Labor: Shorten and Thiess John Holland claims part of grand smear

Bill Shorten will get to explain his role in a number of sweetheart union deals at a fast-tracked inquiry.

The recent AWU allegations ‘aren’t just manufactured by someone who hates Bill Shorten,’ says Liberal senator Zed Seselja. Picture: Gary Ramage

Bill Shorten will face repeated grillings at the trade union royal commission, after the Opposition Leader asked to be called urgently amid intensifying political pressure over his past dealings at the Australian Workers Union.

Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon this afternoon announced Mr Shorten’s first appearance before his inquiry would occur on Wednesday July 8, where he will be questioned only by counsel assisting the commission.

“The Commission’s preference had been to address all matters concerning Mr Shorten in one sitting. However, given Mr Shorten’s request to bring his examination forward by several months, this will now not be possible,” the commission said in a statement.

“Any person affected by Mr Shorten’s evidence will be able to apply for authorisation to cross examine him at a later date.

“The hearing will be pursuant to Practice Direction 1, which means Mr Shorten will initially only be examined by Counsel Assisting.”

A leading business figure came to his defence today.

Tony Shepherd says a workplace agreement he negotiated in 2005 to build the $2.5 billion EastLink road project in Melbourne delivered workers one of the highest rates of pay for any urban construction project and finished the project ahead of schedule. “It was one of the best projects I have ever been involved in,” he said.

Mr Shepherd, a former Business Council of Australia president and chairman of the Abbott government’s audit commission, was at the time chairman of Connect East that subcontracted Thiess John Holland.

It has been alleged the Shorten-led Australian Workers Union received more than $211,000 from the company after the workplace deal was finalised.

Documents lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission show Thiess John Holland paid the money in donations and “other receipts” in 2006 and 2007.

A Labor source said it was common for companies to make payments for things like occupational health and safety training and trade training.

Mr Shepherd, who continues to advise the government on business, said it was “great agreement” that saw the workers “paid record rates for an urban construction project, gave the employer a lot more flexibility regarding rostering and what have you”.

“We got much, much better productivity and it was delivered five months ahead of schedule.” Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said it was clear the opposition leader had questions to answer before his scheduled appearance at the royal commission.

Labor frontbencher Richard Marles described the Eastlink agreement as impeccable.

“This was an agreement where everyone won,” he told reporters in Canberra.

Labor MP Terri Butler, a lawyer, backed Mr Shorten’s right to remain silent until he appeared before the commission.

It was a “silly proposition” to say someone should attend as a witness at something and then make a number of statements in advance of attending as a witness, she said.

“It just doesn’t happen.”

Shorten request to front union inquiry early

Bill Shorten has asked the trade union royal commission to urgently bring forward his evidence, amid intensifying political pressure over his dealings as an official of the Australian Workers Union.

The Opposition Leader, who says he will cooperate fully with the commission, had been due to appear in August or September but now wants to give his evidence in July.

In a letter to the royal commission dated today, the politician’s lawyer also sought “immediate access to all the documents that concern Mr Shorten” held by the commission.

“Without waiving Mr Shorten’s legal professional privilege, Mr Shorten has been advised by me not to answer questions or comment on the issues that may be the subject of his appearance before the Commission,” solicitor Leon Zwier, of Arnold Bloch Leibler, writes.

“Mr Shorten has therefore instructed me to write to you to request that the Commission bring forward the date of his proposed appearance from August/September to July when the Parliament is in winter recess.

“Mr Shorten desires to bring forward the date of his appearance so that he may address all issues of interest to the Commission at the earliest mutually convenient time.

“Can you please provide me with immediate access to all documents that concern Mr Shorten.

“I await your speedy reply.”

Shorten in union for ‘own ambition’

Allegations that Bill Shorten’s union received nearly $300,000 from a construction company, Thiess John Holland, after surrendering workers’ conditions are part of “a grand smear” that should be dealt with at the royal commission, Labor frontbenchers say.

The new allegations surfaced as The Australian separately revealed a global chemical manufacturer, Huntsman, paid the Australian Workers Union in Victoria to fund an “outsourced” employee whose role included “stopping trouble” and helping the company close down a factory without causing industrial problems.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said the Opposition Leader “obviously has some questions to answer” about deals struck during his tenure as AWU Victorian secretary and national secretary before entering parliament in 2007 and he was “sure that will have to be done in the not-too-distant future”.

Liberal senator Zed Seselja said the recent spate of allegations relating to the AWU “aren’t just manufactured by someone who hates Bill Shorten” and there remain “serious questions” for the Opposition Leader to answer.

“At the heart of all of these claims … is that they were not going in to bat for workers, but they were actually going in to bat for their own political ambitions and their numbers within the Labor Party,” the ACT senator told Sky News.

Mr Dreyfus, the opposition legal affairs spokesman, said Mr Shorten had “said all along that he’s happy to cooperate” with the ongoing royal commission into trade union governance and corruption.

“The royal commission’s got some specific matters that they want to ask him questions about and I think that should be left to the royal commission,” Mr Dreyfus told ABC Radio.

“The government of course wants to use this politically motivated royal commission for the purpose for which it was set up, spending $80 million of Australian taxpayers’ money to pursue political opponents.”

Mr Dreyfus said he knew “absolutely” there was nothing untoward in Mr Shorten’s industrial past, and defended the Opposition Leader amid his personal approval plummeting to a record low in Newspoll.

“Bill Shorten has done an extraordinary job of unifying the federal opposition, unifying the Labor movement and we are in a competitive position. And if you compare that with the performance of some past opposition leaders, particularly after a severe election loss, I think he’s done a fantastic job,” Mr Dreyfus said.

“I know that Bill Shorten has spent his working life looking after the interests of working people and he’s still looking after the interests of working people in his role as Leader of the Opposition.”

Fairfax Media reports Thiess John Holland gave Bill Shorten’s Australian Workers Union more than $211,000 shortly after he negotiated a controversial wages deal for Melbourne’s EastLink in 2005 as an acknowledgment of the flexibility of the deal.

Documents lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission show Thiess John Holland paid the money in donations and “other receipts” in 2006 and 2007.

The deal, which the Institute of Public Affairs calculated saved the builders as much as $100 million, was hugely favourable to the builder, allowing it to effectively work around the clock by reducing conditions around rostering and weekend work, helping the project finish five months early, Fairfax reported.

Labor frontbencher Nick Champion said the reports should be taken with “a grain of salt”, noting payments from Thiess John Holland would have included union dues deducted from workers’ wages and remitted to the union.

“They include payroll deductions. There wouldn’t be a union in the country which doesn’t have payroll deductions which are simply a worker saying ‘I want to join the union’ and the employer deducting the fees from their wages. I mean, there’s nothing unusual about that and yet that’s included in this story as some sort of grand smear,” the opposition health parliamentary secretary said.

A spokesman for Mr Shorten directed questions about company donations to the companies and the AWU.

“Specific questions about individual contributions from individual companies to the union should be directed to the individual companies or the union,” the spokesman said.

— With AAP