Mystery of Sally McManus’s uni claim

The claim by Sally McManus that she led the Macquarie University student union for more than two years is in dispute.

Sally McManus in a student newspaper in 1993.

The claim by ACTU secretary Sally McManus that she headed the student union at Macquarie Uni­versity for more than two years is in dispute, with no records showing she ever held the post.

On her LinkedIn “experience” profile, Ms McManus says she was president of the student union at North Ryde, in Sydney’s northwest, from August 1991 to August 1993, for “2yrs 1 mo”.

She also told The Australian in an interview published on March 17 when she took over the Australian union movement’s top position that “at 19, she was elected student union president”.

Macquarie University records show Ms McManus was elected in August 1990 as one of 21 councillors of the Macquarie Univer­sity Students Council, and held this position until August 1991. She was not elected to the student union council in any elections in 1991, 1992, 1993 or 1994.

The chairperson, or president- equivalent, of the student union for those years was, in order, Pip Cummings, Lucy Blamey, Jamie Parker and Ian Archer-Wright.

Ms McManus yesterday declined to respond to questions from The Australian asking if she could explain her LinkedIn claim, or to say whether other details on her profile were correct.

She also declined to say whether she remained a member or supporter of the Australian Democrats throughout her time at university, or which party she joined when and if she eventually abandoned the Democrats.

An ACTU spokesman said: “She won’t be giving any res­ponses on those questions.”

On LinkedIn, Ms McManus says she attended Macquarie University from 1990 to 1994 and graduated with a “first-class honours” bachelor degree in philosophy.

In March 1994, Ms McManus was appointed a trainee organiser with the ACTU, in the same intake as Bill Shorten. She took part in a 10-month ACTU trainee program. It appears to have coincided with the final year of her degree, and when she says she earned honours.

Ms McManus will address the National Press Club today in Canberra, where she is expected to outline her policy agenda as the ACTU’s new chief after inheriting the job following the sudden resignation of Dave Oliver. She was formerly the NSW secretary of the Australian Services Union and held the honorary position of ACTU vice-president.

She is a member of the ALP, and so far in comments has tied the fate of the declining union movement to persuading Labor governments to change industrial laws to give unions more rights and curb the power of employers.

Ms McManus’s critics question whether she has a strategy to increase union membership, which has sunk to 11 per cent in the private sector, and whether her political sympathies are closer to the Greens.

This month she sparked controversy during an interview on ABC’s 7.30 program when she said she had “no problem” with people breaking “unjust” laws. She was responding to a question about the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, whose ­officials have faced courts over ­alleged thuggery and lawlessness.

Last week The Australian reported Ms McManus’s backing for the anti-Israel Boycott, ­Divestment and Sanctions campaign, in support of an inner-west Sydney local council in 2011 — contrary to ALP and union policy.

It was reported last week that Ms McManus is a former vice-president of the Search Foundation, which inherited millions of dollars from the Communist Party of Australia.

A search of Macquarie’s official student union paper, Arena, confirms Ms McManus was elected a junior councillor as a Democrat in 1990. Her running mate, Henry Long, was vice-chairman to Ms Cummings. The information is confirmed in uni orientation handbooks of the time.