Bill Shorten unions royal commission: Live
Bill Shorten has denied using his position as AWU national secretary to his own advantage at today’s royal commission.
Bill Shorten failed to declare a donation from a labour hire company that funded his campaign director for the 2007 federal election, but denies gaining any personal advantage from the deal, the unions royal commission has heard.
The Labor leader today denied claims he used his position as national secretary of the Australian Workers Union to his own advantage, as he sought to win the Victorian federal seat of Maribyrnong.
The former union boss revealed to the unions inquiry he had only declared a $40,000 donation from labour-hire company Unibilt, made in 2007, on Monday.
“I have discovered there was an incomplete form sent to the ALP head office and ... I take ultimate responsibility for that,” Mr Shorten told the commission.
Liberal frontbencher Sussan Ley - a former AWU member - said unions’ first duty was to workers, not politicians.
“What I want to know is that unions are looking after (workers’) interests,” she told Sky News.
Mr Shorten rejected suggestions from counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar that he had only declared the donation because he was “waiting to see whether this would emerge in the royal commission”, despite knowing about it for months.
“Excuse me, not at all,” Mr Shorten responded.
Other MPs, including Prime Minister Tony Abbott, had updated their disclosures in recent years, he said.
Mr Shorten admitted to the commission that he had signed an official declaration in early 2008 that did not mention the donation.
In late 2006 or early 2007, Mr Shorten, the-then AWU national secretary, had met Unibilt boss Ted Lockyer. The labour hire company later donated money through the AWU that was used to fund Mr Shorten’s campaign director Lance Wilson between February and November 2007.
Mr Wilson, known to Mr Shorten as a member of Young Labor, was however listed on the books of Unibilt as a “research officer”. Unibilt paid a total of $40,000, with a further $12,000 written off by the AWU.
The company was at the time negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement with the AWU.
But Mr Shorten rejected allegations he used his position to further his own political aspirations, and that the company expected something in return for paying Mr Wilson’s wages.
Mr Stoljar put to Mr Shorten: “Isn’t that a situation in which you’re using your position as national secretary to gain an advantage for yourself, namely a full-time campaign worker?” “Absolutely not ... I completely disagree with what you just said,” Mr Shorten replied.
He said discussing donations should not “cast into doubt” other transactions.
The opposition leader declined to name a woman who worked as a part-time staffer on his 2007 election campaign, saying she had asked for her privacy to be respected.
Mr Shorten was also asked about allegations that there was a deal between the AWU and event company Cleanevent that left workers worse off.
Mr Shorten had been the union organiser dealing with Cleanevent when an EBA was being negotiated in 2006.
The commission has also been investigating whether the AWU artificially inflated member numbers by charging Cleanevent $25,000 a year in membership fees.
“What motivated me was to make sure I could secure as many hours as possible for these people,” Mr Shorten said.
He could not recall if he had a beer at the Cleanevent hospitality tent during the Melbourne Cup carnival in 2006, and whether the EBA was discussed at that time.
“I don’t know if I dropped in there to have a beer. I wouldn’t put it beyond myself to drop in to have a beer,” Mr Shorten said. When asked by Mr Stoljar: “Did you discuss the EBA negotiations?” Mr Shorten replied he was professional in his negotiations.
“The sheer idea that two people in a negotiation may see each other periodically, socially, is not an indicator,” he said. The hearing resumes on Thursday
The union inquiry as it happened
4.05pm: Commissioner Heydon has adjourned the inquiry until tomorrow at 10am. The Commission heard evidence today relating to two companies the Australian Workers Union had dealings with: Cleanevent which had come to light earlier in the Inquiry and Unibilt, which was a surprise inclusion.
Shorten looked wrongfooted by questions about the fact he didn’t disclose donations from Unibilt, while the revelation that he hurriedly disclosed the donation in recent days landed like a bombshell.
Mr Shorten was also asked to confirm the AWU’s petition to the Fair Work Commission to terminate the Cleanevent deal, which made for uncomfortable viewing.
The assessment by former ACTU boss and Labor minister Greg Combet, however, who spoke for Mr Shorten after the hearing, was that the Opposition Leader acquitted himself well.
The Commissioner said at the conclusion of the inquiry: “At one stage I thought these two days of hearings would finish in less than the two days... It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen”. So Bill Shorten will be back before the inquiry tomorrow.
We’ll see you then.
4.00pm: Commissioner Dyson Heydon AC QC has taken over asking questions about Mr Shorten’s “system” as AWU boss when overseeing his officials : “You have been a cabinet minister. Cabinet Ministers have to make many decisions,” the Commissioner begins. He goes on to outline how public servants present detailed “dossiers” to ministers to base decisions on.
“Was there any regular system by which the official actually doing the negotiating had to formally identify (to you) ... what the advantages of the proposed EBA were... or was it a more informal process?” Commissioner Heydon asks.
Mr Shorten replies that that the process of overseeing union officials was not as “rigorous” as being a cabinet minister, but said there was a “system”.
3.58pm: Counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar has put it to Shorten that the statutory declaration given to the industrial relations commission (the independent umpire that certifies that enterprise bargaining agreements are in the public interest) supporting the Cleanevent 2004 EBA, was not completely true.
It was “quite carefully crafted”, Mr Stoljer said. The stat dec was not answered “fully...” he said.
Mr Shorten agreed that it was not. However, he said he couldn’t “second guess all the processes”. He said his job was “to make sure people were getting pay raises and there are clearly pay rises in this agreement.”
“I rely on the advice of my officials in terms of what the agreements contain and ... the workforce here voted for the agreement,” he said.
3.51pm: If we keep the tennis analogy going (earlier we suggested Counsel Assisting Jeremy Stoljar won the first set against Bill Shorten 6-3), then Stoljar has won the second set 7-5 with Shorten’s admission that he did not know workers were underpaid in the Cleanevent deal, John Lyons writes. Shorten now has to play a blinder for the last 15 minutes today and for his re-appearance tomorrow (he’ll be back in the morning) to win.
3.29pm: Shorten says he’s “frustrated” by information revealed in an internal Cleanevent memo showing cleaners were being underpaid under the AWU agreement. He suggests he was kept in the dark by Cleanevent.
“I’’m quite frustrated when I read this that I don’t believe I was treated with ... openness by parts of the company,” he says. “There are revelations in this document that I was unaware of until late last week (when shown this by lawyers)”.
3.11pm: What we know so far: counsel assisting the commission has shown Mr Shorten a letter showing the Labor leader waited until a few days ago to declare over $40,000 in campaign donations for the 2007 election campaign, when he was moving from being boss of the AWU to becoming a federal MP.
The money relates to the services of Lance Wilson, a former adviser to Mr Shorten whose salary was paid by labour hire company Unibilt, but siphoned through the AWU.
Mr Shorten has denied that he was waiting to see if the issue would come up before the inquiry before filing the return.
Hey @KKeneally why are you pretending this is about a late donation declaration? Why no curiosity about what went on?
— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) July 8, 2015
3.10pm: Shorten has asked for a five minute break.
3.05pm: The concept of so-called “paid education leave” arises: Shorten gives an explanation of the levies, which he apparently discussed with Cleanevent boss, Craig Lovett.
Stoljer asks him: “Paid education leave is that something you were propounding at the time?”
Shorten responds: “...I have a personal conviction that the future of workplace relations is all about having better educated and skilled workforce ....”
Asked if Cleanevent ultimately handed over paid education leave levies, Shorten responds: “I’m not sure they were as convinced by my logic as I was.”
3.04pm: Shorten is steadying his performance after some rocky periods. He’s back onto his desired script in terms of his raison d’etre being to look after workers, citing Gough Whitlam’s commitment to workers by setting up the Trade Union Training Authority. Shorten has not performed well for most of the day but appears to have worked out the right groove to be in for a Royal Commission and is slowly clawing back ground.
AWU completely in the bosses' pockets. In other breaking news, sky is blue. #turc
— Jon Piccini (@JonPiccini) July 8, 2015
12.48pm: Now we are talking Cleanevent rates, focusing on the public holiday rates and event rates for casuals under the award.
Shorten says in the real world everyone was not getting the “Rolls Royce rates” that Mr Stoljar is asserting:
Shorten: “The 2015 arrangement, which has been the cause of the Union seeking to undo the 2006 agreement, it is a perfectly legitimate application by the Union.
“The 2006 agreement, as i can see on its face, was never designed to last 9 years.
“If you and I, in 2004 or 2005, were to go out to a fairground or a dog track or a race track and find everyone there receiving double time and a half plus in casual loading, to me is fanciful in the real world.
“Whilst I understand the theoretical comparison you are making and I’d also submit that it would be great - it would be great if everyone was getting the Rolls Royce rates that you are asserting but I have to say in the real world that evidence isn’t there.”
Shorten has agreed thousands of employees of cleaning company Cleanevent would have been “vastly better off” under the legal award than under the terms of a controversial agreement brokered by AWU Victoria in 2006, when he was state secretary, writes Anthony Klan. You can read Anthony’s full report here: Staff ‘better off’ under award
"The company knew, the AWU knew, I certainly knew." @billshortenmp What about the workers Bill? #TURC
— Ross Cameron (@RossCameron4) July 8, 2015
2.45pm: All this to-ng and fro-ing between Cleanevent and Unibilt probably has you confused over the issues at stake.
As far as Cleanevent is concerned, The Australian revealed today that the reduction of employee conditions under a 1998 enterprise agreement signed by Mr Shorten’s AWU Victoria and Cleanevent cost 5000-odd workers as much as $400 million, substantially more than previously thought. You can read that story here: Deal cost cleaning staff $400m
2.41pm: The Commissioner offers Mr Shorten the opportunity to take a short break to counter witness fatigue. “Tt is a long day, just say so,” he says.
Shorten declines the offer.
2.39pm: Shorten says he has no doubt that Unions “contribute staff (to ALP campaigns), to campaign for union-aligned goals.”
2.37pm: ....And now we’re back to Cleanevent: counsel assisting the commission seems to be following a strategy of jumping between the two companies..
2.36pm: You can see the text of the letter from Bill Shorten declaring the donations in this Tweet.
#TURCShorten Text of letter from Shorten declaring donations. #auspol pic.twitter.com/N1fUXqVzX0
— Paul Osborne AAP (@osbornep) July 8, 2015
2.34pm: Shorten is refusing to admit any wrong doing over incomplete disclosures regarding donations.
“I acknowledge that we made an incomplete disclosure in terms of the document but it is not unusual for members of parliament on both sides of politics to file these individual candidate returns and then give all the information to the head office of the political party for them to send in the information,” he says.
Shorten says when you realise a disclosure is incomplete you update it, which is what they have done.
2.32pm: Counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar has turned up the heat - suggesting to Mr Shorten that he only disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission that the services of his campaign director Lance Wilson had been “donated” by a company, Unibilt, once he knew the Royal Commission was onto it. Shorten on the back foot, John Lyons writes.
2.24pm: Shorten is asked why he only recently declared to the AEC $40,000 of donations from Unibilt although he knew months ago that the campaign disclosure was incomplete..
Mr Stoljar asks Shorten what prompted him to actually make the disclosure on July 6 this year, when he had known about it for some months..
He said he was waiting on information, including group certificates from the campaign support person and group certificates from Mr Wilson, as well as copies of Union invoices.
Stoljar: “But you’ve told me that you’d known about this problem for months and yet you only have disclosed it on July 6 2015. Why not try and get information from Mr Wilson a bit earlier?”
Shorten: “Well, I wanted to make sure we got the disclosure right... I wanted to make sure that when we finished this matter, it could be as complete as it possibly could and that’s what we’ve done.”
2.18pm: If Bill Shorten had been “relishing” his appearance before today’s Royal Commission, as he claimed, that relish disappeared very quickly after proceedings began, John Lyons writes.
Less than ten minutes after Mr Shorten took the oath, counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar, SC, said he would like to refer to “a bundle of documents”.
It soon became clear that there had been frantic activity behind the scenes on Mr Shorten’s side.
He revealed to the commission that he had instructed the ALP to amend his declaration of donations to the Australian Electoral Commission for his campaign in 2007 to win the federal seat of Maribyrnong.
This was a reverse-ambush which caught Mr Stoljar by surprise – he wanted to know when Mr Shorten had done this.
“Within the last 144 hours,” Mr Shorten replied, acknowledging that he did this when he received documents from the Royal Commission.
2.08pm: Back from lunch and it’s straight back into the Unibilt affair.
The media are focusing on the timing of disclosure of the 40k to the AEC, but #turc will focus on the lack of disclosure to the workers.
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
1.35pm: The commission will resume in about half an hour. Mr Shorten has done better in the second session, John Lyons writes. To keep the tennis metaphor going, he lost the first set 6-3 but it’s 5-all in the second set. He did better when coming on the attack rather than letting Mr Stoljar dictate the game. In the second session there was less nervousness and a bit more insistence that he’s only ever been about protecting the interests of union members.
1.06pm: The commission has adjourned for lunch. They will resume at 2.05pm. The last minutes before the break were spent picking over a submission from the AWU to the Fair Work Commission applying to terminate the Cleanevent deal. It would make uncomfortable reading for the AWU and its representatives as it clearly states the purpose of the Cleanevent deal was to “deny employees particularly casual employees, access to penalty rates”.
On the 2006 EBA still being in force in 2015, Shorten says: “I don't imagine it was ever designed to last for nine years”
@KKeneally It's a shame you think this is about politics, this is about people being protected from their boss bribing their union rep.
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
1.01pm: Stoljar asks Shorten if he can accept the proposition that “In June 2015, causal employees would be vastly better off under the award than continuing to be under the 2006 agreement”.
Shorten; “Aha, but ...I’ve indicated I’ve had no involvement with updating those rates since 2006. So what you’re effectively doing Mr Stoljar is you are saying, look at this - which I haven’t had anything to do with since I finished with the union - and then judging me in hindsight when I’m well beyond the union.”
Stoljar: “I’m not judging anybody Mr Shorten ... I’m just taking this as a starting point. In June 2015, workers would be vastly better off under the award than under the continued 2006 agreement?”
Shorten: “Yes.”
12.59pm: Mr Shorten rejects the suggestion he had forced workers to join the AWU by putting in place an arrangement by which they had to tick a box on job application forms to opt out of union membership.
Stoljar: “Are you able to see whether or not there was ever an arrangement in place whereby employees had to tick a box on job application forms to opt out of union membership if they wished to do so?
Shorten: “I would need to see the form to which you’re referring.
Stoljar: “I’m asking you whether from your experience working as a Cleanevent organiser from 1996 you were able to say whether at any stage in your experience there was an arrangement of that kind?
Shorten: “I might well have aspired to an opt-out arrangement, but I honestly don’t know and I’d have to see the membership forms.”
Stoljar: From 2010 there was a side deal pursuant to which Cleanevent paid about $25,000 a year to the AWU. Did you have any knowledge or discussion about that during your time at the AWU?
Shorten: No.
Stoljar: Was there any side deal or arrangement like that negotiated between you and Cleanevent while you were at the AWU?
Shorten: No.
Stoljar: When did you become aware of the side deal, when I call it that, I mean the arrangement pursuant to which $25,000 a year was paid from 2010?
Shorten: Only in very recent times.
12.50m: Now we are onto Cleanevent union membership. The commission has also been investigating whether the AWU artificially inflated member numbers by charging Cleanevent $25,000 a year in membership fees.
Counsel asks about the large number of Cleanevent members who were on the AWU Victoria roll.
Stoljar: “How did employees of Cleanevent, casual or otherwise, become members of the AWU?”
Shorten: “I believe that members at Cleanevent would have been enrolled in the same way which we did it everywhere else and that policy was that we would provided membership forms when people started work. Alternatively, where the employer was neutral and didn’t really want to encourage union membership, our delegate would hand out forms to new starters.”
He adds: “What I can promise you, Mr Stoljar, Is I wasn’t forcing people to be in the union”
He is shown a document titled “Number of Cleanevent employees listed on the AWU Vic Membership register at 31 December 2006,” and asked:
Stoljar: “Do these figures look about right to you? Do you think there were that many members?”
Shorten: “I’d need to see a bit more information.”
He goes on to explain that Cleanevent put on more staff during big events, the Commonwealth Games, Cox plate and the like.
12.42pm: Back to that internal email in which he was copied. Asked why he can’t speak to the email, Shorten answers: “I can’t speak to the correspondence that each individual employee of the AWU sends. But what I can speak to is the approach which I took in my dealings with Cleanevent.
“A lot of these people live pay packet to pay packet.
“A lot of people who work in that industry even today don’t even get paid properly.
“What motivated me was to secure as many hours as possible for these people working at this company and put a floor, I mean a F-L-O-O-R in terms of how this industry could be organised and this company. That’s what’s motivating me, so I can’t speak to individual correspondence as you can appreciate but that’s what drives me.”
12.35pm: Bill Shorten temporarily loses his composure when asked by counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar who invited him into the Birdcage VIP-area at Melbourne races on Derby Day in 2006. “It’s my personal business,” Mr Shorten snapped back, petulantly. Mr Stoljar was trying to find out whether Mr Shorten went to a marquee hosted by Cleanevent and discussed business.
By losing his cool Mr Shorten would have been forgetting the coaching of his legal and political team - always speak calmly and keep your cool. For a Royal Commission, think Philip Ruddock and monotone and not Paul Keating and flourish.
Stoljar: “Did you drop in on the Cleanevent marquee in the birdcage?”
Shorten: “First of all, I do not know if I turned up to have a beer. If I was doing so I would have been as interested in about what is going to win race five.
“In terms of my negotiations I can assure you I am most professional in the way I do it.
“The sheer idea that two people in a negotiation may see each other periodically socially is not an indicator.”
"I wouldn't put it beyond myself to drop in to have a beer" - #turc quote T-shirts coming right up.
— James Jeffrey (@James_Jeffrey) July 8, 2015
12.26pm: The inquiry is shown an internal email from Blandthorn to Ivan Dalla Costa from Cleanevent on October 20 2006. Among other “points to note”, Blandthorn writes: “I have spoken to the hierarchy of the AWU and they can’t afford to trade core award conditions at the moment, because we can’t afford other unions attacking us.”
Bill Shorten is cc’d in the email, as are Cesar Melhem, Sarah Hodgers and Jonathan Kirkwood.
Counsel: “Did you say that to Blandthorn?”
Shorten: “No, I wouldn’t have put it that way and I wouldn’t have thought that either.”
Then we get another industrial relations history lesson from Bill Shorten.
12.24pm: Classic quote from Shorten: “When it comes to enterprise bargaining you’ve got to be prepared to negotiate”
12.11pm: Mr Shorten is being asked about his dealings with Cleanevent: the Labor leader was the union organiser dealing with Cleanevent when an EBA was being negotiated in 2006. We’re getting the first mention of Paul Howes, Shorten’s successor as AWU national secretary who has not yet been called to give oral evidence. An email to Garry Ryan from John-Paul Blandthorn, an organiser at AWU on August 30 2006, reads: “Both Bill and Paul (Howse) have asked me to co-ordinate a national approach to Cleanevent.”
Shorten says he recalls that Blandthorn was the organiser who did a fair bit of work with Cleanevent.
Labor spin won't cut it. Declaration 8 years later, days out from #turc is not merely a "late" declaration.. https://t.co/GUANZdNYEV
— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) July 8, 2015
12.07pm: Bill Shorten’s first appearance in the witness box of the Royal Commission into trade unions has not started well, writes Dennis Shanahan.
The Opposition Leader’s demeanour has been calm and he keeps smiling a lot but within two hours of stepping into the box he’s admitted that the Royal Commission has uncovered a failure to report to the Australian Electoral Commission donations from a building developer.
You can read his full report here: Things have not started well
12.06pm: We’re back in full swing, and moving on to Cleanevent.
11.40am: The Union Royal Commision has adjourned for half an hour. It will resume at 12.05pm AEST.
11.34am:Elizabeth Colman wraps the morning’s proceedings for us here: Shorten campaign donations probed
Bill Shorten has been forced to answer questions about donations to his 2007 election campaign by labour hire company Unibilt in the trade unions Royal Commission today.
Jeremy Stoljar, counsel assisting the Commission, told the hearing that Lance Wilson, a researcher at Unibilt, was hired as the Australian Workers Union and the company were beginning negotiations on an enterprise bargaining agreement in 2007. Mr Wilson’s wages were initially paid by Unibilt in 2007, the year Mr Shorten entered parliament.
Counsel went on to suggest the AWU over-invoiced Unibilt for the services of Mr Wilson in an invoice sent to the company in May 2007 for 91.2 hours of work by the staffer that month.
Mr Stoljer told the Commission: “Lance Wilson had not completed 91.2 hours for the AWU had he... The invoice didn’t truly and accurately reflect what was happening”.
Mr Shorten replied: “I can assure you that Mr Wilson was working for me and he was putting in plenty of hours. In terms of the text of this invoice, it really is for other people to explain because I didn’t issue it.”
He added: “When you’re the candidate you don’t do all of the paperwork..I didn’t draft the invoice.
“I can’t speak to every invoice issued by the union.”
Mr Shorten was also moved to defend the subsequent EBA agreed with Unibilt that was executed by the Victorian branch after he had moved to the position of national secretary.
“These are good industrial conditions,” he said.
However Mr Shorten added: “I make this point... The Unibilt negotiations were done by the Victorian branch, I no longer have a line of sight with to the Victorian branch and this is certainly one ... you’ve got your organisers who do the bargaining.”
Dealings between the AWU and the managing director of Unibilt, Ted Lockyer, were aired at previous Commission hearings, during evidence given by Cesar Melhem, who succeeded Mr Shorten as the union’s Victorian secretary.
Mr Melhem, now a Victorian MP, was forced to stand down from his position as whip over allegations he made sweetheart deals with another employer, Cleanevent, to the detriment of workers and AWU members.
Asked about Unibilt at a Commission hearing last September, Mr Melhem said: “I’ve asked them to do some work on behalf of Industry 2020...They’re doing analysis on various AWU members’ voting patterns.”
Asked about Mr Wilson’s hiring today, Mr Shorten said: “He seemed like a good cut of a fellow, young, and new but you know enthusiastic and you’ve got to get a start somewhere”.
Mr Stoljer asked: “Did you tell him that the company as going to be paying his wages?”
Mr Shorten replied: “Maybe not initially. I had to ... have had a think about where can I find the resources…. Mr Lockyer was good enough to offer the opportunity.”
Throughout the questioning there were no big objections or interjections from Shorten’s barristers Allan Myers AO QC or Neil Clelland QC during Stoljar’s questioning.
Regardless of what happens to Shorten, companies should be prosecuted for financially transacting with unions. Change the laws, please.#turc
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
11.33am: Mr Shorten and his lawyers had notice of what was coming, which precipitated the last minute filing this week of AEC documents. Mr Shorten told the Commission he sought legal advice and decided to file the returns “once I’d seen all the Royal Commission documents”.
11.32am: Mr Stoljar told the commission the total amount paid by Unibilt came to $40,000 with a further $12,000 written off by the AWU. Things aren’t looking any better for Shorten, who concedes the “donation” - $40,000-odd that Unibilt supplied to the AWU to acquire Lance Wilson’s services - was declared to the AEC only days ago.
Counsel: “Your proposition as I understand it, from your evidence this morning is that the $40,000-odd that Unibilt supplied to acquire Lance Wilson’s services was some form of donation. Did you declare that to the AEC, for example?”
Shorten: “Well, it’s come to my attention that the declaration hasn’t been made until very recently.”
Counsel: “Well, when you say very recently, what do you mean by that?”
Shorten: “In the last few days.”
11.30am: If this was tonight’s Wimbledon, Jeremy Stoljar SC has just taken the first set off Bill Shorten 6-3, but no rackets thrown or referees abused - yet, writes John Lyons. If this was tonight’s State of Origin, we’re 15 minutes into the first half and Stoljar is up 8-3. And if this was tonight’s cricket, Stoljar has taken 3 wickets for 68 and the ball is swinging all over the place.
11.28am: Shorten: “I think the fact that I was running for parliament amongst AWU members and the AWU was supporting me was possibly as well known as Eddie Maquire is the president of Collingwood.”
11.26am: In case you need to be reminded why Bill Shorten is in front of the unions inquiry, you can read the questions he needs to answer here: Ten questions for Bill to answer
11.21am: Mr Shorten is asked about an invoice dated 31 May 2007 to Unibilt from the AWU, for work completed by Lance Wilson May 2007, quoting 91.2 hours @ $34.90.
Shorten: “I can’t speak to every invoice issued by the union, especially from parts of the union that I’m not in charge of. This invoice is post my time as Victorian Secretary. In terms of the text of this invoice, it really is for other people to explain because I didn’t issue it.”
He adds: “I am not in there daily drafting the ledgers checking accounts crossing every T and dotting every I on every document that the union sends.”
Counsel: “Can you offer any explanation as to why the AWU was sending invoices that didn’t truly accurate reflect what was happening?”
Shorten: “You’ll have to ask the people in the AWU who drafted that invoice and why they did that...”
Commissioner Heydon appears to need headache pills. #turc
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
11.18am: It’s not Cleanevent, it’s not Winslow but the question of invoices that seem to be undoing Mr Shorten today.
11.15am: Asked whether Unibilt sought favours in exchange for providing the campaign director, Mr Shorten said: “Not to my knowledge at all.” “Isn’t that a situation in which you’re using your position as national secretary to gain an advantage for yourself, namely a full-time campaign worker?” Mr Stoljar asked.
“Absolutely not,” Mr Shorten said.
“The idea that somehow having a discussion with an employer on two different topics, even if not at the same time, and somehow that it is untoward to raise money for election campaigns and do anything else, to me what that does is that assumes that whenever there is a donation in our electoral system, by anyone, that all other relationships and transactions must immediately be cast into doubt.
“That is not right.”
11.11am: It’s just been revealed Unibilt is spelled without the ‘u’. This is somewhat fascinating as the EBAs negotiated by the union actually spelled the name of the company “Unibuilt”, causing all sorts of confusion if not among the AWU then with the reporters keeping track of this affair.
@MsGraceCollier So workers pay the unions and bosses pay the unions...but the unions campaign only for the workers? Got it. #turc
— Chris Kenny (@chriskkenny) July 8, 2015
11.10am: Dangerous territory being entered for Bill Shorten, writes John Lyons. Not only was Mr Shorten’s campaign director Lance Wilson paid by a company (labour hire company Unibilt) but now a letter has been produced showing that that payment was made through Cesar Melhem, Victorian Secretary of the AWU who replaced Mr Shorten.
Such a connection - in writing - to Mr Melhem is not good for Mr Shorten, given Mr Melhem has been the first scalp of this commission. Mr Melhem resigned as Government whip in the Victorian Upper House last month after Royal Commission evidence.
11.07am: Things are starting to fire up a bit...
Shorten: “You’ve made a pretty significant statement and I wouldn’t mind having the courtesy to finish because I completely disagree with what you’ve just said then.”
Shorten strenuously objects to the suggestion that “somehow it is untoward to raise money for election campaigns” and goes on to say passionately: “What that does is assumes that whenever there is a donation in our electoral system by anyone that all other relationship and transactions must immediately be cast into doubt. That is not right and that is not how I operated at the union.”
Next minute - Shorten is all smiles and “appreciates your (Stoljar’s) efforts”.
11.03am: More grilling on Unibuilt:
Counsel: “Did Unibuilt ask for any favours in return?”
Shorten: “From me for the donation?”
Counsel: “Yes.”
Shorten: “No.”
Counsel: “To your knowledge did Mr Lockyer expect favours in return?”
Shorten: No. I don’t know. Not to my knowledge at all.”
Counsel: “It is important for a labour hire company to have the support of the Union, correct? “
Shorten: “It can be yes.”
Now we’re getting an industrial relations lesson on what “labour hire” companies are
State Secretaries of unions report to National Secretaries of unions. #turc
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
11.02am: Things are not going well for Bill Shorten, John Lyons writes. Despite coaching by lawyers and political advisers, Mr Shorten has not been comfortable with the thrust of questioning - why was a labour hire company (Unibuilt) paying for his campaign director?
Added to this is a strange twist - why won’t he name the second campaign worker in his office?
11.00am: Elizabeth Colman recaps what we know so far: Shorten blindsided by questions
The Royal Commission’s counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar, appears to have blindsided Bill Shorten this morning with its first spate of questions about a former staffer, Lance Wilson, who was “donated” to the Opposition Leader’s election campaign by labour hire company Unibuilt .
Jeremy Stoljar, counsel assisting the Commission, told the hearing that Mr Wilson, a researcher at Unibuilt, was hired as the Australian Workers Union and Unibuilt were beginning negotiations on an enterprise bargaining agreement in 2007.
Mr Shorten entered parliament that year.
Asked about Mr Wilson’s hiring, Mr Shorten said: “He seemed like a good cut of a fellow, young, and new but you know enthusiastic and you’ve got to get a start somewhere”.
Mr Stoljer asked: “Did you tell him that the company as going to be paying his wages?”
Mr Shorten replied: “Maybe not initially. I had to ... have had a think about where can I find the resources…. Mr Lockyer was good enough to offer the opportunity.”
The subsequent EBA with Unibuilt was executed by the Victorian branch, Mr Shorten said, after he had moved to the position of national secretary.
Mr Shorten said: “I make this point... The Unibuilt negotiations were done by the Victorian branch, I no longer have a line of sight with to the Victorian branch and this is certainly one ... you’ve got your organisers who do the bargaining.”
Dealings between the AWU and the managing director of Unibuilt, Ted Lockyer, were aired at previous Commission hearings, during evidence given by Cesar Melhem, who succeeded Mr Shorten as the union’s Victorian secretary.
“I’ve asked them to do some work on behalf of Industry 2020,” Mr Melhem told the Inquiry. “They’re doing analysis on various AWU members’ voting patterns.”
Shorter Shorten - how dare you suggest we should not be allowed to ask employers for money! #turc
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
10.52am: Shorten is now being grilled over payments from Unibuilt:
Counsel: “Why did Unibuilt cease to make payments or pay Mr Wilson’s wages in due course?”
Shorten: “Because the election was held.”
Counsel: “No they ceased before that time.”
Shorten: “I think Unibuilt either directly or through invoices to the AWU for Mr Wilson were paying up to the election. Unibuilt generously made a donation which allowed me to employ a campaign director and that arrangement ceased when the Federal Election was conducted.”
10.50am: A bizarre turn of events, John Lyons writes. Bill Shorten has asked the Commission that he not name the second campaign worker in his office in 2007. Instead, Mr Shorten wrote down the name of the woman on a piece of paper which was then handed to the Commissioner, Dyson Heydon.
After some resistance from counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar, Mr Heydon ruled that for the moment it could be kept secret - but why would Mr Shorten not want to name a person who worked on his campaign?
And it poses a second question - why is the Royal Commission agreeing to suppress the name of Mr Shorten’s deputy campaign director? Surely that should be public information.
10.49am: Mr Shorten, who appears unsettled and is taking frequent sips of water, is asked about a letter dated February 19 2007, from Michael Chen to Lance Wilson titled “Letter of offer Lance Wilson”, which is offering the position of research officer with Unibuilt.
Shorten: “He was employed by Unibuilt and donated to work on my campaign.”
10.42am: Mr Shorten refuses to give the name of another part time staff member because, he says, she asked him not to.
Shorten: “Sometimes being mentioned in the Commission even in passing can embarrass people even when they’re perfectly innocent.”
Stoljar: “I’ll merely refer to this person as the mystery person for now. You had a mystery person working in your office.
Shorten does not find this as funny as everyone else.
Stoljar: “What pseudonym do you want me to use Mr Shorten?”
Shorten: “The second campaign worker.”
10.39am: Mr Shortenis shown a letter dated February 26, 2007 to the managing director of Unibuilt Ted Lockier from Lance Wilson, and signed: ‘Lance Wilson, Office of Bill Shorten.’
Shorten’s response: “Office of Bill Shorten doesn’t exist at that point. If there was an office of Bill Shorten he was it.”
10.34am: Just to clarify - Lance Wilson helped Mr Shorten with his campaign in 2007 and went on to work n his electorate and ministerial offices.
10.30am: It’s possible this line of questioning is connected to the controversial Industry 2020 fund that Mr Shorten’s one-time factional ally, former union boss Cesar Melham created.
10.29am: Shorten says he was not involved with the original negotiation between Unibuilt and the Victorian branch of the Union as he was no longer Victorian Secretary of the Union: “I’m not 100 per cent sure who would have negotiated this agreement,” he says.
He describes the realities of Union workings:
“With enterprise bargains what happens is that you’ve got your organisers who do the bargaining. If there’s a problem or a particular issue, then the secretary would get involved, but the proposition that everything was cued up in February to conclude a negotiation not due to start until August is a little more efficient than, you know, custom and practice would have had it.”
10.25am: Shorten on meeting Lance Wilson:
“I forget when I exactly first met Lance Wilson,” he says. “I wanted to meet him, I’d heard positive thing about his level of enthusiasm.”
10.21am: Just to recap; counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar has opened with a direct assault on Bill Shorten over the “bundle of documents” and the job for Shorten’s adviser Lance Wilson with labour hire company Unibuilt. If this was a cricket game, he’s bowled four of the first six balls as bouncers, John Lyons writes. Shorten taking time to get his eye in, not comfortable at all, not enjoying either the bounce or the shine on the new ball.
10.15am: So much for the focus on Cleanevent.
10.12am: We’ve heard Shorten’s first “I don’t recall that” at 10:10am.
The questions are concerned with Lance Wilson who was “donated” by Unibuilt to Shorten’s election campaign.
The questioning over Wilson and Unibuilt has gone like this:
Counsel: “Were you involved in the arrangement that seems to be contemplated by this document, namely Lance Wilson purportedly working for Unibuilt as a research officer?”
Shorten says broadly yes.
Counsel” “Who paid his wages?”
Shorten: “Unibuilt”
It appears the Commission has completely blindsided Shorten with this line of questioning.
This idea that union secretaries are not across the detail of EBA's is rubbish. They provide income and it is their core focus. #turc
— Grace Collier (@MsGraceCollier) July 8, 2015
10.11am: The inquiry is shown an unsigned job contract between Mr Lance Wilson and Unibuilt. Mr Shorten is asked if he saw this document on the date it bears — 19 Feb. 2007 — when Mr Shorten was National Secretary.
Counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar SC: “Did you see it at a time during 2006 or 2007?”
Shorten: “Not that I recall, no.”
Mr Shorten says he understands the background to it but doesn’t recall the particular draft.
10.09am: First surprise of the day, writes Elizabeth Colman: counsel grilling Mr Shorten over his adviser Lance Wilson and his involvement with Labour Hire company Unibuilt.
According to a job contract with Unibilt, Mr Wilson was known as a research officer.
“I cannot explain why that particular title is used, he was a campaign director for me,” Mr Shorten said.
10.08am: The hearing has started, with the establishment of basic facts. Counsel has said
it would like to begin asking about “a bundle of documents”.
Shorten appears anxious, John Lyons writes.
10.03am: Mr Shorten, wearing a red, tie, has just been sworn in.
9.58am: The hearing room of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption preparing for proceedings — Greg Combet, former ACTU chief, federal minister and Bill Shorten supporter, has just walked in to sit with Shorten’s legal team, John Lyons writes.
Mr Shorten arrived about 7.45am and has been with his legal team since. He’s sitting at the back next to one of his advisers, and in front of media table, waiting for Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon to enter.
9.47am: The issue at the heart of the Cleanevent matter is: “whether the AWU (Vic) inflated its membership numbers by issuing invoices for membership fees in circumstances in which there were no such members” according to counsel assisting opening statements from May.
9.42am: Former Labor minister Greg Combet has also arrived at the commission.
He didn’t make any comment as he walked into the building, where Mr Shorten is waiting to face questions about his history in the unions.
9.38am: Bill Shorten has arrived in the Hearing room. From counsel submissions, it seems the inquiry will focus all day on Cleanevent.
9.15am: Former Federal Court judge Ray Finkelstein QC — who headed Julia Gillard’s controversial inquiry into media regulation — is appearing pro bono for Bill Shorten as the Opposition Leader fronts the royal commission into trade union corruption today, Jared Owens writes.
Mr Finkelstein was admitted to the Victorian bar in 1971, took silk in 1986 and from 1992 served as Victoria’s solicitor-general under the Kirner and Kennett governments. Five years later, he was appointed to the Federal Court.
When at the Bar, Mr Finkelstein earned a reputation as one of the state’s most brilliant silks, whose lack of pretension contrasted sharply with others.
In 2011, Mr Finkelstein ruled for the first time that contempt powers could be used to censor social media, fining Allergy Pathway and its director $7500 each over posts on the company’s Facebook and Twitter pages which the court considered false and misleading.
Later in 2011, amid evidence of unethical conduct by journalists in Britain, the Gillard government commissioned Mr Finkelstein to review Australia’s media landscape.
His contentious report proposed the creation of a government-funded News Media Council with the “power to require a news media outlet to publish an apology, correction or retraction, or afford a person a right to reply”.
The proposed council would have scrutinised online news sites that get more than 15,000 hits a year — an average of about 41 hits a day — clearing the way for government-funded action against amateur bloggers who comment on news and current affairs.
Former foreign minister Bob Carr last year claimed the “disastrous” and “stupid” media regulations formulated by Labor after the Finkelstein inquiry were the catalyst for him switching allegiance to Kevin Rudd.
“The media package, and how it was adopted, has destroyed any confidence I could have in her office and instincts,” Mr Carr wrote in his diary three months before the coup that felled Ms Gillard’s prime ministership in June 2013.
“They had been dumped on the cabinet meeting — without warning — and adopted,” Mr Carr writes. “We are committed to a wholesale war with the newspapers. In that pre-election phase when we should be friends with all.”
Mr Shorten’s solicitors will be Melbourne firm Arnold Bloch Leibler, which last year donated $33,000 to the Liberal Party and $2100 to Labor.
Mr Shorten’s spokeswoman said: “Law firm Arnold Bloch Leibler and Ray Finkelstein QC are providing their services on a pro bono basis.”
Mr Finkelstein is also a keen fan of Bruce Springsteen.
Shorten arrives at inquiry
Bill Shorten has arrived at the unions royal commission hearing in Sydney, where he will
answer questions about his former role as secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union in Victoria and nationally.
GRAPHIC: Ten questions for Bill Shorten
He was driven past waiting media about 7.45am on Wednesday, ahead of his appearance later in the morning.
Jessica Rapana also contributed to this blog
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