VICTORIAN health workers' union fees were misused including to fly officials and their spouses to a wedding, an investigation has found.
During a spending spree of unauthorised payments, union officials also gave $5000 to a colleague so she could campaign for US President Barack Obama.
A Fair Work Australia investigation found the Health Services Union Victoria No.1 branch failed to keep records on thousands of dollars of credit card transactions and "paid lip service" to proper accounting practices.
Former branch secretary Jeff Jackson and then-assistant secretary Shaun Hudson were slammed by the findings.
The report says in 2008 Mr Jackson authorised $5000 of union funds to be paid into colleague Alex Hicks's personal bank account "because Ms Hicks was campaigning for Barack Obama in the United States of America".
FWA also found HSU funds were used to pay for airfares and accommodation for Mr Jackson, Mr Hudson and their spouses to attend a colleague's Sydney wedding in 2008.
The report says during an interview over the spending, Mr Jackson said it was "appropriate" for the HSU to pay for an official's spouse to travel to a wedding of a union employee.
Dozens of other examples of broken rules are laid out in the FWA report, tabled by a Senate committee yesterday.
Mr Jackson told the Herald Sun last night he was "grateful" it had been released so former colleagues' claims could be tested in the Federal Court.
He said his enemies in the union movement ran a political campaign against him, and he would contest claims in court rather than through the media.
The Herald Sun was unable to contact Mr Hudson.
The FWA investigation is one of two into the HSU, and took almost three years to complete.
The other investigation involves embattled Labor MP Craig Thomson and is looking at allegations his credit card was misused to pay for prostitutes when he was HSU national secretary.
Opposition workplace relations spokesman Eric Abetz said the report provided an "insight" into union abuse of workers' money and should be referred to the tax office, Victoria's fraud squad and the Director of Public Prosecutions.
heraldsun.com.au 17 Mar 2012
Another government sponsored fraud, that the 'authorities' are letting slip by them.
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