Union boss’s ‘panic’ after document shredding

A union boss was in a ‘panic’ when he ordered documents to be destroyed ahead of the trade union royal commission.

Former trade union boss Dave Hanna (centre) arrives at the Magistrates Court in Brisbane, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2015. Mr Hanna will take the stand in a Royal Commission hearing examining whether he fraudulently benefited when work on his house was billed to development company Mirvac. (AAP Image/Dan Peled) NO ARCHIVING

Queensland construction union boss Michael Ravbar was in a “panic” when he ordered documents to be destroyed ahead of the trade union royal commission hearings, the inquiry has heard, as former staffers corrob­orated evidence of the plan.

Former Queensland branch president David Hanna yesterday stressed national secretary Michael O’Connor had knowledge of the plan, describing a meeting they had earlier this year in Sydney in which a receipt from a hire firm used to remove the documents was shown.

An office worker from the state branch of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union also said she paid an ­invoice for the truck and a Bobcat that Mr Hanna said was used to take documents to a rubbish tip in April last year.

An invoice dated April 4, 2014, for $770 from that hire firm — along with a corresponding payment of “petty cash” of the same amount that was issued by the union to Mr Hanna the following month — was produced in the ­inquiry yesterday.

Mr Hanna said that around April 1 last year, when the royal commission subpoenaed the union, Mr Ravbar appeared to be in a “panic”. “I think it was based around the time that he was of the view that he was going to be issued with the notice and he wanted to, you know, remove the documents or whatever else that he had concern about prior to ­accepting notice or being notified of the notice,” Mr Hanna told the inquiry.

Mr Hanna also detailed a conversation he had with Mr O’Connor about the removal and destruction of documents, which the inquiry has heard occurred the same day subpoenas were ­issued and was done with union flags blocking security cameras.

That conversation took place in a coffee shop in Sydney while other officials were discussing separate allegations against Mr Hanna, over which another senior unionist told him no “charges” would be laid. “I was talking to Michael and I was quite angry at the time over the situation and I was venting and I pulled (the truck hire receipt) out of my pocket and I said, ‘Look, I’ve even got this’,” Mr Hanna told the inquiry.

“He didn’t have a close look at it; it stayed in my hands.”

He said he had done this because Mr Ravbar was “trying to cut my head off” over other allegations. Mr Hanna said that, during the meeting, he indicated that Mr Ravbar had ordered the removal of the documents.

“Michael (O’Connor) really didn’t make comment,” Mr Hanna said. “He just sort of shook — raised his eyebrows and shook his head — as in disbelief, you know, that I was going to that level, and then I was called ­upstairs. So it was a very brief ­moment.”

He said he believed the union’s national construction boss, Dave Noonan, may have also been shown the receipt.

National assistant secretary Leo Skourdoumbis was caught on a secret audio recording by police being told by Mr Hanna about the allegations of document removal but said yesterday he did not “formally” raise them with anyone else in the executive.

“I never reported that issue formally to any national body of the union,” Mr Skourdoumbis told the inquiry.

“But possibly, in conversations, with people, it may have been mentioned.”

He said he did not know who he would have mentioned it to, and that he never asked Mr O’Connor about the “docket”.

Mr Hanna had previously claimed the “docket” from the hire firm did not exist, but has maintained that documents were removed from the Brisbane office on the day the union received a subpoena from the royal commission.

CFMEU accounts manager Cherie Shaw told the commission Mr Hanna had requested “petty cash” to pay the hire firm that was used to dump documents, a company that specialises in excavations, and that she should “get rid” of the invoice he had given her.

She received approval for the claim from Mr Ravbar and disposed of the invoice, the commission heard.

Ms Shaw also told the commission she had to work overtime on April 1 last year to shred phone bills and “old invoices”.

A former CFMEU worker who was then an “office junior”, Hollie Bradshaw, said she was also asked to work overtime without pay at around that time.

When she complained the following day about it, she was told that documents had been moved “to David’s property”.

Ms Bradshaw told the commission that was the reason she had been asked to work late.