Dyson Heydon: Lay observer would detect bias, says ACTU

Labor and the unions are divided over the future of the royal commission into trade union corruption.

Labor and the unions are divided over the future of the royal commission into trade union corruption as its head, Dyson Heydon, considers whether to stand down for bias.

The ACTU, on behalf of five unions, claimed yesterday that Mr Heydon should never have accept­ed an invitation to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser, which could be seen as “red hot in polit­ical terms”.

The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and Australian Workers Union made separate applications for Mr Heydon to stand down. Mr Heydon said yesterday he hoped to deliver his ruling by Tuesday.

ACTU secretary Dave Oliver called for Tony Abbott to shut down the commission, despite Bill Shorten saying on Thursday that the commission should continue “if they find another royal commissioner”.

“We have a differing view, and we are very clear of the position — that this royal commission needs to be shut down,” Mr Oliver said.

The commission also heard explosive claims from the CFMEU’s lawyers, withdrawn 12 minutes later, that the commission appeared­ to have doctored an email to hide evidence the Barwick lecture was a Liberal fundraiser.

A letter from the solicitor assisting the commission, tendered yesterday, noted that Mr Heydon doesn’t have a computer at the commission or his chambers, and all correspondence is through his personal assistant. Earlier in the day, counsel for the ACTU Robert Newlinds SC said: “The commission was created by the Abbott government and it has been said that it was created for purposes of hopefully damaging the Labor Party in part. People don’t speak at fundraisers of a political party unless­ they believe in the cause of that party.”

Attempting to satisfy the legal test for apprehended bias, Mr Newlinds concluded: “The fair-minded lay observer might reasonably apprehend the commissioner might not bring an impartial mind to the resolution of the issues before the commission. Had the work of the commission not been so politically charged, then perhaps an agreement to speak at a party political event during the course of a royal commission would create no real problem. But that is not the present case.”

He said the integrity of the commission’s findings could be diminished if Mr Heydon remained in his post. “If the report is to be used … to assist people to persuade our democracy to come to a new position on law, it has to have credibility, it has to be unimpeachable and it can’t be allowed to happen that people … say, ‘don’t worry about that report, that was old Mr Heydon and he was biased’.”.

The Opposition Leader said the Prime Minister should have stood down Mr Heydon so he did not have to determine if he continued in the role. “Mr Abbott should never have allowed it to come to this,” Mr Shorten said.

Social Services Minister Scott Morrison said Mr Shorten “doesn’t like the umpire’s call and he is attacking the umpire”. “You wouldn’t tolerate that on the field and you shouldn’t tolerate that in politics,” he told radio 3AW.

The commission has postponed next week’s hearings.

Additional reporting: Joe Kelly