A ruling may have complicated a legal battle for East Hills Labor MP Kylie Wilkinson
Which MP must face an Industrial Relations Commission hearing? Why has Eddie Obeid decided to stay in jail? And who is the influencer charged with assaulting a cop? The Snitch is here.
Police & Courts
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Politics is a job that often requires its participants to master the art of working with people they hate.
Which brings us to East Hills Labor MP Kylie Wilkinson, who might have to fine tune that skill if she loses a legal battle in the Industrial Relations Commission.
She has been taken to the IRC by her former staffer Gemma Ashton. who wants her job back after Ms Wilkinson sacked her in November 2024.
Ms Ashton also wants back pay to cover the period between then and now.
The former staffer claims she was sacked after it was discovered that, at one point, she had eyes on Ms Wilkinson’s job.
According to IRC documents, Ms Ashton alleges she was fired after it was discovered she had intended to run for pre-selection for the East Hills seat in 2023 and was a candidate for Bankstown-Canterbury Council.
Ms Wilkinson, who was elected to the seat in 2023, is yet to give evidence as to her side as to why Ms Ashton was let go.
The case hangs on whether the sacking comes under the Members of Parliament (MOP) Act or the more standardised workplace laws.
Under the MOP act, an MP “may at any time dispense with the services” of a staffer meaning that the decision to terminate her employment could not be taken before a tribunal like the IRC.
This week, the IRC was asked to decide if it was the right place to hear the argument over Ms Ashton’s future employment prospects.
On Thursday, a three-person panel ruled that it was.
The matter will now be set down for a full hearing in the IRC.
Put your mouthguard in.
Obeid drops fight for early release
Corrupt politician Eddie Obeid has quietly dropped his legal battle to get out of jail early.
The 81-year-old had taken action against the state’s prison system in the NSW Supreme Court after it called him a “security risk” and refused his application for an early release from Cooma Jail in February.
The former NSW Labor Minister is nearing the end of the jail sentence for corruption while in office that earned him $30 million.
Obeid has served more than three years behind bars for abusing his public position to corruptly award coal exploration licences.
His family had the red carpet rolled out at their North Shore home in February in anticipation of his return before Corrective Services pulled the plug on the Obeid party and kept Eddie in jail.
Obeid lodged the case with the court in April but pulled it in recent weeks.
We’re told the reason may have something to do with the fact that the time it would take to argue the case would go beyond August, when Obeid is eligible for parole.
It is the second sentence Obeid has served since he was brought down by a probe conducted by the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
His third trial, for allegedly using his position to promote a company he was linked to, is scheduled to start later this year.
Coffey in court
We hate to fan the flames of giving social media influencers any sort of attention, but here we are.
Bonnie Lou Coffey, one quarter of the surfing-slash-influencer clan led by her pro surfing sister Ellie-Jean, has been charged with assaulting police.
The 22-year-old is not a pro surfer, but appears to have followed in her sister’s footsteps of selling imagery of herself that’s a bit too racy for Snitch’s innocent eyes.
She is also scheduled to face Manly Local Court on June 16 to answer to a charge of assaulting a police officer.
According to court records, the constable at the centre of the incident allegedly sustained actual bodily harm.
The records said the charges stem from an incident that allegedly occurred at 2am on May 5 at Frenchs Forest.
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