A few years back the NSW Labor Party stole over $700,000 of taxpayers money from two government departments which was laundered through the Transport Workers Union into Labor Party bank accounts. One of the key players, Tony Sheldon, was also caught in relation to a slush fund he had set up where a lot of the money is still unaccounted for. Sound familiar?
Tony Sheldon is now the National Vice President of the Australian Labor Party as well as the National Secretary of the Transport Workers Union (TWU) not to mention one of the biggest thieves in the country.
It is worth revisiting as it happened only a couple of years ago and the Labor Party claim the Health Services Union corruption was a one-off and the vast majority of unions are run honestly. This is also tied into a judicial corruption post I will do in the near future.
Theft and money laundering – How the scam worked
From 2002 to 2008 a total of $733,905 from two government departments overseen by the then NSW Minister for Industrial Relations, John Della Bosca, found its way into the bank accounts of the NSW Transport Workers Union run by his mate the then state and current national secretary of the TWU Tony Sheldon.
$660,905 came from Workcover NSW which went straight into the TWU bank accounts and $73,000 from the Motor Accidents Authority which went into another bank account of the TWU called “Concerned Families of Australian Truckies”.
John Della Bosca said it had nothing to do with him but “An article in Australian Transport News magazine from 2000 said Concerned Families of Australian Truckies had had a seminar sponsored by the NSW Motor Accidents Authority “following discussions with the NSW special minister of state John Della Bosca”. (Click here to read more)
So Mr Della Bosca was caught out lying. Yes that is the same John Della Bosca who is married to the former federal MP Belinda Neal who was made to do an anger management course after the infamous Iguanagate scandal.
“So the difference between taxpayer-funded grants going to the TWU and Labor party donations coming out of the TWU, the difference is only one per cent. And over a six year period, that must be more than coincidence.”
“The TWU-run fund, titled Concerned Families of Australian Truckies, was one beneficiary of the money and the chairwoman is Judith Penton. Her husband, Bruce Penton is a senior TWU official. He has run previously Belinda Neal’s election campaign.”
“Belinda Neal is the wife of John Della Bosca, and Belinda Neal recently praised Bruce Penton and the TWU boss Tony Sheldon in her inaugural speech to Federal Parliament since her re-election.”
“Reba Meagher has worked for the TWU. Paul McLeay, a Ministerial aspirant, Noreen Hay, Kristina Keneally and Diane Beamer all received donations that weren’t declared by the union. Other Labor Ministers, John Watkins, Matt Brown and Verity Firth received donations from the TWU, as did Labor MPs Andrew Macdonald, Richard Amery, David Borger and David Harris.”
“Now this is taxpayers’ money. The public are entitled to know whether it’s being used to prop up Labor Party election campaigns.” (Click here to read more)
Another day another slush fund
Tony Sheldon created a slush fund in 1998 which he called a training fund which he gave the title the “Industrial Rights and Training Fund”. Some of the key elements of this slush fund were:
1. “contributions to the TWU’s Industrial Rights and Training Fund were made at the
cost of a discount to the workers’ pay rise” The workers got ripped off by Tony Sheldon to pay for this slush fund.
2. “union delegates said they were never told their union’s leadership had signed
this side deal in the midst of wage negotiations“
3. “In one example treated as typical, the Blue Collar labour hire firm agreed to
pay the TWU 1 per cent of its total payroll for the union’s members employed
with Qantas in Sydney” “the deal – personally signed off by TWU state secretary Tony Sheldon – was made at the same time Blue Collar employees stood to suffer a 30 per cent pay cut.” (Click here to read more)
4. Others who coughed up were: “more than 40 firms included Dairy Farmers handing over $500,000; Manpower, $141,000; Advance Recruiting, $124,000; Adecco, $107,000; Linfox, $104,000; Blue Collar, $85,000; Action James, $71,000; Collex, $33,000; Ausdoc, $15,000; and on it went.“
5. Tony Sheldon was meant to set up a “bipartisan board of union-employer people who would decide how the money should be spent for the benefit of TWU members” from the Industrial Rights and Training Fund. Sheldon never did set up the “bipartisan board” “despite wage agreements saying explicitly that this would happen.” It really shows what a thieving grub Tony Sheldon is.
6. “He did not separate the training fund from the TWU’s general ledger. He did not separately audit the activities of the fund. And the definition of how it could be spent was very broad.” So I wonder what he did spend all the money on. Obviously plenty went to Labor Party candidates, but what else? (Click here to read plenty more)
Not much changed. Two years later and things were still the same.
“TRUCKING firms are still pouring money into a secretive Transport Workers Union slush fund almost two years after investigations found the fund lacked transparency and was riddled with audit problems.”
“The union and its then state secretary, Tony Sheldon, were engulfed in controversy when the so-called training fund was first exposed. Union members had been unaware their employers, including Linfox, Dairy Farmers and Toll, had been secretly making payments to the union while it was also negotiating wage agreements. But since then little has changed.” (Click here to read more)
Other handiwork by Tony Sheldon
“In 1990 he and other officials were found guilty of ballot rigging a union election – though Sheldon maintains that a conviction for the offence was never entered.” No wonder he keeps his position at the TWU. In the above link it says “He said the allegations were 15years old and “no conviction was entered, to my recollection“
And “By 1999 he had become secretary of the TWU’s powerful NSW branch, one of the ALP’s biggest donors. Sheldon’s sway within Labor was bolstered by a close alliance with Health Services Union boss Michael Williamson, with the two unions voting in lockstep at party conferences.” As we know Michael Williamson is now facing criminal charges. (Click here to read more)
Relevance to today
On the 2nd of December 2011 Tony Sheldon started a three-year term as a Vice President of the Australian Labor Party. (There are two Vice Presidents) He is nothing more than a common criminal and should be facing charges along with his good mate Michael Williamson and everyone in the Labor Party knows this but they say nothing.
Julia Gillard and Tony Sheldon
How much of the above in relation to the slush fund has the same characteristics of the Julia Gillard / Bruce Wilson AWU fraud? Plenty!
And like I said at the start there is a link in the above to judicial corruption which I will write about in a future post.
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Categories: John Della Bosca
A royal commission into the financial prudence of Australian unions would be most entertaining.
Some think they got away with it. Some think they are above the law. Some of them even think that they run the show. It’s time for a thorough criminal investgation. Unions are killing themselves supporting these crooks. The piecemeal response is damaging the labor movement and ordinary worker. Their self serving frauds would not be tolerated in business. It’s time for a completely clean sweep, criminal justice, a set of standards and for all unions to replace all executives and present staff to ensure corrupt ties are cut forever.
If my memory serves me right, i think Craig Thomson’s wife, Zoe, worked for the TWU as some sort of PR or Media person.
It just gets more incestuous by the day. Bring on that Royal Commission. Clean out the rubbish.
Forget the Royal Commission – it’s a waste of time and money! No Royal Commission would be allowed to get to the bottom of what’s going on in Australian politics..
What we need instead is for a group of HONEST people to dig into the dregs of corruption here in Australia – definitely not another corrupt quasi government body such as a Royal Commission!
So, Phiston, just who is going to decide who the HONEST people might be?
Yes Phison who judges the judges ???? you need to be more positive in your thinking YOU SAY we need a group of honest people to dig into the dregs of corruption here in Australia Shane Dowling and every contributor to this page judges the judges and eventually they will be held to account Honesty will prevail You know the story of the water wearing out a rock not by impacting on it but by dripping on it constantly As for Neil Munro The above is the answer Shane Dowling and the members of this web page will eventually decide who is honest EVIL WILL PREVAIL WHEN GOOD MEN STAND BY AND DO NOTHING No one can say Shane Dowling stands by and does nothing
Re rh.. your response to my comment leaves me a little baffled. Nowhere have I suggested or even intimated that Shane Dowling stands by and does nothing or that does NOT do a good job.
In fact quite the opposite is true. I am of the opinion that good, down to earth honest people – especially the ones who get off their backsides and actually do something (Shane and others like him for instance) – THESE are the people who will achieve more than any corrupt and dishonest Royal Commission ever could.
phiston No where in my comment did i ever suggest that you said that Shane was doing nothing What i said was you need to be more positive regarding a Royal Commission where you reckon it’s a waste of time. I was positive in my response to you regarding the need for honest people to keep the corruption in line which i agreed totally with you. Thats were this web page and shane comes into view Neil asked you Who might decide who the honest people might be and i responded by saying WHO JUDGES THE JUDGES and my answer again was Shane Dowling and the contributors to this web page will judge the judges whether they like it or not (look at the menu right hand side of this page and see the judges that Shane has already and rightfully judged and more strength to him as he progresses
Yes it does! but the media will not cover it…..WHY?…. the little people have a right and demand the media make this public!
The media has no choice now Its out in the open and even Fairfax media which Gillard tried to gag have now headlined questions last week regarding her conduct about the slush funds and cheque writing Question Time next week should be very good viewing
I hope to goodness they get something on this so called prime minister, I can’t believe we have these people running this country they are like the mafia, they only care about themselves they could’nt care less about this country, I do not know how they get away with it, can’t wait for question time, I hope Julie Bishop goes to town on her.
Julia Gillard politically assassinated Kevin Rudd overnight in order to be Australias FIRST WOMAN Prime Minister
In the next few weeks she may be Australias FIRST PRIME MINISTER to be DUMPED FROM OFFICE
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free
It’s not a coincidence that our roads are clogged up with trucks. . at the expense of efficient rail transport of containers. Think about it, our health and wealth affected by the greed of a few union ‘reps’ who are even catapulted into political positions where they can turn a blind eye to continuing corruption in the unions/labour marriage.
How interesting that Fairfax are running this line today:
Gillard’s account of union slush fund rejected…A KEY former union accountant has undermined Julia Gillard’s depiction of a slush fund she helped set up in 1992 as being a legitimate association needed to help finance union election campaigns.
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillards-account-of-union-slush-fund-rejected-20121029-28dqt.html#ixzz2AcxZy1HV
Well done Shane … exposing this Union (TWU) is more about the person than the members – maybe some time soon our Leaders will see the need to have all Unions account for their membership dues, and the secret payments made to ‘slush’ funds … the stench is ripe and under Gillard’s mushroom almost toxic …
Time to scrap the labour party and all within,a new one is needed with a different name.
It is all to much,riddled with incestous greed.
More Fraud today – it goes on and on and these union folks are now esconced in our Labour Government – corruption throughout
The more we learn about the goings-on of Union leaders, the more irrelevant they appear to be to the normal working person paying union fees from their wages.
Nothing short of a Royal Commission, with broad Terms of Reference, is required! And if those Union leaders, delegates, whatever are found to have acted corruptly (even up to and including the current PM), then they should be punished according to law…
Tony Sheldon and others in top jobs were voted in democratically by the members.
Hunter S Thompson once said In a democracy people get the sort of government they deserve AND THEY DESERVE ALL THEY GET. If you put dishonest people into power
Then expect to be robbed The membership of these organisations deserve all they get
These blokes are very experience money launderers But by reading this web page will be an education in itself LIVE AND LEARN
OMG SHANE, JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS UNSHOCKABLE….
I HOPE ALL UNION MEMBERS REFUSE TO PAY THEIR FEE AND DEMAND A ROYAL COMMISSION.
THE LEVEL OF UNION AND GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION IS CHILLING.
I FIND IT CURIOUS THAT GILLARD HAS EXTENDED BRYCE’S TERM.
You certainly are sweet and innocent if you think any union would let you get away with withholding your fees. You would at the very least be forced to quit your job for a start, and if not your life would be made such a misery you would be forced to quit anyway.
AND TO THINK THESE UNION THUGS ARE RUNNING THE COUNTRY.
If the matters referred to above have substance, then it is the duty of all who have information to support any aspect of them/it to report their information to appropriate authorities.
In NSW the appropriate authority/s are the Premier, Mr. O’Farrell and the NSW attorney General, Mr. Smith.
The allegations, if founded would appear to be designed stealing/embezzlement of public funds for private purposes.
As an employee, try knocking off a pair of jeans worth $30.00 from a store and see
what happens.
Premier, A G, Police Miniater, perhaps some inquiries are called for?
Shane, Why am I not surprised, it sickened me at the time when these Union Leaders were having dinner with Julia at the Lodge, as you know of previous posts I have had my own experiences with the Unions and they are not pretty, but this just cannot go on.
I just do not know what can be done, these investigations in HSU took so long that time runs out, but not enough people are making a noise, that is obvious.
The Law of Mathematics will see this corruption ends one day! You can only bribe and burn so many people untill it backfires which is happening now. Nottwistedyet, this is not a easy battle as we have become reliant on the government to fix everything. You know what to do, so keep doing it!
I AM BEGINNING TO WONDER JUST HOW MANY SLUSH FUNDS GILLARD MAY HAVE SET UP. ????????? GILLARD IS ONE DEVIOUS WOMAN
What possible hope do the vulnerable youth have in a very corrupted society?
Thank You Shane Dowling for reporting the things that do matter.The only hope there is for balance and repair in a very beautiful nation.
Shame on any that take the lazy ugly way in life and they know what it means to others .
There is no ok in crime .There is no well they did it so it`s ok.
It is putrid to do willingly with ill intent.It really harms many via that and shreds trust and good will and incentive to aim .Noone wants to support lies , that we know.
At least the majority do know it is wrong and truth will triumph as it always has.
Thank You again to Kangaroo Court of Australia.
Could the only reason that there is no action with other unions, because there are no Cathy Jacksons in the other unions
every-time i see this slippery character i get a cold feeling his favorite saying would be whats in it for me well Alan Joyce didn’t fall for his charm. don’t Gillard and Sheldon make a handsome couple.
Alan Joyce called their bluff but it cost Qantas heaps even before he acted. I know because when I last flew Qantas their standards had dropped ! Less crew at the terminals where mums with kids had to line up without any help, food was below par and even in premium economy they only had 2 fish dishes, but advertised it as available in menu !
SHELDON AND GILLARD BIRDS OF A FEATHER YUK.
PROBABLY GAVE HIM PLENTY OF PRO BONO ADVICE ON HOW TO FLEECE THE TAXPAYER. O TOPIC BUT EVERYTIME IS SEE THE GG I THINK OF THE JOE COCKER SONG “YOU CAN LEAVE YOUR HAT ON” (SORRY JOE)
Julia Gillard and this mob will go down in Australian history. (note the key word “down”).
Julia Gillard is possibly THE most hated prime minister in our history.
Julia Gillard is possibly THE most corrupt prime minister in our history.
Julia Gillard’s government is possibly THE most hated government in our history.
Julia Gillard’s government is possibly THE most corrupt government in our history.
Julia Gillard’s government is possibly THE most financially inept government in our history.
Julia Gillard’s government is possibly THE most anti-democratic government in our history. (systematic erosion of our rights to free speech to report this corruption (finkelstein recommendations), and blackmailing/bribing of media to help conceal it all.)
And with any luck, the first prime minister to be formally charged with criminal activity.
They will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
Unfortunately, by the time all these corrupt labor officials are eventually charged ( if they ever do ) it will be too late. Wouldn’t put too much faith in the judiciary either.
with regard to the judiciary Recall what it says on the front of the tee shirt
WHY RENT A LAWYER WHEN YOU CAN BUY A JUDGE
oh by the way… my understanding is that unions operate many “industry” super funds. true or not? if that’s the case, that is another huge cash cow for them to potentially rip off more money for slush funds and personal use.
IMO we are better off putting our super into “business” based funds, not “union” based. this is another way to help strangle them.
everyone spread the word.
Very true Most Trade Unions are run by individuals brought up through the ranks and have no idea regarding finance except how to spend it But being battlers from the ranks they soon learn how to manipulate it for their own cause A lifestyle they would never have if they had to work for a living. Michael Williamson HSU has now had 28 more charges added by the fraud squad making over 50 charges in all
Yes, a good way to strangle them plus resigning from any suspect union! Regarding Super, again we trust the government, People should manage their own super!
This web page is working Today Julie Bishop (in Question Time) and others have now mentioned Michael Williamson and his role on the superannuation investment board Julia Gillard refused to answer the questions and that other hypocryte Albanese refused permission twice to julie Bishop to table papers regarding cheques issued by Slater and Gordon regarding the corruption Yes he openly and blatantly refused permission for the papers to be tabled we all need to bombard his office with emails demanding to know what he is trying to hide And remember him of this folks
IF YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS A LIE AND YOU DO NOTHING ABOUT IT
YOU THEN BECOME PART OF THAT LIE
RH.
Interesting news.
Well J Bishop, why not table the information here. Stuff al ban ooze/y and big bird.
an afterthought to my comment yesterday: perhaps some person or people who have good research skills and understand the intricacies of unions/superannuation/fraud should look more closely into union controlled super funds.
it would be great to compile a list of union controlled super funds so that it can be well publicized as to which funds people should withdraw their money from. (side note: i have super in a bank controlled fund and was recommended to change to another “cheaper” fund – i will look VERY closely at that now if i do.)
and i’d almost bet my house on it that there are rorts going on there too. there must be some kind of trail or loose ends that can be investigated.
So who in politics would be game enough to raise the Superannuation / Union infiltration connection ? This is a very serious but touchy matter because any incorrect information could cause some hysteria in the marketplace.
But I know that they have been doing lot’s of advertising in recent months for these ‘government super funds’ They don’t have fees, but do they have something worse ?
Is there someone in the industry who has knowledge of any improper activity?
There is a book written by Dr Des Moore, a former senior bureaucrat in federal treasury during the Hawke-Keating years, I cannot remember the book’s title but in it he outlined what he referred to as laundering taxpayer’s monies from government to unions to the ALP. The government made grants to various unions and they made donations to the ALP. Moore claimed that over 13 years close to $100 million was taken this way. I understand that state Labor governments have been involved too.
Add the Centenary House affair, an ALP owned Canberra office building leased to the Audit Office during the Hawke-Keating years for 15 years with no rent review to market and a ratchet clause increasing the rental amount every year. The rent was much higher than market for Canberra and about what you would expect to pay in Manhattan, New York, USA. The ALP sold the building for a substantial profit.
We taxpayers have been ripped off by the Labor movement for a very long time.
I’d love for someone to make an ALP/Union family tree
We’ve got Michael Williamson made National President of the ALP, we had his daughter working in the Prime Ministers office(do a search, she recently “resigned”). We’ve got Eddie Obeid who was NSW Labor powerbroker doing “deals” on side and currently under investigation. The former NSW Labor Roads minister now under investigation for a hit and run in a car paid for a building developer. Craig Thomson who we know former union heavy and alleged to have been spending union members money like a drunken sailor.
Now we find out about Gillard setting up slush funds for her union heavy boyfriend back in the early 90’s
These all seem intertwined… a Labor/Union family of corruption and deals for mates running all the way from the bottom(except for ripped off union members) all the way to the top.
This story has a long way to go, but where is the investigative journalism?
Centerlink overpaid my freind by $400:00 and was told it will be taken back at 17 % every
week dose the same apply ” to the needy greedy ????”
You don’t have to be a chicago lawyer to work out, how corrupt this Union-Labor Government is, and it has been going on for decades at the expense of struggling workers by way of misappropriation taxes and Union fees, probably the biggest cons and scams ever perpetrated on Australian’s, the sad fact is you can never educate an idiot, and there is probably still 30% of all Australians who actually still think Union-Labor are doing a great job. We can only hope that the current ICAC NSW enquiry and other investigations,which appears to be gaining some momentum against this lot, will reveal the true Union-Labor Governments, State and Federal.
Roberto you said We can only hope that the current ICAC NSW enquiry and other investigations,which appears to be gaining some momentum against this lot, will reveal the true Union-Labor Governments, State and Federal. It will be web pages like this one that will educate the people as to the REAL CORRUPTION in this NATION While cleaners are cleaning the hospital floors and TOILETS these scum are living a life of luxury on their Union contributions and have so much to spend they need to launder the excess Dont just read this page tell everyone who you think needs enlightened to this corruption and remember tell two friends to tell two more TWO GETS FOUR FOUR GETS EIGHT EIGHT GETS SIXTEEN
Sad thing is Shane most of them are still free men But things are now starting to tighten up Andrew Bolt said little this week on The Bolt Report which to me shows something is about to open up in Parliament next week regarding Gillard Iknow most of the pollies read your page because they get reminded of it often enough and will continue to be reminded Via email twitter and Facebook
No wonder Australia is called the lucky country.it gets by in the face of its incredibly dumb and incompetent politicians,particularly labour and its labour mafia type unions
Yes David and Tony Sheldon has dinner with the Prime Minister at The Lodge.
Disgraceful is using a nice word for it.
The unions wont want Abbotts royal commission into them then.Abbott gets in the unions and labour might be destroyed by this
Yes indeed, I know this story about Tony Shelden, one of the close friends of gillard.
Unless we have this Royal Commission, we will never get rid of this corruption, which is more widespread than any of us can imagine, it is right through the union-movement, the labor party and the judiciary. What they are uncovering in NSW is only the top of the mountain!
His predecessor and another ALP chief was firmly in charge at the time.
His words “It’s not over” were probably meant to intimidate, yet, his opponents are champing at the bit to see him fall when those smelly ways are finally exposed and they are booted into touch for the last time.
There is no probity in writing your own redundancy, members deserve better governance and administration, at least a leadership team that doesn’t conspire to rip them off.
THIS REEKS