Kathy Jackson has bid enthusiastically at a prominent Sydney auction house though claiming to be a bankrupt and owing the Health Service Union $2.4 million. The disgraced former HSU leader won multiple items during bidding at Lawsons Auctioneers in Sydney’s west yesterday. It was not clear yesterday whose money Ms Jackson was using to buy the items. There were reports last month that she was doing some work with a friend, selling antiques on weekends at a warehouse in inner-Sydney Alexandria. From Lawsons’ catalogue yesterday the items she bought included a sideboard for $220, a carpet for $60, a chair for $60, a set of outdoor chairs for $35, table lamps for $25 and a rug listed at $50 to $80. The cheapest item she bought was a porcelain figure, listed in the Lawsons’ catalogue in the range of $5 to $10. Repeatedly holding up her bidding paddle, Ms Jackson made winning bids for up to a dozen items including antique furniture, outdoor chairs, carpet rugs and collectibles. Only in September, Ms Jackson’s lawyer Philip Beazley reminded Melbourne Magistrates Court that his client had no money because she was a bankrupt. That was during Ms Jackson’s first court appearance after police had charged her in August with 70 offences related to allegedly stealing almost $500,000 from the HSU during her years heading one of its Victorian branches. Ms Jackson is on bail, the terms of which requires her to live at her home on Sydney’s south coast and to not go near international airports.
