TWU slush fund payment to super exec revealed

TWU slush fund twist embroils superannuation executive.

Former TWU state secretary Mem Suleyman.

Almost $4,500 was transferred from a Transport Workers Union slush fund to a senior superannuation executive in a transaction banking record list as paying for “office supplies”.

Commonwealth Bank statements for a fighting fund run by TWU officials show that in the midst of the fiercely contested internal union election two years ago $4,437 was transferred to Matthew Rocks.

The banking records for the account called the Transport Logistics Advocacy And Training Association Inc list the November 18, 2022, transfer to Mr Rocks as one of hundreds from the account through which more than $300,000 flowed.

Mr Rocks, according to his LinkedIn profile, was employed at the time as a national manager for superannuation services for TWUSUPER, which has 95,000 members and about $6.6bn in assets. He has since been promoted to the role of the fund’s chief growth & advocacy officer.

Mr Rocks has been approached for comment.

The Australian has been told Mr Rocks took leave from TWUSUPER to work on the TWU election campaign as a volunteer, and the $4,437 “office supplies” transfer was to reimburse him for the cost of printers, desks and chairs.

Mr Rocks is the second TWUSUPER figure to be embroiled in the scandal that has engulfed the TWU’s Victorian division, with The Australian revealing this week that the union’s NSW state secretary Richard Olsen authorised the transfer of $30,000 from a NSW fighting fund to the Victorian fund in the middle of the 2022 election.

Mr Olsen, who is a TWUSUPER director, was appointed as the “interim governance” branch secretary of the Victorian branch in the wake of its abolition. Bank statements reveal he authorised two “fast transfer” transactions for $20,000 on November 12 and $10,000 on November 13. TWUSUPER Chairman Nick Sherry, a former Labor senator, could not be reached for comment.

“The campaign transfers you reference are unrelated to the super fund so it’s not really for us to comment on,” a TWUSUPER spokesperson said.

“Mr Rocks was undertaking volunteer work during his own leave from the super fund and any reimbursements are a matter for him and the campaign.”

Some transactions from the fighting fund have raised eyebrows among former TWU officials who lost their jobs when the union’s national leadership abolished the Victorian branch in the wake of an internal inquiry that last month delivered damning findings about the culture and processes around the suspension of state secretary and ALP powerbroker Mem Suleyman.

Commonwealth Bank statements also show three transfers totalling $3,034 to Santino Raftelis. The bank records list a $2,318 payment on November 18, 2022, as “reimbursement SMS” to Mr Raftelis, who has worked as a legal officer at the TWU and for the state Labor government, including a stint as an adviser to Police Minister Anthony Carbines. The bank records list a payment of $236 on December 14, 2022, and $480 on August 11, 2023. Mr Raftelis has been approached for comment.

Commonwealth Bank records also list a “transfer to ICU ... Mem121222” for $10,725 on December 31, 2022. The bank statements list three “cash” deposits totalling $275,000 made in late 2022 — $100,000 on November 4, $100,000 on December 12 and $75,000 on December 29 — into the Transport Logistics Advocacy And Training Association Inc account.