Last modified on Mon 8 Feb 2021 00.17 EST
Jean Madden was once lauded as a champion of the homeless, someone finally doing something practical to improve the lives of people sleeping rough across Australia.
In 2005, inspired by what she’d learned about the health effects of sleep deprivation for those on the streets, she and a band of supporters started making and distributing lightweight, waterproof swags.
Just five years later, Madden’s charity, Street Swags, had pumped out 13,000 mobile beds, earning her the title of Queensland Young Australian of the Year.
But after years of drama, Madden has now been branded a trickster by a Fair Work commissioner, alleged to have misused donations and left lasting scars on the charity she founded.
News by Vanda Carson
Premium Content  Former Queensland Young Australian of the Year and Street Swags founder Jean Madden has been slammed in a scathing tribunal decision as a liar and a trickster whose appalling actions may amount to criminal conduct. Details of shock allegations against Ms Madden can be revealed after an extraordinary Fair Work Commission case, including that she used $14,000 of the charity s money to pay her personal lawyer and gave her boyfriend a $130,000 a year job. Fair work Commissioner Jennifer Hunt said she felt compelled to lay bare all the charity founder s conduct, which also included awarding her boyfriend a $528,000 contract to build cabins for homeless people.
News by Vanda Carson
Premium Content  One-time Queensland Young Australian of the Year Jean Madden, who founded the Street Swags charity, has hit back at the tribunal member who slammed her as a liar and compared her to a fictional shonky lawyer as mean . Speaking exclusively to
The Courier-Mail, Ms Madden said the comments by Fair Work Commissioner Jennifer Hunt, who called her a trickster, were incredibly damaging and she was innocent of the claims of improperly using the charity s money to pay personal expenses and give her boyfriend a lucrative contract, then a well-paid job. Ms Hunt described Ms Madden as a liar who razzled, dazzled and bamboozled donors and staff at homeless sleeping-bag charity Street Swags, and said her appalling actions may amount to criminal conduct.
News by Vanda Carson
Premium Content  One-time Queensland Young Australian of the Year Jean Madden, who founded the Street Swags charity, has hit back at the tribunal member who slammed her as a liar and compared her to a fictional shonky lawyer as mean . Speaking exclusively to
The Courier-Mail, Ms Madden said the comments by Fair Work Commissioner Jennifer Hunt, who called her a trickster, were incredibly damaging and she was innocent of the claims of improperly using the charity s money to pay personal expenses and give her boyfriend a lucrative contract, then a well-paid job. Ms Hunt described Ms Madden as a liar who razzled, dazzled and bamboozled donors and staff at homeless sleeping-bag charity Street Swags, and said her appalling actions may amount to criminal conduct.