What kind of a world would it be if union officials had to pay court fines themselves?
End of impunity for CFMEU officials? The Australian yesterday:
Union officials can be hit with orders stopping unions paying fines on their behalf under a landmark High Court ruling that employers predicted would undermine the militant tactics of the CFMEU. The ruling is a win for the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which wants to curtail the long-running practice of the CFMEU drawing on union funds to pay penalties imposed on officials. ABCC head Stephen McBurney said the decision was important to ensure penalties ordered by courts were not treated by the CFMEU as “the cost of doing business”.
The Australian, December 8, 2017:
(A CFMEU union official) has congratulated Maritime Union of Australia workers for risking their jobs by attending a blockade at the Melbourne port this morning, promising the unions will continue to support them with their “big pots of gold”. “If we follow these (anti-picketing) laws, if we abide by these laws, we will never ever win. Sometimes you think, should we be doing this, we might get fined a few hundred thousand dollars and all the rest of it. That’s what (the unions) are there for,” he said. “That’s what all the money the unions have got, that’s what it’s there for.”
The Courier-Mail, August 4, 2017:
Fines slapped on the CFMEU smashed through the $10 million barrier yesterday after the Federal Court lashed out at the militant union. In just 13 years, courts across the country have ordered the CFMEU to fork out $10,096,300 in penalties for unlawful industrial action — fines ultimately paid by ordinary members and low-paid workers. “As minister for employment ... Bill Shorten reduced the penalties that could be imposed by two-thirds, thus saving the CFMEU millions of dollars and enabling it to donate millions of dollars more to the Labor Party”, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said.
Troy Bramston, The Australian, December 22, 2017:
Shorten has a blind spot when it comes to the militant CFMEU. This rogue union is a serial law-breaker. Dozens of its officials have been charged and it has paid out millions in fines. It has been admonished by judges in courtrooms all over Australia. The CFMEU should be avoided like the plague. Bob Hawke and Kevin Rudd urged Shorten to cut ties with the CFMEU but these calls fell on deaf ears. That the CFMEU is still affiliated to Labor, with a direct say in policy and personnel, is a disgrace. Shorten is close to the CFMEU leadership.
Hold the front page. SMH “exclusive” splash yesterday:
Grassroots Nationals members had to foot the bill to pay Barnaby Joyce a salary for six weeks after the Deputy Prime Minister was thrown out of parliament and lost his $416,000-a-year job. Fairfax Media can reveal the previously undisclosed arrangement involved the use of party funds to give the Nationals leader a wage while he was campaigning to win the December 2 by-election triggered by the dual citizenship crisis. One Nationals MP, when told of the arrangement ... said it was “extremely unusual”.
Some exclusive. This yarn was broken months ago. The Weekend Australian, October 28, 2017:
The Weekend Australian was told by Coalition sources that Mr Joyce was likely to receive part of his base salary while he recontested his seat in a similar arrangement to that in 2013 when he moved from the Senate to the lower house. It was estimated yesterday that arrangement cost the Nationals party about $30,000.