Why Shorten is beholden to the unions
The Opposition Leader’s links with powerful trade unions is cause for concern and would be disastrous for the nation should Bill Shorten ever become prime minister.
Opinion
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BILL Shorten’s union ties have, throughout his political career, been over-exploited by both the Abbott and Turnbull governments — in one sense.
While the Coalition resisted holding a royal commission into banking misconduct until it was forced on them, it readily called one into union corruption.
No doubt this was in the hope a probe into the unions would uncover dirt on the Opposition Leader during his time as head of the AWU.
And while there were damaging revelations about the deals he struck to cut workers’ pay, particularly at CleanEvent, nothing truly explosive was uncovered.
Michaelia Cash also set up an entire body, the Registered Organisations Commission, with the standing powers of a royal commission, whose first mission was an attempt to target Shorten by investigating what authority he had as AWU national secretary to give $100,000 of members’ funds to left-wing activist group GetUp!.
This was a political witch-hunt by a body that was meant to be independent. And it backfired spectacularly when Cash’s office leaked news of AFP raids on AWU offices to the media, creating a scandal that threatened her own career.
But in many other ways Shorten’s continued ties to the union movement are barely understood. The extent to which Shorten is beholden to union bosses needs scrutiny and intense exposure, particularly when you examine the list of position statements issued by the ACTU this week, on everything from overhauling the government’s policy to turn back people-smuggling boats to allowing greater militancy in workplaces.
Shorten’s ties are even a point of deep concern within his own party.
During his time at the AWU, Shorten was often at war with the hard-left CFMEU. But today, Shorten is thick as thieves with the CFMEU, the most militant and thuggish of the unions.
Thanks to this relationship, the CFMEU has grown more powerful and Shorten is, in turn, more secure in his leadership.
The strength of these ties date back to 2013, when Shorten was vying to seize the leadership of the Labor Party following the second, final downfall of Kevin Rudd.
Shorten’s rival, then and now, was and remains Anthony Albanese, who hails from the left faction but has never had a union background. While Albo has good relations with the union, he is not their man.
In 2013 the CFMEU’s national secretary Michael O’Connor wrote to Shorten telling him that before he gave the Labor MP his backing — which would come with a hefty war chest and the support of Labor MPs aligned to the union — he needed to know his position on a range of policies from climate change to IR and the Australian Building and Construction Commission. Four days after his letter was sent, Shorten replied with lengthy correspondence that met every one of the thuggish union’s demands.
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There was no subtlety around it. It was abject submission to the CFMEU in return for political backing.
Shorten wrote: “I commit to opposing the reintroduction of the ABCC by the Abbott government” and “I commit to opposing moves by the Abbott government to abolish carbon pricing and unwind reforms to address climate change”.
It goes to show how beholden Shorten is to the unions, and gives an indication of just how influential they are when it comes to determining Labor’s policy.
The unions also have a major say on who gets the privilege of entering politics.
In Victoria, a deal that would allow Shorten to move into the neighbouring seat of Fraser, created in a redistribution, from his current seat of Maribyrnong, and allowing Victorian state MP Daniel Mulino to take his old seat and enter federal politics while giving state Labor MP Jane Garrett a seat in the upper house, is being met with heavy resistance from some in the ALP.
Yet, Shorten is forcing the deal on them. Why? Because he is beholden to the CFMEU, which supports Garrett.
Shorten’s solution to this intensely messy factional battle is quite extraordinary, and it reveals the web of deals that embroils him.
He wants to pass a motion at today’s ALP National Executive to give it complete control over federal preselections — taking decisions away from branch members. The motion is expected to pass.
“It’s a done deal,” one senior source told me.
But this is just an exploration of Shorten’s ties to the CFMEU.
He also enjoys the support of several other powerful unions — the HSU, the TWU, the ACTU and the Plumbers Union in Victoria.
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Many of these relationships rely on similar deals being stitched up, or pledges to get their candidates elected into either state or federal Parliament.
The result is that federal and state parliaments are stacked with those who owe their loyalty to the unions.
It also means the unions have a big say in who remains Labor leader as the unions have the power to protect Shorten from any leadership challenge by ensuring their MPs vote to back him.
The national secretary of the United Voices Union Gary Bullock, known as “Blocker”, is also understood to have also protected Shorten from any potential challenge or an uprising of MPs around the time of the last federal election.
Albanese may have had the support of two additional MPs in the 2013 leadership spill. However, owing to their union allegiance they were bound to vote for Shorten — or would put at risk their future preselections and thus entire political career.
In return, the unions do not hesitate to pull their weight on policy.
Some Labor figures are deeply concerned about the pervasive influence the unions have on policy.
One senior Labor source even claimed yesterday there have been occasions when shadow ministers have little say in a portfolio decision if it has been stitched up in a union deal.
With the rare exception of the CFMEU correspondence from 2013, the policy deals struck by Shorten are usually secret.
Given many of the unions have a sorry history of lawless and thuggish conduct, this allegiance between Shorten, should he become prime minister, and the unions is potentially disastrous for the country.