Friday 6 March 2015

Jackson and Lawler's guest list and Tony Abbott's judgement

Jackson and Lawler's guest list and Tony Abbott's judgement



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(Screenshot of theaustralian.com.au)


Who turns up for lunch at the Lawler household when they are entertaining David Rofe QC provides food for thought, says Peter Wicks from Wixxyleaks.



THIS WEEK, once again, Brad Norington of The Australian has revived my faith in investigative journalism in this country.



Norington, on February 28 exposed
us to the murky world of Tony Abbott's heroes Kathy Jackson and Michael
Lawler and their recent relationship with 83-year-old dementia sufferer
David Rofe QC, and in particular their involvement with his estimated
$30 million estate. Many have described their behaviour as “ambulance
chasing”, and there are other words I could use to describe their
behaviour and ethics that are not fit to print.




Tony Abbott has in the past described Jackson as “brave and decent”; he may have a different definition of these words than me.



I looked up “brave” in the dictionary. I found no mention of using what in my opinion are excuses to delay Federal Court proceedings
for around two years. It also failed to mention refusing to answer
questions on the stand at a Royal Commission and claiming to be
ambushed.




While I was at it, I also looked up “decent” and can’t say I was surprised to find that taking around $250,000 of cancer research money and depositing it into your personal bank account wasn’t there.





Nor was teaming up with your partner to reportedly try to control the estate of an old man with dementia.



However, just when you think that things could not become any murkier, they do.



Norington’s article published yesterday gives
an eyewitness account of the pressure exerted on the 83-year-old
dementia sufferer David Rofe by this Coalition pin-up girl Kathy
Jackson and her Tony Abbott appointed Fair
Work Commission vice president partner Michael Lawler. If the
allegations, which have come via a signed affidavit that was given to
NSW Police, are true then it really does paint this pair in an extremely
poor light.




The $1.35 million dollar property that Lawler purchased with Rofe’s money allegedly against Rofe’s wishes can be viewed via this link and,
as you can see by the pool with no safety fence, high balconies and
steep sloping yard — they are not what I would have envisioned as being
ideal for an 83-year-old dementia sufferer.








Demential sufferer death trap?



However what is interesting about this turn of events is not only what happened but who was involved.



The events described in detail in Norington’s article took place at a
lunch at the residence of Kathy Jackson and Michael Lawler. The witness
who has signed an affidavit with an account of what occurred over lunch
was none other than former AWU official Bob Kernohan. Also at the lunch were Kathy Jackson, Michael Lawler, Davis Rofe QC and also blogger Michael Smith, who at the time was living with Jackson and Lawler.




If we cast our minds back a little to the Trade Union Royal Commission, it sheds an interesting light on the entire procedure.



The Royal Commission was set up by Tony Abbott and George Brandis and
it was clear from the outset that it was designed and set up to achieve
two primary goals — the crucifixion of Julia Gillard and the vindication of Kathy Jackson.




The Royal Commission spectacularly failed on both counts.





What I find alarming is that all living under one roof during the Royal Commission we have:



  • Kathy Jackson: the union turncoat facing allegations of $1.4 million in fraud who has been praised by Coalition MPs, including Tony Abbott;
  • Michael Lawler: the vice president of Fair Work Commission,
    the government body where workplace issues and union matters are
    resolved and who’s investigation into the HSU skipped over his partner
    Jackson's time and was the basis for the HSU hearings at the Commission,
    was an appointee of the man who set up the Royal Commission Tony
    Abbott, and someone who has acted as a lawyer for Kathy Jackson;
  • Bob Kernohan: the leading witness against former PM Julia Gillard and former "best friend" of right-wing blogger and anti-union propagandist Michael Smith;
  • Michael Smith: The blogger and former shock-jock who led the charge
    against Julia Gillard and who has been a cheerleader for Kathy Jackson
    despite evidence against her, is also a friend of the Royal Commission’s
    creator George Brandis, who even gave a speech at Smith’s wedding after
    travelling there at the taxpayers' expense, only paying it back reluctantly after the media highlighted it.
It would seem the only people missing from this cosy affair were Brandis and Abbott himself.





The Royal Commission was set up to destroy reputations and,
ironically, it may just succeed in doing that. However, it is the
reputations of Abbott and Brandis that are most at risk and, given
Abbott’s standing within his own party, not to mention the polls, and
given also Brandis’ recent censure over the hugely embarrassing Triggs debacle, I’m not sure either has much credibility left for their reputations to cling too.




One thing is for sure: these matters involving Jackson and Lawler are
going to continue on for a long time yet and every time their names
come up in the civil and likely criminal cases it is Abbott’s and Brandis’s names that will be associated with them, along with other Coalition members.




Meanwhile the taxpayer continues to pay Lawler’s $435,000 salary that
Abbott gifted him and, until that issue is resolved, Abbott will always
be linked with the pair.




Abbott’s ignorance of this matter is neither “brave nor decent”.



However it’s what we have come to expect.





Catch up on the full Jacksonville saga here. You can read more by Peter Wicks on Wixxyleaks or follow him on Twitter @madwixxy.



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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License



Tuesday 3 March 2015

HAS THE POLL DONE BY IPSOS BEEN REQUESTED TO PROVIDE A CERTAIN OUTCOME AT BY THE PM HIMSELF
WHAT A COINCIDENCE IT ARRIVED JUST BEFORE TONY'S DEMISE



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