Not so united at the United Workers Union; Palmer sues Australia from the Netherlands

ASC United Unions rally at Parliament House in Adelaide earlier this month. Picture: Matt Loxton

Typically, unions are supposed to protect workers from systematic bullying and harassment. Apparently not at the United Workers Unions, which is bracing for a potential class action lawsuit over exactly the type of behaviours it exists to prevent.

Margin Call has established that former UWU workers are talking to Adero Law principal Rory Markham. They’re alleging politically explosive claims of bullying and the sacking of officials who dared to complain about it, but also that the union is forcing employees to do unpaid volunteer work for the ALP come election time.

Looks like the allegations are stemming from the UWU’s West Australian branch, where long-term state secretary Carolyn Smith is regarded as one of the most powerful political figures in the state.

Consider: it’s only because the other ALP factions joined forces last year to install Roger Cook as WA Premier that UWU was prevented from getting up Amber-Jade Sanderson as their preferred candidate. And while confined for the moment to WA, there’s potential for wider damage. Adero is asking potential litigants to “consider whether there are similar concerns on a national scale”.

Markham confirmed to Margin Call on Friday that Adero had met with former UWU employees but said the firm was merely investigating the allegations and that no legal action had been lodged – yet.

Granted, it’s no stunning revelation that union officials spend plenty of time helping out the ALP. But forcing workers to stand on polling booths, in an unpaid capacity, would surely prompt outrage if the idea were promoted by the private sector.

UWU president Jo Schofield said the union was unaware of the details or allegations involved and therefore unable to “respond in a meaningful way”. “The union is committed to providing safe, supportive workplaces, and addresses issues when they arise in a fair and considered manner.”

The jig’s up for Fairwater’s Irish garden party

The party’s clearly over at what used to be the most expensive house in Australia. We speak of Fairwater, in Sydney’s Double Bay, owned for more than a century by the Fairfax family and sold in 2018 to SaaS bro Mike Cannon-Brookes and his former wife, Annie.

Readers may have heard of the Lansdowne Lunch, held annually on St Patrick’s Day. It claims to be the biggest Irish networking club in the southern hemisphere.

But och! The cream of Irish business elite, guys like Paul O’Sullivan, John O’Neill and Alan Joyce, are more likely to be spotted at the annual Ireland Funds Garden Party, a philanthropic venture that was traditionally held at Fairwater with the blessing of the late Lady Mary Fairfax, who would grace the event herself, in her wheelchair, and say hello to guests.

After she died in 2017, the tradition of turning the exclusive grounds into an ancient land of saints, scholars and sinners continued with the arrival of the Cannon-Brookeses, much to the delight of the event organisers.

Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes’ separation has put them in no mood to party. Picture: Kai Godeck

“We were extremely privileged that the new owners hosted us and gave us an incredibly warm welcome,” they wrote to guests in 2019.

The pandemic interrupted the party for one year, but it was back in 2022. “We could not be prouder that the new owners Mike and Annie Cannon-Brookes are honouring the generosity of the Late Lady Mary Fairfax AC, OBE and the sharing in the compassion she had for people less fortunate,” executive director Teresa Keating said at the time.

But now, the jig is up. It looks as though the Cannon-Brookeses’ patience may have run out with the Irish, and Margin Call is reliably informed it’s their ­separation that’s put a dampener on the festive spirit. Neither of them are in the mood for a party, apparently, and MCB declined to comment when we asked about it.

For the first time in, well, ever, the garden party has been banished from Fairwater and will instead be thrown in the staid and sensible surroundings of the Noble Dining Room at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Nothing wrong with the SCG, but it’s without a rose garden for cavorting; no manicured hedges and sweeping views of the crushed diamond waters of Sydney Harbour, as Clive James once described them.

Palmer vs everyone

Clive Palmer in Europe again – but not on a yacht this time. The Queensland billionaire is kicking off a novel legal suit in The Hague on Monday. His opponent? The Commonwealth of Australia.

Palmer is fighting for $300bn in compensation, alleging the West Australian government stopped him from building an iron ore mine in 2012 and then changed the laws in 2020 to prevent him from suing.

The case is being heard in the Permanent Court of Arbitration because Palmer transferred one of his company registrations overseas before delving into the litigation, meaning it’s being thrashed out through a prism of treaties that were drawn up to protect foreign investment. Like we said, it’s novel.

As for the Albanese government, it’s hoping to have Palmer’s case thrown out using well-established legal precedents that argue against ownership shuffling and absolute piss-taking.

Clive Palmer is taking on the Commonwealth of Australia in his latest lawsuit. Picture: Rohan Kelly

But don’t think officials aren’t taking this seriously. The commonwealth is being repped by Solicitor-General Stephen Donaghue KC and a quarrel of UK silks.

Palmer’s corner is the colourful rabble one might expect; his 12-strong team has been hunkered down in rented offices near the courthouse prepping for the hearings over the past week.

They’re headed by Palmer, who’s notorious for arcing up and representing himself in court, along with barristers George Spalton KC and Anna Kirk, plus Palmer’s wife Anna and brother-in-law George Sokolov, both of whom are down as representatives of Zeph International (the Palmer-controlled company involved in the dispute).

With them, too, is long-term Palmer counsel Kris Byrne and Michael Sophocles, who represented the big man in his defamation stalemate against former WA premier Mark McGowan.

Much riding on this, even if it does look a bit of a lark. Should Palmer succeed, Jim Chalmers will face a record budget black hole. Rest assured, the more sober belief is that that won’t be happening.

New O’Neil office exit

It’s been almost a year to the day since Housing Minister Clare O’Neil lost her chief of staff, Andrew Downes, to French arms manufacturer Thales.

Quite a big deal was made of this in the Senate. O’Neil was home affairs minister at the time of Downes’ departure, which meant his transition from parliament to the private sector looked peculiar on its face; there was no cooling-off period and he walked straight into the arms of a stakeholder firm. (O’Neil’s office said at the time that all probity processes were followed.)

Housing Minister Clare O'Neil. Picture: Martin Ollman

Well, almost 12 months to the day since, Margin Call hears of another chief of staff making for the exit out of O’Neil’s office, this time Kate Pasterfield, who succeeded Downes as chief of staff and who finishes next Friday.

Her next job? GM of government relations at Sydney Airport, another stakeholder entity from O’Neil’s former portfolio – and from which she was dumped (along with immigration minister Andrew Giles) in late July.

Pasterfield will be replaced by Julie Ligeti, chief of staff to Skills Minister Brendan O’Connor, who’s retiring from parliament.