Kathy Jackson attacked over cash ‘siphons’

HEALTH Services Union whistleblower Kathy Jackson is battling allegations she “illegitimately siphoned off” $284,500.

unions royal commission continues at 55 Market st CBD.Pic of ex HSU Union worker Kathy Jackson arriving at the commission this morning.

HEALTH Services Union whistleblower Kathy Jackson is battling allegations she “illegitimately siphoned off” $284,500 of her members’ money for a slush fund she controlled.

Ms Jackson, who exposed convicted former HSU leaders Michael Williamson and Craig Thomson over large-scale fraud, insisted yesterday outside the royal commission into union corruption that she had done nothing wrong and allegations against her were “all part of a get-square”.

Craig McGregor, who started an investigation of Ms Jackson’s former HSU No 3 branch in Victoria after he took her old position in 2012, yesterday disagreed.

While admitting that many fin­ancial records from Ms Jackson’s time were missing, he alleged he had found $284,500 of union money was illegitimately siphoned off and deposited between 2004-11 into a “slush fund” called the National Health Development Account.

Mr McGregor said he had no way of knowing what happened to the union money, which Ms Jackson and her supporters say she was authorised to control, and spend as she saw fit.

A former HSU bookkeeper for Ms Jackson, Jane Holt, said in the commission yesterday that Ms Jackson almost always gave her “verbal” instructions on shifting the $284,500 of union money to the NHDA, an unincorporated association separate to the HSU, between 2004-10.

Ms Holt confirmed at least $80,000 of funds transferred to the NHDA at Ms Jackson’s request came from a windfall $250,000 legal settlement paid to the HSU by the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne, after it had been “impossible” to track down former employees and pay them money owed in back pay. It is possible almost all payments made to the NHDA on Ms Jackson’s orders came from the HSU’s so-called “Peter Mac” account, a high interest-bearing account, although the royal commission is still to confirm this.

Former HSU official and Jackson loyalist Katharine Wilkinson told the royal commission that Ms Jackson was authorised by the union’s branch committee of management to use money from the “Peter Mac” fund for “personal purposes” and “political interests”.

Ms Wilkinson said the fund controlled by Ms Jackson was also used for travel scholarships, electioneering mail-outs and to help other unions.

Asked by counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar SC, if Ms Jackson had used the fund money to finance candidates in other union elections, or to fund Labor parliamentary candidates, Ms Wilkinson said: “It could well have happened but I’m not sure.”

Ms Wilkinson said she had not recalled from recent media reports the existence of Ms Jackson’s National Health Dev­el­op-­ment Account — but she had since recognised it as the “Peter Mac” fund.

“It was all above board, no suspicious circumstances,’’ she said.

Ms Jackson, who will give evidence to the commission today, has achieved much credit as the whistleblower who exposed corruption by former HSU bosses Williamson and Thomson, but the royal commission is now turning its attention to alle­gations made against Ms Jackson.

The commission heard yesterday how a total of $8000 in union funds was withdrawn on Ms Jackson’s orders for branch committee of management meetings either monthly or quarterly as “sitting fees”. About $100 cash was paid to committee members and the balance “retained” by Ms Jackson for union interests.