Former union leader and one-time whistleblower Kathy Jackson has pleaded not guilty to misappropriating more than $470,000 from the Health Services Union to pay for personal flights, hotel accommodation and other expenses, and been committed to stand trial.
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Ms Jackson, 49, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday for the start of what was meant to be a week-long hearing to determine whether she would face a jury in a higher court, but after discussions between her lawyers and prosecutors, the matter was adjourned straight to trial without her lawyer cross-examining witnesses.
Ms Jackson kissed partner Michael Lawler, the former Fair Work Commission deputy president, as the pair lined up to enter court and while in the court room chatted and laughed with supporters and lawyers while waiting for magistrate Simon Zebrowski to enter.
Prosecutors allege Ms Jackson either stole or misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars from the HSU between 2003 and 2011 to pay for her own personal flights, travel expenses and other non-work items. She was a union official during that time and from 2008 was the HSU's national secretary.
Charge sheets allege she used HSU-issued credit cards to pay for flights to the US, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Bali, hotel rooms in New York and Las Vegas, and other travel expenses in Seattle, Dallas, Chicago and Los Angeles.
She is also accused of using union funds to pay $22,000 for a 1993 Mercedes-Benz on behalf of then-husband Jeff Jackson, paying $1065 to hire a treadmill, buying products worth $1070 from JB Hi-Fi, spending $4636 on artwork and $12,500 on stationery.
In 2010 she is alleged to have illegally claimed $63,000 from the union to pay herself an annual "honorarium" of $21,000 over the preceding three years.
One charge alleges that for one 2007 transaction of $4920 in travel expenses she used a credit card with the name Stephanie Jackson on it.
The charge sheets allege Ms Jackson used the union-issued credit cards to fund her lifestyle and then dishonestly claimed to HSU staff that the expenses were for work purposes.
The charges cover about 70 incidents of alleged offending.
Ms Jackson, who helped expose corruption in the HSU and the downfall of former union officials Michael Williamson and Craig Thomson, faces the prospect of jail if found guilty of the charges.
In 2015 the Federal Court ordered Ms Jackson pay back almost $1.4 million to the HSU after finding she used union funds to support a lavish lifestyle of overseas trips, luxury accommodation and fine dining.
Prosecutor Mark Gibson told the court Ms Jackson's lawyers did not need to cross-examine witnesses during the committal hearing, and so the case would be sent directly to trial. Mr Zebrowski then formally committed Ms Jackson to stand trial.
Ms Jackson had her bail extended to appear before the County Court on Tuesday so a date can be set for her trial. She might not go before a jury until 2019 given the backlog of trials before the County Court.
Under the conditions of her bail, she can live at her home in Wombarra in NSW and must not leave Australia. The court heard her passport was in the possession of her bankruptcy trustee.
She also cannot make contact with any prosecution witnesses other than the lead police investigator and Mr Jackson, who is also a former HSU official.
