Shorten donated AWU funds to his own campaign

Bill Shorten was handed the power to give a $25,000 donation of union money to his own election campaign in 2007.

Bill Shorten had no comment on whether he recalled authorising $25,000 of AWU money to go towards his 2007 campaign. Picture: Gary Ramage

Bill Shorten was handed the power to give a $25,000 donation of union money to his own election campaign in 2007, when the national executive of the Australian Workers Union left funding requests from Labor candidates up to him.

The AWU’s national executive passed a resolution on November 23, 2006, declaring that “the reques­t for donations and assistance from candidates for the next federal election be left in the hands of the national secretary”.

Mr Shorten was the AWU’s national secretary and was making his first run for parliament as the Labor-endorsed candidate for the safe federal seat of Maribyr­nong in Melbourne’s northwest.

He received a $25,000 dona­tion from the AWU to help his campaign. The $25,000 payment surfaced two years ago, when it was revealed the AWU’s national office had made a late, amended Australian Elec­toral Commission filing of the dona­tion in January 2009 — ­almost 14 months after the ­November 2007 election.

But it has remained unclear how the payment came to be made. AWU officials have stayed silent on whether any formal AWU resolution was made on union spending in Maribyrnong or other seats.

Labor’s federal leader has been referred for investigation over a $100,000 donatio­n of union funds he made to GetUp! as AWU national secret­ary, following a report in The Weekend Australian and a referra­l to the Registered Organisations Commission this week by Employment Minister Michaelia Cash. As well as donating union funds, Mr Shorten was one of GetUp!’s founding directors.

His apparent authorising of union spending on his own campaign, and those of at least two other Labor candidates, could also be drawn into the ROC investigation. Under the AWU’s rule 57, every loan, grant or donation of more than $1000 that the union makes must be approved by the AWU’s national executive. There is no provision for general approvals, or approvals by individuals such as the national secretary.

The November 2006 resolu­tion appears to have left Mr Shorten free to handle his own $25,000 AWU donation for Maribyrnong, made in September 2007.

In the same month — according to the AWU’s late AEC disclosure — the union also made donations to two other Labor candidates; $25,000 for Petrie in Queensland, and $20,000 for Stirling in Western Australia.

The AWU national executive resolution in November 2006 putting donation requests in Mr Shorten’s hands followed a report on the matter that was ­delivered by Bill Ludwig, then the AWU’s nationa­l president, Queensland branch secretary and Mr Shorten’s political mentor.

The resolution was moved by Mick Eagles, the president of Mr Shorten’s Victorian AWU branch, and seconded by Cesar Melhem, Mr Shorten’s recently elected successor in his other role as Victorian AWU branch secretary.

Mr Shorten won endorsement as ALP candidate for Maribyrnong in February 2006 after a tussle with sitting MP Bob Sercombe. His subsequent campaign came to be known by acerbic Labor insiders as “the black hole of Maribyr­nong” because of the large funds and resources devoted to a safe seat that possibly did not need it.

While he stepped down as Victorian branch secretary, Mr Shorten remained in his paid union job as AWU national secretary until the federal election. He resigned two days after the election, on ­November 26, 2007.

The funding of Mr Shorten’s first election campaign has also attracte­d attention over the revelation that a $40,000 donation was declared to the AEC only shortly before he was due to give evidence to the royal commission into union corruption in July 2015. At the time, Mr Shorten denied he was waiting to see if the $40,000 would emerge in commission proceedings.

Commission counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar SC said labour-hire firm Unibuilt had provided $40,000 for the services of Lance Wilson to serve as Mr Shorten’s campaign director between February and November 2007. The AWU had invoiced Unibuilt for a further $12,000 that was not paid.

In royal commission evidence, Mr Shorten said he could not ­explain why Mr Wilson was ­described in documents as a ­“research officer for Unibuilt” when “he was a campaign resource and campaign director for me”.

In further investigations, the commission found $19,649 was also paid by the national office betwee­n January and November 2007 to Fiona Ward, who had a contract for part-time work as a union campaign officer. Ms Ward told the commission she was offered the job by Mr Shorten, who had indic­ated she would work on the “Labor for Maribyr­nong” campaign while still a union employee.

Further allegations of conflict of interest emerged in June when Senator Cash asked why $27,500 from AustralianSuper, of which Mr Shorten was a board member, was handed to the AWU in 2006-07 and listed as a donation. She said the amount was similar to the AWU’s $25,000 payment to Mr Shorten’s 2007 campaign.

AustralianSuper said the payment was a sponsorship arrangement for an AWU conference, not a donation, and a spokesman for Mr Shorten rejected suggestions of a conflict of interest.

On Monday, Senator Cash suggested in parliament that Mr Shorten could face similar accusations to former Labor MP and Health Services Union secretary Craig Thomson over unauthorised union spending. Many accus­ations against Mr Thomson were based on claims he used union cash for unauthorised spending to win the seat of Dobell in 2007.

The Australian asked Mr Shorten’s office whether he recalled authorising the $25,000 AWU donation, what criteria he used and whether there was a ­precedent.

Mr Shorten did not ­respond.