Today’s press conference about the findings of the Trade Union Royal Commission by a diplomatic Turnbull, a smirking Brandis, and an overly enthusiastic Cash (the cords on her neck were standing out), gave perhaps the strongest indication that we will be going to an early election.
They are using the findings to reintroduce to Parliament two previously rejected Bills – one about oversight of registered organisations and the other about the reestablishment of the ABCC. Turnbull said, if these Bills aren’t passed, they will fight the next election on union corruption.
There are many inconsistencies and questions that arise from today’s proceedings.
Justice Haydon, despite no experience in the building industry, rejected union claims of poor workplace safety measures on some sites being the reason that union representatives were there even though they provided photographic evidence. In fact, workplace safety seems to have been ignored in the inquiry even though there have been, as at 24 December 2015, 186 Australian workers killed at work this year.
Heydon used perjorative language such as “louts, thugs and thieves” in his report to describe union officials yet had no criticism for the companies who allegedly paid the bribes.
After deflecting questions about Mal Brough by saying he should not be tried in the court of public opinion, and Brandis refusing to answer a question about an individual who has been referred for investigation saying it would be inappropriate, George was however eager to point out that Bill Shorten, despite no adverse findings against him, was the leader of the AWU during the time when some alleged questionable practices occurred. He then went further to say that future investigation may uncover a direct connection to wrongdoing by Mr Shorten. Double standards there George?
Michaelia has come up with a new three word slogan which she repeated several times – “deny and distract”. Apparently, despite the RC just making referrals for further investigation about things that “may” have happened (the word “may” being used 15 times in the first three pages of Hayden’s report), Michaelia has decided there can be no denying the widespread corruption and no distraction from this finding will be tolerated. So much for judicial process.
They have called for a strong independent regulator for registered organisations who must be transparent and accountable for their financial dealings. How about some transparency and accountability for the various registered organisations that raise funds for the Liberal Party? How about a federal ICAC into the widespread corruption among politicians as shown by the NSW ICAC? How about some transparency into the funding of the IPA and how they spend their money on supposedly charitable endeavours?
Turnbull announced they are putting together a taskforce including various government bodies like the ATO, AUSTRAC, ASIC and others to expose corrupt, illegal and unethical conduct by unions. How about a taskforce to look into the conduct of the many businesses who pay no tax through dubious profit shifting? How about the bribes paid by the AWB and Securency?
Brandis was big on saying that union officials should not use the dues paid by its members as their personal piggy bank. What about the widespread practice of politicians using entitlements as their personal piggy bank like Julie Bishop spending $30,000 to fly her and her latest lover back from WA? Or the countless times that politicians have used their entitlements for family holidays? Or the many occasions when they have repaid money due to “clerical errors” by their staff?
They talked about the conflict of interest of union officials accepting payments from businesses. What do they call donations from property developers and mining companies to political parties?
One recommendation from Dyson was for the government to be able to veto some people from being elected as union officials. I fail to see how the government has any legal right to decide who union members vote for.
The thing I cannot understand about the TURC is, if they had evidence of criminal behaviour, why waste time with a Royal Commission who has no powers of prosecution and whose evidence cannot be used in a court of law. The investigations will have to start all over to satisfy the requirements for admissible evidence. Why didn’t they just pass the information onto the existing bodies that do have the power to investigate and prosecute?
With all these questions that should be asked, the response from Labor’s Brendan O’Connor was woefully inadequate, just repeating the old news about Heydon offering to speak at a Liberal Party fundraiser and saying witch hunt over and over. If that is the best Labor can do then they really aren’t even trying to win the next election. Are they lazy or just incompetent?
