Australia, insurance, car, home, live, holidays

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten accused the government of using the cover of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to “quietly just drop everything because ‘of the absence of sufficient evidence’.”Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

However,the Registered Organisations Commission (ROC),which pursued the investigation,said while it found there had been several record-keeping infractions,there was “insufficient documentary evidence” of any specific conduct of the AWU’s officeholders to recommend action be taken against them.

Mr Shorten accused the government of using the cover of the Russian invasion of Ukraine to “quietly just drop everything because ‘of the absence of sufficient evidence’.”

“That says it all. An ideological smear job by a pack of gutless cowards,” the former Labor leader said,adding the five-year investigation against the union had amounted to a witch hunt.

The ROC said in a statement the union admitted last year it had failed to lodge loans,grants and donation statements within the legal timeframe on nine occasions.

“In some cases ... statements were not lodged until years after the statutory time periods had elapsed,” it said,adding the union failed to lodge a statement at all in 2007.

It ends a week in which thefederal Coalition seized upon a Sydney rail shutdown to broadly condemn the union movement and tie disruptions to a prospective Labor government.

The commission said the union’s national executive did not approve any of the 20 donations investigated by the commission. But due to the union’s “deficient” record-keeping practices,the lapse of time and a lack of documentary evidence,it said it was unable to link specific allegations to individuals.

The ROC accepted it wasn’t in the public interest,“absent further information coming to light”,to take further regulatory action against the AWU or any person regarding the claims.

Assistant Attorney-General and Industrial Relations Minister Amanda Stoker said Mr Shorten,who was head of the AWU from 2001 until August 2007,had “serious questions to answer about these findings”.

“Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese also needs to show some leadership. He should be calling Mr Shorten into his office and demanding an explanation about how the funds of hardworking AWU members were spent when he was their leader,” Senator Stoker said.

But AWU national secretary Daniel Walton said the union wanted an apology from Industrial Relations Minister Michaelia Cash,who as the then-employment minister referred initial allegations of potential misconduct to the commission.

“The donations made by the AWU at the centre of this investigation were never remotely secret,let alone concealed,” Mr Walton said,adding they were openly discussed in the union’s magazine.

In 2019,the Federal Court ruled the 2017 raids against the union were invalid,ordering the commission to return all documents it seized during them. However,this decision was successfully appealed.

Labor intends to remove the ROC and fold its remit into the Fair Work Commission.

Senator Cash said decisions to investigate or pursue certain matters were a matter for the commission,which was independent of government.

She added the Coalition created the ROC to ensure funds collected by certain organisations were used in the best interests of their members,attacking Labor’s decision to abolish it “and remove this vital oversight into how the funds of union members are spent”.

However,Labor’s industrial relations spokesman,Tony Burke,spruiked the opposition’s commitment to “defund” the agency,describing it as a “discredited and unnecessary body designed to attack working people”.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights.Sign up here.

License this article