In April 2018, when the Hayne royal commission’s public hearings were in full swing, Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus wrote to the chief executives of union-backed industry super funds to demand they review their commercial ties to financial institutions.

“The retirement savings of working people should not be used to prop organisations that house rotten, corrupt and unethical behaviours like those revealed over the past weeks at the banking royal commission,” she thundered, declaring herself appalled by the “outrageous and illegal behaviour” revealed in the hearings.