Ally hired Bruce Townsend

BRUCE Townsend was hired by Thiess as a result of his connections with an ally in past covert industrial relations battles, Paul Houlihan.

BRUCE Townsend was hired by Thiess as a result of his connections with an ally in past covert industrial relations battles, Paul Houlihan.

Sources yesterday revealed that Mr Houlihan and Thiess human resources manager Marcus Carroll had previously worked together and agreed early this year that Mr Townsend should investigate unions and security issues on the site of the Brumby government's $5 billion-plus desalination plant, according to three sources.

Mr Townsend was released from jail in Hobart in 2007 after being convicted of receiving stolen cars and trucks.

Mr Houlihan had gained notoriety during the waterfront disputes for union-busting and for offering labour and other services to corporations with union troubles.

Mr Houlihan came to the notice of unions during the bitter and protracted 1998 waterfront disputes when he ran the Webb Dock operation of P&C Stevedores on behalf of the National Farmers Federation.

Mr Carroll and the project director of the desal project, Greg Miller, neither of whom have returned The Australian's calls, remained stood-down yesterday as Thiess released preliminary findings from its internal investigations into the operation code-named Pluto Project.

The links between Mr Carroll, Mr Townsend and Mr Houlihan may increase the suspicion of unions that the two Thiess managers involved in the appointment of Mr Townsend's Australian Security and Investigations knew its reputation for union-busting.

Sources claim Mr Miller had suspected the Electrical Trades Union, whose electrician members are vital for the completion of the desal plant, would deliberately slow down construction to make the most of generous wages and conditions.

Mr Houlihan's consultancy company, First IR, says it works behind the scenes and provides services including "strategic industrial relations planning and supervision for clients".

The company's list of clients includes Thiess.

Asked about his connection with Mr Carroll and his role in bringing Mr Townsend into Thiess, Mr Houlihan said: "I'm not going to make any comment on that."

Thiess said its preliminary findings showed the activities of Mr Townsend and his company were confined to "the review of recruitment and training records, the gathering of publicly available information, as well as on-site observations, hearsay and rumours".

"Thiess reaffirms in the strongest possible terms that the engagement was contrary to Thiess business practices and that this has been an isolated incident," a Thiess spokesman said.

Mr Mighell said he had been reassured by lengthy briefings from Thiess yesterday that executives above Mr Carroll and Mr Miller were not aware of Project Pluto, and that on the evidence to date the privacy of members had not been breached.

"Most importantly, there were no surveillance photographs or videos and no spying on families," Mr Mighell said.

Mr Mighell said Thiess had acknowledged that the payments to Mr Townsend's firm were channelled through a Melbourne law firm as consultancy fees.

He said the appointment of Mr Townsend behind the unions' back was reprehensible.

"I think Thiess is genuinely . . . upset that Townsend and ASI were employed," Mr Mighell said yesterday.

Mr Townsend has declined to comment.