Trade union royal commission spent $46m

The TURC uncoveried 126 possible breaches of civil and criminal laws allegedly committed by unions and their officials.

The trade union royal commission has spent $46 million in under two years, uncovering 126 possible breaches of civil and criminal laws allegedly committed by unions and their officials in the second half of the inquiry.

Counsel assisting the inquiry alleged wrongdoing and possible criminal behaviour by officials from the Australian Workers’ Union, the Construction ­Forestry Mining and Energy Union, the National Union of Workers and the Transport Workers Union in legal arguments submitted over the past year.

The submissions also concluded 11 businesspeople and two firms — the Thiess John Holland construction joint venture and Chiquita Mushrooms, now part of the Costa group of companies — potentially breached company and criminal laws.

Commissioner Dyson Heydon is scrutinising evidence from 500 witnesses in 75 case studies, resulting from 2000 subpoenas for his final report, which he has said he will deliver by December 31.

The government is expected to make the findings public quickly to bolster its case for tougher penalties and restrictions on unions, including restoration of the Australian Building and Corruption Commission watchdog and laws to bring union governance into line with company regulations.

Despite Labor branding the commission an “$80m political witch hunt”, by November 30 the inquiry had spent $45.5m, figures published yesterday show.

That spending included fees paid to Mr Heydon and counsel assisting the commission, police taskforces in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and the ACT, and spending by the Attorney-­General’s Department, and comes in below the inquiry’s budget of $57m.

The commission was set for a nine-month inquiry but ­extended to 21 months last year, with no budget increase.

Counsel’s submissions to Mr Heydon since his interim report published in December last year allege the AWU broke 17 further laws and regulations, including Fair Work rules and Victorian Crimes Act corruption laws.

Thirteen past and present ­officials from the CFMEU and five officials from the NUW also allegedly broke the law.

Labor’s workplace relations spokesman Brendan O’Connor said the commission was ­“tainted” and its conduct “ inconsistent and procedurally unfair”.