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September 16th, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
THE Health Services Union descended into open warfare yesterday as its largest branch voted to disaffiliate from Labor, a move designed to insulate the party from the alleged corruption surrounding HSU East general secretary Michael Williamson and Labor MP Craig Thomson.
The branch council of HSU East, which covers about 60,000 members in NSW, Victoria and the ACT, took the decision during a heated teleconference meeting, which including a confrontation between Mr Williamson and HSU East executive president Kathy Jackson.
Branch council members loyal to Mr Williamson voted down a series of motions put up by Ms Jackson and her camp, including one that would have commissioned an independent investigation into the finances of the union.
Ms Jackson, who this week took allegations to NSW police that Mr Williamson and Mr Thomson took secret commissions, yesterday accused Mr Williamson of trying to thwart inquiries into alleged corruption in his branch.
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“This is coverup mark II,” Ms Jackson told The Weekend Australian last night.
She said Mr Williamson had earlier tried to protect Mr Thomson from investigation.
Mr Williamson has vigorously denied such suggestions, noting that each vote of the HSU national executive on the Thomson affair had been unanimous.
Mr Williamson and Mr Thomson, who was an HSU official from 1999 to 2007, have denied they received credit cards from John Gilleland, the owner of a graphic design company that produces the HSU East newsletter under a contract worth $680,000 per year. Mr Gilleland did not return calls, nor answer written questions through his lawyer.
It is understood NSW Police, who are investigating the allegations, have been in contact with American Express to ascertain whether such cards were issued to Mr Williamson and Mr Thomson.
The HSU’s NSW divisional secretary, Gerard Hayes, said after yesterday’s branch council meeting that the move to disaffiliate was aimed at removing “a perceived conflict of interest between the union and the ALP”.
Mr Hayes said the decision had been taken “to demonstrate, unequivocally, the independence of the union and to reinforce to members that their interests come before anything else”.
Union and ALP sources said the action had been orchestrated by Mr Williamson, in a bid to distance the scandal and infighting within the HSU from federal Labor. Were Mr Thomson forced to resign, Labor would in all likelihood lose a by-election for his NSW central coast seat of Dobell and lose its slender majority in parliament.
The move will be costly to the ALP. According to the Australian Electoral Commission, the HSU No 1 branch, which has recently amalgamated with HSU East, donated $51,576 to the Victorian ALP in 2008-09 and $74,444 in 2009-10. The HSU donated more than $80,000 to the NSW ALP branch in 2009-10 and more than $110,000 in 2008-09.
However, senior Labor officials are understood to have discussed the move with Mr Williamson and believe it to be the best outcome.
Mr Williamson is a senior powerbroker in the dominant NSW Right faction, and is a vice-president of the NSW and federal ALP. Last month, he initially resisted a move by some members of the HSU national executive to take claims to NSW police alleging that Mr Thomson, when he was HSU national secretary, had rorted more than $100,000 of union funds to pay for prostitutes, fine dining, cash advances and air tickets for his then-wife, Christa.
Mr Thomson denies any wrongdoing.
NSW Labor Party secretary Sam Dastyari confirmed the party had accepted the disaffiliation of the HSU. “This is a decision the HSU has come to through their own internal processes, while they go through a difficult period,” he said. “Once they come through this period, it is not unexpected at some point they’ll reaffiliate.”
Another senior NSW Labor source said it was now “likely” Mr Williamson would resign his leadership positions in the party.
Whether intentionally or not, the disaffiliation move will undermine Ms Jackson as a political player. Based in Melbourne, where she is also HSU national secretary, Ms Jackson has commanded the factional power within the Victorian ALP that accrues from the state membership of the HSU, making her a junior powerbroker. Without that, Ms Jackson will be unable to secure support for David Feeney, the HSU-aligned Labor senator who wants to win preselection for a lower house seat.
The decision to disaffiliate will have the biggest impact when the Victorian ALP holds its state conference on October 8. The HSU has 20 of the 300 votes available to unions from a total of 600. The conference elects the delegates that will go to the national conference in December but, more significantly, it elects the 100 members on the public office selection committee that determines state and federal preselection.
Additional reporting: Imre Salusinszky and James Massola
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