The former secretary of the HSU Vic No 3 branch, Kathy Jackson, submitted a claim for $65,740 for solicitors’ fees when the actual amount the union was charged was only $1,122, the Heydon royal commission has heard.
Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be called as a witness as part of the Heydon Royal Commission's investigation into financial dealings by former AWU officials in the early 1990s.
The former husband of ex-HSU head Kathy Jackson told the Heydon Royal Commission this morning that $50,000 she paid to him from her "offline" account was part of their divorce settlement, but went on to say that he had substantial memory problems and could not be certain.
ACTU computer records suggest a single person sat the online right of entry permit tests for six HSU Victorian No 1 branch officials according to counsel assisting the Heydon Royal Commission, but the branch's secretary Diana Asmar has flatly denied she gave instructions for such a practice to occur.
NSW ALP secretary Sam Dastyari tipped off some officials in the HSU that the Federal Labor government planned to appoint an administrator to the union's East branch in early 2012, the Heydon Royal Commission has heard.
Officials and organisers of the HSU's Victorian No 1 branch were issued right of entry permits after their online tests were completed by other employees of the union, the Heydon Royal Commission has been told.
TWU national secretary Tony Sheldon has told the Heydon Royal Commission that he has "no recollection" of asking his Victorian secretary Wayne Mader to contribute $20,000 from a state-based fighting fund to support the incumbent leader of the ETU in NSW.
The Heydon Royal Commission has heard that a campaign fund associated with the TWU's national office and NSW branch contributed up to $200,000 to a group who ousted the leadership of the Queensland branch in 2010, and a further $120,000 to HSU and Flight Attendants Association election candidates two years later.
TWU Vic/Tas branch secretary Wayne Mader has told the Heydon Royal Commission today that officials from his branch made donations to candidates in HSU and ETU elections out of their own re-election fund.
A former SDA Queensland branch secretary - now a federal Labor senator - has taken steps to repay tax deductions he claimed on contributions paid to an internal union "fighting fund", the Heydon Royal Commission has been told.
