A Centrelink recipient who runs the country’s union for unemployed workers has issued a threatening message where he appears to suggest that a controversial millionaire boss’s Porsche should be targeted by vandals.
This past week, Jez Heywood joined the social media pile-on attacking Rich List business boss Tim Gurner for calling workers arrogant and saying the unemployment rate needed to rise by 40 to 50 per cent.
Heywood posted a photograph of Mr Gurner from a Daily Mail Australia article about the backlash over Mr Gurner’s comments, showing him beside a woman in front of an electric blue Porsche 911 Carrera valued at $320,000.
In a troubling call-out to his 3000-plus followers, Mr Heywood posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: ‘Pretty distinctive blue Porsche you got there, Tim.
‘Can’t be many of them driving about Melbourne. Wonder how much a set of tyres are for it?’
Jez Heywood posted a photograph of Mr Gurner from a Daily Mail Australia article showing him posing for a photo with a business associate in front of a Porsche 911 Carrera valued at $320,000
Jobseeker Jez Heywood (pictured earlier this year) posted the tweet. However, the post had a problem – the Porsche wasn’t owned by Mr Gurner
But in a fail, Porsche doesn’t belong to Mr Gurner – and the woman beside him is not Mr Gurner’s wife, Amee Gurner.
The woman pictured is actually Gold Coast mum-of-three Rachael Reid, a former model and racecar driver, who was photographed meeting Mr Gurner for business.
The Porsche belongs to her and the picture features on her Instagram account, Her Supercar Life, which boasts more than 100,000 fans and has now spawned its own business.
A telltale sticker in the back window of the Porsche in the picture would have alerted Mr Heywood – but even after it was pointed out, he continued regardless.
When it was suggested the car might be a rental, he added: ‘Ah, damn. Still, there is always the insurance excess.’
But by then, it was too late and his followers were already plotting ways to vandalise the Porsche.
One follower suggesting it should be sprayed with paint-stripping brake fluid, while another said a bottle of coke would have the same effect on the pristine bodywork.
Others warned it could be keyed or scratched, or have all its tyres let down by using a lentil under the valve cap.
One ominously researched the cost of a new Porsche tyre and found it to be $967 a time, while another instructed would-be vandals to only damage three tyres because ‘if it’s all four, insurance will pay out’.
Other followers tagged in extremist environmental activist group Tyre Extinguishers who target 4×4 SUVs by deflating their tyres to protest against carbon pollution.
One follower though warned Heywood he had gone too far and advised: ‘I’d be deleting this post’, but his suggestion was ignored.
Tim Gurner is pictured with his wife Aimee, who was the co-founder and director of The Beauty Chef, a brand of organic skin health and beauty products
The woman pictured with Mr Gurner is actually Gold Coast mum-of-three Rachael Reid, a former model and racecar driver, who owns the luxury vehicle
The Porsche features on Ms Reid’s highly successful Her Supercar Life Instagram account which has just spun off its own business
Heywood, 47, hit the headlines earlier this year when he was embroiled in on-air row with 2GB’s Ben Fordham after he admitted being unemployed for more than a decade.
The radio host found a boss willing to employ the graphic designer but Heywood snubbed the job offer and fired off a series of angry tweets from his granny flat at his parents’ home in south-east Melbourne.
Daily Mail Australia later exposed how his Australian Unemployed Worker’s Union had collected more than $175,000 of donated cash last year – and refused to answer questions on what it planned to do with the money.
Instead, he told Daily Mail Australia to ‘absolutely get f***ed’.
He no longer accepts messages from Daily Mail Australia. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Ms Reid for comment.
Mr Gurner, a property developer, apologised on Thursday night for calling workers ‘arrogant’ and saying the unemployment rate needs to rise by 40 to 50 per cent.
His registered not-for-profit charity has more than $178,000 stashed away in its bank account, mainly from donations, and many from the unemployed
THE UNION FOR THE UNEMPLOYED … THAT’S NOT REALLY A UNION!
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union was founded in 2014 but has never actually been a union
The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union was founded in 2014 but isn’t a formal union.
It was registered as an Incorporated Association in 2015 and then as a not-for-profit charity in 2020.
Australian Council of Trade Unions Secretary Sally McManus has previously had to clarify the organisation is neither a registered union nor an affiliate of the ACTU.
Its website says it aims to ‘protect the rights and dignity of unemployed people and to alleviate poverty and disadvantage.’
It is funded almost entirely by scores of donations of under $1,000 from supporters, and was boosted by one single donation of $39,317 in 2020/21.
It has set up a free ‘national advocacy hotline’ which runs for four hours a day, five days a week, taking calls from desperate job seekers.
The AUWU says it aims to provide information resources for the unemployed and welfare recipients, while fighting for their rights.
It has also run surveys to canvass the opinions of the unemployed about life on JobSeeker and campaigned for a rise in the dole.
The AUWU website says it aims to ‘protect the rights and dignity of unemployed people and to alleviate poverty and disadvantage’
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