In case you’re not familiar with the union corruption saga in Australia:

• The Health Services Union (HSU) has been one of the most corrupt and disgracefully run unions in Australia and has largely given rise to the current Royal Commission into union corruption. Literally millions and millions of dollars of members’ money was stolen by union officials.

• Kathy Jackson was one of the recent heads of the HSU and she blew the whistle on seriously corrupt grubs like Michael Williamson and Craig Thomson.

• It didn’t take long for Kathy Jackson to be exposed as being every bit as grubby as the people she blew the whistle on.

• It has now been confirmed by the Federal Court that Kathy Jackson should repay $1.4 million in misappropriated funds back to the HSU:

Ms Jackson was ordered to pay $1.4 million to her former employer, the Health Services Union (HSU), after the court found she had used its money to fund a lavish lifestyle.

PS: there’s a synonym for ‘misappropriated’ which far better describes Jackson’s conduct.

People who claim that the Royal Commission into union corruption is a political witch-hunt and that such matters should be left to the police are either crooked themselves or rusted on Lefties. They ignore the fact that the police often haven’t been resourced, authorised or motivated to do anything on these issues, many of which are also largely civil in nature and which date back 10-20 years (and more).

How much longer should the public have waited for action? Isn’t it funny how there were massive delays in dealing with the likes of Craig Thomson while Gillard was in power and completely reliant on his vote in Parliament? The fact is, nowhere near enough of these crooks were going to be brought to justice without the Royal Commission.

Is the Royal Commission politically advantageous to the Liberals at the expense of Labor? Of course it is. But so what? No body put a gun to any union official’s head to misappropriate money, run protection rackets or blackmail people and businesses.

Now back to Kathy Jackson, who recently filed for bankruptcy and who will not be paying back anything close to the $1.4 million she flogged off the HSU…

As we know, Malcolm Turnbull brought in a new policy reducing the bankruptcy period from three years to one year. For my commentary on why this is an awful idea, go here.

Kathy Jackson now gives us a clear example of what I was talking about.

Is it fair that future people like Jackson (and maybe even Jackson herself – depending on how the new laws are drafted) will be given a fresh financial slate after only one year? Or even three years? Of course the answer is no. To anyone with even a shred of morality, people like Jackson should be made to pay off their debts for the rest of their lives without any discount. 

So why has Turnbull decided to let people like Jackson off the hook after only one year when it will clearly encourage more of this kind of corrupt and fraudulent behaviour?

Why is it such a novel idea to have a scale where the period of bankruptcy is linked to the conduct of the bankrupt person? A person who failed in business might be given some leniency, while scum like Jackson should be give none.