implies: If you stop protecting Kathy and I, then I may just have our calls on my computer and make them public.

It’s a reasonable to assume that Jackson and Lawler are already regretting their stupid decision to let the world get an uncensored look at Jacksonville, but how bad did it really work out for them?

You know things are dire for the pair when we see the return of Kate McClymont to the saga.

McClymont is someone who has been described by many as Jackson and Lawler's publicist. It's no wonder, she led the charge against Craig Thomson, who ended up being found not guilty on all of the hookers and brothels her articles continually tied him to, and she won a Walkley for an article that was disproved and given that it appeared to be entirely based on Jackson's word, in the light of the Four Corners episode, it seems utterly ridiculous. Her high point, though, was publishing the sad sob story of what it was like to be Marco Bolano's long-suffering partner, as told via his partner Kylee Brehaut. Bolano is of course the wannabe union thug who attempted to physically intimidate witnesses at the Royal Commission, while receiving workers compensation payment for being incapacitated.

Encounter with the s̶a̶i̶n̶t̶l̶y̶… standover man,Marco Bolano http://t.co/e7YZWrXZFI v @independentaus #auspol #TURC pic.twitter.com/duCUxU1po5

— Julie HumanityPlease (@juliemela) June 21, 2014

He is currently under police investigation for insurance fraud.

McClymont hasn’t really covered the HSU subject for a long time — at least since evidence starting turning the story in the opposite direction to the way she was portraying it.

One wonders what it was that compelled Kate to jump back in again, but that is exactly what she has done.

Did she perhaps feel some kind of obligation to the pair — and if so why?

As for this "Exclusive" article, it was full of information that it could really only have come from one source — Michael Lawler himself.

The article went into details that it claims The Australian journalists were not allowed to cover but did, in doing so, it actually did the same thing it claims the Australian did.

Does this sound somewhat familiar to you?

As Kate condemns The Australian to a stoning for saying "Jehovah", she does the same.

One thing is for sure — someone in the mix appears to be stoned.

I am quite sure The Australian did not claim any of the information came from a guardianship hearing, so if that is indeed the case, it would appear that McClymont has actually now made it public knowledge by publishing Lawler’s accusation.

I’m no legal beagle, but I’m guessing that may possibly make McClymont liable for attracting the 12 month gaol term or $110,000 fine she speaks of.

In regards to Lawler’s threat of legal action against me, which according to McClymont’s piece is getting passed back and forth between the police and the Australian Communications and Media Authority, probably until one or the other draws the short straw, I am not wearing a face of concern. I’m happy to file it away with his last legal threat, which took three flushes to get rid of. Nevertheless, it may rate a mention in my book.

Fair Work Commissioner Michael Lawler wants journalists prosecuted https://t.co/uijlnnLKBe via @smh @kate_mcclymont

— Louise Hall (@LouiseCHall) October 20, 2015

For those who want to take a stroll down Lawler's lane, check out the dedicated Jacksonville page at Independent Australia. I can also highly recommend venturing to my HSU resource page and checking out Lawler’s sons HSU payslips, perhaps taking a peek at details of an alleged attempted hack on the HSU network by a computer bearing the name Michael Lawler, or the official complaint of Carol Glen regarding Lawler’s alleged intimidation attempts. 

Whatever you do though, don’t forget to keep dropping by, because this saga ain’t over yet.

Not by a long shot.

Peter Wicks is an ALP member and former NSW State Labor candidate. You can follow Peter on Twitter @madwixxy. Read more about the Jacksonville saga HERE. Donate to Peter's Jacksonville book writing fund HERE.
read more: https://independentaustralia.net/life/life-display/kate-skates-back-to-jacksonville-as-michael-lawler-goes-after-his-enemies,8291

“The way the union operated was payments were made on a credit card and later approved by a committee,” Beazley said. “There used to be minutes of all these meetings – large boxes [of them]. “We know this from the royal commission, that the large number of boxes that no one knows exists.”

The defence plans to cross-examine 68 witnesses during a four-week committal hearing in November. “You want another royal commission,” magistrate Charlie Rozencwajg said.

“This is a very complex matter over a number of years,” Beazley said.

 

Former Health Services Union boss Kathy Jackson granted bail Read more

 

Rozencwajg said he would not preside over the committal hearing because he had heard evidence in the case against Jackson’s predecessor at the union, Craig Thompson.

“Ms Jackson gave evidence before me in that case,” he said. “There’s no real prejudice as such, but I think for appearance’s sake it’s probably preferable that matter be heard by another magistrate.”

Jackson has been excused from appearing in court and had her bail extended until a committal hearing begins on 13 November.

She did not comment to waiting media as she and Lawler left court.

read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jan/24/kathy-jackson-wan...

See toon at top...

 

Former "heroic" whistleblower Kathy Jackson has played the courts again, pushing the criminal hearings against her out into 2019. The indomitable Peter Wicks reports.

WAY BACK in May 2012, a bloke called Psy was showing us Gangnam Style, Hollywood was showing us its diversity with Men In Black 3, and one of our current backbenchers was an Opposition Leader who was telling us all about the virtues of a heroic whistleblower named Kathy Jackson.

It was a controversial time in politics.

True friendships were evolving in the Coalition. Clive Palmer was the Coalition's largest donor.

Since then, of course, the coal miner went on to do preference deals with the Greens and headed a Party with a shelf life of one term.

Former Speaker Peter Slipper had his career ruined and his reputation shattered over some cab fares. In hindsight, he should have summoned a helicopter, as that’s apparently okay. His accuser now flies a reportedly dubiously funded small plane for a rightwing Party founded on bigotry and the bizarre.

Kathy Jackson was touted as a whistleblower, but she was really a blunt tool used to try to dislodge an MP that Tony Abbott thought vulnerable. That MP, Craig Thomson, was finally found not guilty by a criminal court on all of the brothels and prostitution claims smeared through the papers for three years. He now works as a lawyer.

Abbott’s heroine Jackson, on the other hand, now awaits trial for 166 charges related to allegations of theft and fraud.

May 2012 is also when I first wrote about Kathy Jackson and the allegations surrounding her — and if you think that is bad, you’ll be dismayed to hear that I wasn’t even the first to do so.

Yesterday, Kathy Jackson once again arrived on the arm of her beloved Michael Lawler. Lawler is the man who was appointed by Tony Abbott and was paid about $400,000 a year of taxpayers' money as a vice president of the Fair Work Commission — the very organisation that investigated Craig Thomson and the union formerly headed by both Thomson and Lawler’s beloved Kathy.

Lawler, of course, went on to achieve fame as the guy who reinvented the term “the reach around” to mean a manner of taking a phone call, as he demonstrated on Caro Meldrum-Hanna's sensational exposé on Four Corners.

“@JacktheInsider: This is how Michael Lawler records phone conversation while removing earhole hair. #2015faves pic.twitter.com/q4MnuyB2BP”

— Mango Tree Books (@mangotree_books) December 31, 2015

So why has it taken so long to get this far and what the hell was yesterday all about?

The wheels of justice turn slowly for some in this country, depending on your connections and your wealth. Pinch a Mars Bar from the local 7 Eleven and you’ll probably find yourself before a judge within a month. Face charges of misappropriating over a million in workers union funds, and it will drag on for several years.

One of the problems in Kathy Jackson’s case is that nobody was really interested in looking into her. The mainstream media and, in particular, the Sydney offices of Fairfax and The Australian, gave her a mouthpiece and actually set out to publicly denigrate or legally threaten anyone that dared come forth with an alternative view.

It was only after the public farce of Jackson and her allies performance at the Trade Union Royal Commission that the penny dropped for most of the media.

Kathy Jackson and Michael Lawler’s Wombarra beachside mansion was raided by the Organised Crime Division of the police on 7 October 2015. Both before then, with Federal Court Civil case and since, with the criminal case, Jackson has made a mockery of the legal system and often turned court appearances into a circus.

Read more:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/kathy-jackson...

 

Read from top...

 

See also:

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/30726

 

Dyson Heydon was a serial sexual harasser of his young female associates, an inquiry by the court found. Kate McClymont and Jacqueline Maley report.

Former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon, one of the nation’s preeminent legal minds, sexually harassed six young female associates, an independent inquiry by the court has found.

A Herald investigation has also uncovered further allegations from senior legal figures of predatory behaviour by Mr Heydon, including from a judge who claims he indecently assaulted her. The women claim that Mr Heydon’s status as one of the most powerful men in the country protected him from being held to account for his actions.

The High Court inquiry was prompted by two of the judge’s former associates notifying Chief Justice Susan Kiefel in March last year that they had been sexually harassed by Mr Heydon.

‘‘We are ashamed that this could have happened at the High Court of Australia,’’ Chief Justice Kiefel said in a statement. She confirmed that the lengthy investigation found that ‘‘the Honourable Dyson Heydon, AC, QC’’ harassed six former staff members.

‘‘The findings are of extreme concern to me, my fellow justices, our chief executive and the staff of the court,’’ the Chief Justice said.

Chief Justice Kiefel has personally apologised to the six women, five of them Mr Heydon’s associates, saying ‘‘their accounts of their experiences at the time have been believed’’.

Dyson Heydon was on the High Court bench from 2003 to 2013 and in 2014 was appointed by then prime minister Tony Abbott to run the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

Mr Heydon denied the claims via his lawyers Speed and Stracey, who issued a statement.

‘‘In respect of the confidential inquiry and its subsequent confidential report, any allegation of predatory behaviour or breaches of the law is categorically denied by our client,’’ the statement said.

‘‘Our client says that if any conduct of his has caused offence, that result was inadvertent and unintended, and he apologises for any offence caused.

‘‘We have asked the High Court to convey that directly to the associate complainants.

‘‘The inquiry was an internal administrative inquiry and was conducted by a public servant and not by a lawyer, judge or a tribunal member. It was conducted without having statutory powers of investigation and of administering affirmations or oaths.’’

One of his former associates, Rachael Patterson Collins, told the Herald that Mr Heydon’s ‘‘actions had real and terrible consequences’’ which led her to abandon her plans to become a barrister.

Chelsea Tabart, another former associate, said she too left the law because ‘‘the culture was broken from the top down’’. She felt she would not be safe ‘‘from powerful men like Mr Heydon even if I reported them’’.

‘‘Dyson Heydon was one of the most powerful men in the country,’’ said Josh Bornstein, the women’s lawyer and a principal with law firm Maurice Blackburn in Melbourne. ‘‘As the independent investigation makes clear, he is also a sex pest. At the same time he was dispensing justice in the highest court in Australia’s legal system, he was [engaged in] sexual harassment.’’ Vivienne Thom, the former inspector-general of intelligence and security, interviewed a dozen witnesses, including five former associates. Dr Thom’s report found the evidence ‘‘demonstrates a tendency by Mr Heydon to engage in a pattern of conduct of sexual harassment’’ that included unwelcome touching, attempting to kiss the women and taking them into his bedroom. A Herald investigation can reveal Mr Heydon’s predatory behaviour was an ‘‘open secret’’ in legal and judicial circles. Not only did he prey on his young associates during his decade on the High Court until his mandatory retirement at 70 in 2013, but other females in the profession suffered at his hands. Mr Heydon, via his lawyers, denied ‘‘emphatically any allegation of sexual harassment or any offence’’. A current judge told the Herald that Mr Heydon slid his hand between her thighs at a professional law dinner not long after he joined the High Court bench. ‘‘He indecently assaulted me. I have no doubt it was a crime and he knew I was not consenting,’’ the judge said. Indecent assault, which involves the unwanted touching of another person in a sexual manner without that person’s consent, can attract a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. Despite telling him to ‘‘Get your f---ing hands off me’’ the judge, a barrister at the time, said Mr Heydon was too powerful to complain about. ‘‘The power imbalance is such that he is so senior ... He was a giant of the profession.’’ She said any such complaint could have killed the career of a female practitioner. ‘‘He was also notoriously unkind about people ... If you fell foul of him you know he wouldn’t think twice about telling other people how dreadful you were.’’ Mr Heydon is also alleged to have indecently assaulted the then president of the ACT Law Society, Noor Blumer, at the University of Canberra Law Ball in April 2013. According to a statement from the university, Mr Heydon was ‘‘removed from the event and returned to his accommodation’’, following a complaint of ‘‘inappropriate behaviour’’ from a student the same night. Ms Blumer said while she sat next to Mr Heydon at the dinner, he started ‘‘feeling up the side of my leg’’. Then, on the pretext of discussing adoption law with her, he took her to an empty room where he attempted to forcibly kiss her. Ms Blumer, who is the director of a Canberra law firm, was ‘‘upset and disgusted’’. She left the ball immediately. The next day she made a lengthy contemporaneous file note of the evening, which the Herald has seen, and also notified the university.

In a statement to the Herald, Professor Murray Raff from the University of Canberra confirmed that Ms Blumer complained to him the next day ‘‘of inappropriate and unwelcome behaviour towards her at the ball, by the retired Justice of the High Court of Australia, Dyson Heydon’’.

A female student, who also attended the ball, also reported an unpleasant encounter with the judge when he commented on her breasts, she said.

Another lawyer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described an incident following a private dinner she had with Mr Heydon when he was a High Court judge.

She said the judge had ‘‘put his hands down my pants and kissed me on the mouth’’ when she was in a car with him following the dinner.

 

Read more:

SMH 23/6/2020

 

 

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Please note that Kate McClymont (1/2 author of this piece above) used Kathy Jackson's lies to pin Craig Thomson....

 

kate and kathy

 

See also:

 

http://www.yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/30695

http://yourdemocracy.net.au/drupal/node/30682

The Sydney Morning Herald's investigation into sexual harassment claims against former High Court justice Dyson Heydon has been nominated for two of the country's highest media awards.

The Herald received nine nominations for this year's Walkley Awards, including two for the Heydon investigation led by veteran investigations reporter Kate McClymont and senior journalist Jacqueline Maley.

 

Read more:

https://www.smh.com.au/national/heydon-investigation-leads-nine-walkley-nominations-for-herald-20201015-p565bn.html

 

Please read from top. Has Kate McClymont done a dirt job on Craig Thomson by getting the dirt through dirty Kathy Jackson?... A Kathy Jackson who has now declared bankruptcy because she owes more than 1.4 mil of dirt to the union she was the boss of, while pinning Craig to the ground for a few thousand dollars...??????

 

May Kate McClymont get the dirty Walkley award for dirty journalism?

The former Health Services Union boss Kathy Jackson has been spared jail for rorting more than $100,000 in member funds.

Jackson used work credit cards and dodgy expense claims to cover up her systematic misuse of union funds between 2003 and the end of 2010.

 

The 52-year-old was jailed in Victoria’s county court on Thursday for 24 months, but the sentence was wholly suspended for two-and-a-half years.

“You selfishly used the money for your lifestyle purposes,” Judge Amanda Fox said.

“It was motivated by greed not need.”

Jackson rorted a total of $102,892.82 in member funds.

The money was spent on overseas holidays and shopping trips to Hong Kong, India, Bali, the US and Europe, and to buy items including a Mercedes and a portrait by the Australian artist Charles Blackman.

Jackson last month pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining financial advantage by deception.

This allowed her 2019 conviction for another two counts of obtaining financial advantage by deception to be reported.

The same jury acquitted Jackson of 18 theft and two deception charges.

Jackson was once lauded as a whistleblower against corruption.

In 2011 she blew the whistle on her predecessor, the former federal Labor MP Craig Thomson, and former union general secretary Michael Williamson.

 

Read more:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/26/kathy-jackson-spared-jail-for-rorting-100000-in-health-services-union-funds

 

 

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There was a time when, had you stolen a loaf of bread, you would be in the slammer for 15 years...

 

Three women who were sexually harassed by former High Court Justice Dyson Heydon have received a confidential settlement.

Rachael Patterson Collins, Chelsea Tabart and Alex Eggerking have all signed non-disclosure agreements about the terms of the settlement, but the “historic” agreement was confirmed by their lawyer on Monday.

“Women can succeed in the quest for truth and accountability in cases of sexual harassment, even involving some of the most powerful individuals and institutions in the land,” Josh Bornstein said.

 

He described himself as “exceedingly proud, chuffed and stoked” for his courageous clients.

Mr Heydon, 78, served on the High Court from 2003 until 2013.

The three women came forward in 2019 and negotiations for a settlement have been ongoing for nearly three years.

In June 2020 the High Court publicly apologised to six women after allegations of sexual harassment of them by Mr Heydon were upheld by an independent investigator.

Mr Bornstein said the three women he represented had been unable to pursue the legal careers they’d dreamed of after their experiences working at the High Court in Canberra.

He is representing a number of other women alleging they were sexually harassed by judges at state and federal levels, and said a cultural revolution was under way.

Further compensation settlements could be in the pipeline, he said.

Mr Bornstein said the three women wanted to share their strong belief that women should not feel ashamed to pursue financial settlements in these cases because sexual harassment will only recede when there’s recognition of the cost to organisations and individuals involved.

 

“It’s not always the case, but sometimes the legal process can overcome a severe power imbalance,” he said.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash said Ms Collins, Ms Tabart and Ms Eggerking’s bravery at coming forward was recognised.

“These women have told us about what they have been through during, and since, their times as associates of the High Court and the serious impacts on their lives,” she said in a statement, allowed for in the terms of the settlement.

“We have listened to them and we apologise.”

 

READ MORE:

https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/2022/02/14/sexual-harassment-settlements-dyson-heydon/

 

 

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FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!