Kate McClymont
August 27, 2011
Besieged ... MP Craig Thomson. Photo: Andrew Meares
THE Health Services Union is threatening to implode over the Craig Thomson credit card scandal, with the bitter infighting between the union's factions bringing more trouble for the Gillard government.
A dirt-encrusted shovel, a none-too-subtle underworld code for ''dig your own grave'', was left on the doorstep of union general secretary Kathy Jackson's Melbourne home yesterday.
And the Herald can reveal that many of the union's financial records, relating to the period of Mr Thomson reign, have disappeared.
Ms Jackson said there were a ''lot of records missing from the organisation.'' It is unclear why the documents for the period between 2002 to 2007 are missing or who is responsible for this.
Ms Jackson spoke to reporters yesterday despite receiving a phone call from Michael Williamson, the union's national president and an ally of Mr Thomson, on Thursday night to tell her she no longer had authority to talk to the media. The Victorian police are investigating the shovel incident, which has left Ms Jackson was outraged.
''Who are these blokes? Spivs and standover merchants,'' she told the Herald. ''The HSU national executive represents the members, not factional quislings in Victoria.''
Speaking to AAP, she added: ''I'm a big girl. I didn't expect this sort of stuff would have occurred but it has, it's unfortunate and I'm moving on. If the person who has done this thinks they can intimidate me … they've picked the wrong girl.''
It is not suggested Mr Williamson was involved in the shovel incident.
Ms Jackson is under attack by elements within the union for not only authorising the original 2008 inquiry into Mr Thomson's expenses but for this week helping the NSW fraud squad by forwarding the results of the union's initial investigation.
That inquiry revealed that Mr Thomson used his union credit card to make more than $100,000 in personal expenditures, including on prostitutes and expensive lunches.
The union, which represents hospital and aged care orderlies and clerks, has 70,000 members and an annual turnover of $16 million.
According to an official Labor Party website, Labor heavyweight Mr Williamson, 58, is credited with turning the union around.
If real estate is anything to go by, the union appears to be awash with money, having spent more than $16 million on property purchases in the past five years. Most of the purchases are in an office block in Pitt Street, in Sydney's city centre.
The union broke a Melbourne record of price per square metre when it outlayed $4.65 million for its national headquarters in 2007. Mr Williamson is also credited with using his ''entrepreneurial skills'' to bring new services for union members, the ALP website claims.
Among those services are an array of IT, computer and mobile systems which are provided to the union by Mr Williamson's IT company, United Edge, which has offices on the same floor as the union in the Pitt Street building. Among United Edge's clients, according to its website, are trade unions and patient care organisations.
Mr Williamson is also a director of Imaging Partners Online, which provides off-site radiology services to both private and public hospitals. Last year Mr Williamson spent $522,000 buying a beach house at Lake Macquarie, having previously spent $470,000 buying the adjacent block.
The well-connected Mr Williamson is a former president of the Labor Party and is vice-president of the party. His daughter, Alex, is a media adviser in the Prime Minister Julia Gillard's staff. Mr Williamson did not return the Herald's call.
