The domain name for the website that federal MP Bill Shorten uses to promote his political career, billshorten.com.au, is owned by the Australian Workers Union (AWU). That raises many questions by itself which I will deal with, but this post is more than just about Bill’s Domain name and how the AWU came to pay for it.
Most mainstream media are pointing to Bill Shorten as the person who will decide whether or not there is a change of Australian Prime Minister before the 2013 election. That is not true, the real puppet master is the Australian Workers Union National President Bill Ludwig who pulls Bill Shorten’s strings who in turn pulls Julia Gillard’s strings to a large degree.
Bill Shorten’s Website
A follower of this site brought to my attention that Bill Shorten’s website billshorten.com.au is owned by the AWU. Mr Shorten also has two other domain names that are owned by him so it is worth looking at the details of all three and the questions that they raise. Only billshorten.com.au is an active website. It must be noted that Bill Shorten was AWU National Secretary from 2001 until he was elected to parliament in 2007.
billshorten.com.au
Domain Name: billshorten.com.auLast Modified: 18-Jul-2012 00:48:28 UTC Registrant: AUSTRALIAN WORKERS UNION
Registrant ID: ABN 28853022982
Eligibility Type: Company Registrant Contact Email: bill.shorten.mp@aph.gov.au
.
This website seems to have been active since 2007 as per the Wayback Machine website which allows you to see what it looked like in the past. (Click here to see) I cannot tell when the domain name was registered as for some reason the details are hidden. I could spend $49 on the Whois website to get further details but I will leave that up the MSM. Update: Click here to read the Whois details for billshorten.com.au since 2008. There are no records prior to that.
billshorten.com
Domain Name………. billshorten.comCreation Date…….. 2003-09-01
Registration Date…. 2003-09-01
Expiry Date………. 2015-09-01
Organisation Name…. Bill Shorten
Organisation Address. Suite 1A, 12 Hall Street Admin Address…….. AUSTRALIA
Admin Email……….
Admin Phone………. +61.393261300
billshorten.net
Domain Name………. billshorten.net Creation Date…….. 2012-07-18Registration Date…. 2012-07-18
Expiry Date………. 2013-07-18 Organisation Name…. Bill Shorten MP
Organisation Address. Level 5, 641 Mt Alexander Rd Admin Email……….
.
Questions raised
1. Has Bill Shorten declared the domain name registered by the AWU, billshorten.com.au, on the federal parliament Register of Pecuniary Interests? If not why not?
2. Notice that the .com domain was registered in 2003 and is in Shorten’s name. So why is the .com.au site registered to the AWU and not him.
3. Who authorised the payment at the AWU for the billshorten.com.au domain name. Was it done by Bill Shorten when he worked at the AWU? If Mr Shorten did authorise the payment by the AWU then he clearly ripped off the union to pay for his own personal business. The domain name should have never been registered by the AWU in the first place even if someone else at the AWU authorised it. I do not know of any organisation or company that registers domain names for their staff.
4. Given the AWU paid for Mr Shorten’s domain name, did the AWU pay for any of Mr Shorten’s other election expenses for the 2007 election like federal MP Craig Thomson had the HSU pay for his election expenses in 2007.
5. Why does the AWU domain have an email address for parliament house? If it was updated to have the parliament house email then why was the domain name not transferred to Mr Shorten’s name at the same time. Is it that the AWU will not allow it to be transferred?
6. On the same issue of ownership transfer, the billshorten.net domain was registered on the 18th July 2012 and the billshorten.com.au domain was modified on the same day. Yet they left the AWU as the owner of the billshorten.com.au domain. Why was ownership not transferred to Bill Shorten then if not earlier?
There are plenty of more questions that need to be answered but that will do for a start.
In an interview on the 7.30 report last year Bill Shorten said in relation to his time at the AWU “I didn’t get paid over $100,000 in the union”. (Click here to read more) Maybe he didn’t but as the Craig Thomson MP matter shows it is the credit cards that can be abused and add to the income when working at a union. Given the AWU paid for Bill Shorten’s domain name which is clearly not union business I wouldn’t mind looking at Bill Shorten’s union credit card statements for when he was at the AWU.
Telstra – BHP – Woolworths
Imagine if a politician from any party had the domain name for their political website owned by Telstra, BHP or Woolworths. The outcry by the public would be deafening as it should be. The billshorten.com.au issue above shows the arrogance of the Labor Party and union movement, they just do not care. I am sure Mr Shorten and the AWU will say it is nothing more than an oversight even though the evidence does not support it and most of if not all the mainstream media will buy it. Remember there is also a huge conflict of interest as Bill Shorten is the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and has ultimate oversight for the unions including the AWU.
AWU – Bill Ludwig – Paul Howes
Bill Ludwig, National President of the AWU, is one of the biggest thieves and conmen in the union movement. A lot is made of his involvement in the Julia Gillard / Bruce Wilson fraud cover-up which I have written about but we only have to go back to 2011 when Bill Ludwig ripped off $45,000 of AWU money to pay for his own personal legal expenses which related to his position as a director of Racing Queensland Limited and had nothing to do with the union. This is important for two reasons 1. he is the one running the show as far as leader of the Federal Labor Party is concerned, although he uses National Secretary Paul Howes as his mouth piece and 2. It shows how the AWU management use members funds as their own personal bank account and where there is smoke there is fire. I suspect that the AWU paid for a lot more than just a domain name for Mr Shorten and outside what they should have paid him.
Mr Howes is quoted on the SMH website today as saying:
AWU secretary Paul Howes hosed down claims the union had withdrawn support for Ms Gillard because he had told one newspaper: “We don’t tell MPs how to vote (in a leadership ballot)”.
“This is the same position that I and the AWU have held since 2010,” Mr Howes told AAP on Saturday.
“In 2010, we said very clearly that we weren’t directing MPs, but this was our view.
“We said that again during the last challenge. We say that today, because we continue to support the prime minister.”
Asked if Ms Gillard would lead Labor to the September poll, Mr Howes said “absolutely”.
“She’s the right person to lead the party in September, and she will lead the party in September,” he said. (Click here to read more)
Well if Mr Howes does not tell MP’s how to vote in regards to the leader then how can he say that Julia Gillard will “absolutely” lead the Labor Party to the next election.
It is well-known that the AWU control about 20 votes in the federal Labor government which is enough to determine who will ultimately be the leader and current prime minister. What Bill Shorten and Paul Howes say and do counts for little. Bill Ludwig is the great power broker in the Labor Party and the main stream media need to tell it like it is more often and stop running with headlines that everyone is waiting to see what Bill Shorten will do in relation to the federal leadership. Mr Shorten will do what he is told to do by Bill Ludwig as it is Mr Ludwig that gave Bill Shorten his federal parliament job in a safe Labor Party seat in the first place.
I will do a follow-up post on Bill Shorten but to write more now will take the focus off Bill Shorten and his puppet master in the federal leadership speculation. It is also time someone audited the books of the AWU when Mr Shorten worked there. If the books are ever audited I think Bill Shorten will have a lot to worry about.
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