Michaelia Cash denies advance knowledge of raids on the Australian Workers Union

Michaelia Cash has denied she had advance knowledge of raids on the AWU, claiming she first became aware when watching TV.

Senator Michaelia Cash arrives at the Federal court in Melbourne.

Small and Family Business Minister Michaelia Cash has denied she had advance knowledge of raids on the Australian Workers Union, insisting she first became aware of them when watching them unfold on television.

Giving evidence in the Federal Court today, Senator Cash also denied she referred allegations to the Registered Organisations Commission about donations by the Australian Workers Union because they involved Bill Shorten.

The Federal Court trial heard this week two of Senator Cash’s staff had advance warning of the raids in 2017 and the media were tipped off by her media adviser David De Garis, who was later forced to resign.

But Senator Cash told the court today she first learned of raids when watching them unfold on television.

Senator Michaelia Cash arrives at the Federal court.

At the time she said she would have asked her staff why the raids were happening.

She said one of her advisers received a telephone call from the commission that afternoon about the raids occurring. She said the commission also rang the AWU.

Senator Cash said she believed she did not hear about the media being tipped off until the day after the raids when she was in a Senate estimates hearing,

She told the court she later became aware that her then chief of staff Ben Davies had discussions with commission executive director Chris Enright in August 2017.

She said she was not informed of the discussions at the time and only became aware when a file note of their discussions emerged during the discovery of documents for the trial.

The court heard on Thursday that Mr Davies told police that Mark Lee, then acting as a media adviser to the commission, tipped him off about the raids.

Mr Lee had been due to start work as a senior media adviser to Senator Cash in 2017.

Senator Cash confirmed she interviewed Mr Lee over the telephone but he later decided not to take on the job after the controversy over the raids erupted

Senator Cash said she made the referrals to the commission in 2017 about the AWU donations because she had been serious allegations made about a breach of union rules.

She said she wrote two letters of referral to the commission about the allegations as she understood she could not legally direct it to investigate the claims.

She said the involvement of Mr Shorten, who led the union at the time of the donation, was not of interest to her ‘from a ministerial perspective’.

Under questioning from the AWU lawyer about her interest in Mr Shorten’s involvement, she said: ‘I am a politician. It would have been of potential interest to me as a politician.’

Senator Cash will continue her evidence this afternoon.