When Bill Shorten was in the witness stand on Wednesday (8/7/15) he was allowed to conceal from the public the name of a female staff member who helped with his 2007 election campaign. On Friday, after legal argument, she was identified as Fiona Ward. After researching her background it is obvious there are many reasons why Mrs Ward and Bill Shorten didn’t want her identity revealed.
Fiona Ward’s maiden name is Darwin and she is a former employee of the Health Services Union and worked for Jeff Jackson at the HSU Victoria Number 1 Branch. It’s reported she was a good friend of Kathy Jackson. (Click here to read more) She currently works for the Victorian Minister for Police Wade Noonan MP which could come in handy for a friend who has been accused of crimes in Victoria like Bill Shorten has.
Where it really gets interesting is the background of Fiona Ward and her two best friends Carla De Campo and Katie Hall. All three worked at the HSU and all three later worked for former federal MP, Health Minister and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon. Two, Ward and De Campo, have been named at the Trade Union Royal Commission and Katie Hall is likely to be named if the Royal Commission investigates Craig Thomson which they said they would if they have time.
Background
The Trade Union Royal Commission is in its second year and finishes at the end of this year. Federal Labor Party leader Bill Shorten gave evidence on Wednesday and Thursday (8th and 9th July 2015) regarding allegations he acted corruptly when he was National Secretary and Victorian State Secretary of the Australian Workers Union.
On Wednesday Shorten said he had been asked not to name a female staff worker. On Thursday her name was revealed.
The Australian reported:
The “mystery woman” referred to by Bill Shorten during his trade union royal commission appearance has been revealed as veteran ALP staffer Fiona Ward, but mystery still surrounds her motivations for anonymity.
On Wednesday, the Opposition Leader asked the commission to keep Ms Ward’s name secret when reference was made to her as a part-time staffer who had worked on Mr Shorten’s campaign in 2007 and had her salary paid by the AWU’s national office.
He withdrew this request yesterday, instructing his counsel Allan Myers QC that Ms Ward no longer wanted her name concealed.
“She has asked me not to reveal her name in this royal commission, but I am happy to write it down for you,” Mr Shorten had told counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar SC on Wednesday.
“Sometimes being mentioned in the commission can embarrass people, even when they are perfectly innocent.” (Click here to read more)
By Thursday the media had contacted the office where Fiona Ward works and she was about to be exposed anyhow.
Fiona Ward (Nee Darwin)
Fiona Ward
Bill Shorten and Mrs Ward are clearly good friends as she worked on his election campaign in 2007 and he said when he was in the witness-box on Wednesday that he had spoken to her a few days earlier. Shorten said she had asked him not to disclose her name publicly at the Royal Commission which he obviously agreed.
Number one reason why Bill Shorten and Fiona Ward did not want her named at the Royal Commission
This causes a huge conflict of interest given allegations of rape, fraud and theft have been made against Bill Shorten and one of his friends works in the Police Ministers office. I know the rape allegation was meant to be reviewed by the Victoria Police (Click here to read more) and given what we know now it should have been transferred to another state police force of the Federal Police to investigate.
Also what about the allegations of fraud and theft by Bill Shorten. Will the Victoria Police investigate? Once again any decision regarding the fraud allegations against Bill Shorten needs to be made by other state police of the Federal Police.
Allegations of fraud and theft have also been made against Bill Shorten’s supporters. The Royal Commission has also recommended criminal charges against Shorten’s supporters such as Diana Asmar and Kimberly Kitching. These matters also need to be transferred to other police forces.
Number two reason
Fiona Ward has a long history in the union movement and Labor Party. Being named at the Royal Commission is going to make it hard for Bill Shorten to parachute her into a safe Labor Party seat.
She worked at the HSU in 2003 as a Lead Organiser. (Known as Fiona Darwin then) When she started at the HSU is unknown but she would have finished in 2006/2007.
At the 2004 ALP National Conference she represented Monash University Federation of Student Organisations. (Click here to read more)
Bill Shorten said at the Royal Commission that in 2007 she was employed by the AWU to work part-time on his election campaign. The Royal Commission should probably check that.
After the 2007 federal election The Australian reports Mrs Ward worked for federal MP Nicola Roxon from 2007 to 2013. This seems odd as an article in a local paper regarding a scandal her husband says this:
“Mr Ward is married to Fiona Darwin, the managing director for Pluto Communications, who is working on the proposed three-tower development on Foundry Rd in Sunshine”
Looks like Fiona Ward or Darwin (take your pick) was working two jobs.
In 2008 her husband Mark Ward was involved in a “Job for a mate” scandal at the Brimbank City Council in Melbourne. Mr Ward was campaign manager for the Mayor Natalie Suleyman and after the election Mr Ward was given the job as media and communications manager for the council. At the time Fiona was using her maiden name Darwin but not long after started using her married name Ward. (Click here to read more) Mark Ward’s “job for a mate” routine is worth noting because Fiona Ward does that as well with Wade Noonan.
At the 2013 election Fiona Ward was on the campaign committee for federal MP Tim Watts who thanked her in his maiden speech. (Click here to read)
In 2014 Mrs Ward was one of the campaign managers for Victorian politician and now Minister for Police Wade Noonan. Fiona Ward now works in Mr Noonan’s office. Mr Noonan thanked her in his maiden speech. (Click her to read more)
Now that Fiona Ward has been named at the Royal Commission we almost have the hat trick as her close friend Carla De Campo has already been named in documents tendered at the Royal Commission.
Carla De Campo
Carla De Campo and husband Liam O’Brien
Ms De Campo currently works as a media manager at the ACTU and previously worked at the HSU Victoria Number 1 Branch until 2008 and with federal MP Nicola Roxon. Exactly what period she worked with Roxon is unknown but she shows up as the media contact person in 2012. (Click here to read more) She also worked for federal MP Jenny Macklin. (Click here)
De Campo is married to Liam O’Brien who is the AWU Victorian Branch Assistant Secretary and AWU National Vice-President. Mr O’Brien sounds like a junior Bill Shorten given their similar careers.
Carla De Campo was named at the Royal Commission in documents as per the email below:
From: Frances Lindsay
Sent: Monday, 27 October 2008 10:50 AM
To: ‘Jane Holt’
Subject: carla De campo
Hi Jane
Kathy asked if you could please deposit $500.00 into Carla’s bank account, being in lieu of a gift voucher
For her farewell gift ….. thank you Frances.
Regards,
Frances Lindsay
Membership/Administration
Health Services Union – Health Professionals (Click here to read more)
There are no allegations made against Carla De Campo at the Royal Commission but I am sure she would know plenty about the corruption at the HSU and to my knowledge has said nothing. The relevance of the above email in the evidence I do not know but it obviously is in there for some reason. Maybe Ms De Campo can explain.
Talk about a conflict of interest: Ms Carla De Campo in her role as media manager at the ACTU has been putting out press releases saying what a waste of money etc. the Royal Commission is while concealing the fact that she has been named at the Royal Commission.
Katie Hall (Sometimes Kathryn)
Katie Hall
Ms Hall also had her snout in the HSU trough. She is named in the Fair Work Australia (now Fair Work Commission) report into Craig Thomson’s fraud at the HSU. (Click here to read)
At one point the report says that “Katie Hall was the nominee from the HSU for a Victorian seat” in 2006. Which seat that was I cannot find.
Ms Hall was employed at the HSU in 2006 up to the 2007 election. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) had a campaign against the Howard governments WorkChoices and every union had to pay for someone to work in a certain electorate. The HSU were given La Trobe in Melbourne and Katie Hall was employed to do the work. Her boss was Craig Thomson.
Katie Hall worked for federal MP Nicola Roxon (Ward and De Campo also did) and was her preferred candidate to take over her seat of Gellibrand in Melbourne when she retired at the 2013 election. Unfortunately someone put out a dirt sheet on Hall and her chances were gone. It was suspected that Kimberley Kitching and her husband Andrew Landeryou who I have written about regularly (Click here to read) wrote the dirt sheet as Ms Kitching was also a candidate.
In a 2013 interview with the ABC’s 7.30 Report Katie Hall claimef she was falsely smeared when trying to win pre-selection for Labor in Gellibrand in 2013. She denied that she worked at the HSU under Craig Thomson. The FWA report says different so maybe Hall wasn’t smeared that much at all. (Click here to read more)
Katie Hall now works for spin doctors The Civic Group. (Click here to read more)
If the Royal Commission does investigate Craig Thomson then the Fair Work Australia report is bound to be tendered as evidence. Then we will have the hat trick of Fiona Ward, Carla De Campo and Katie Hall all being named at the Royal Commission. It is amazing how all three pop up at the same places like the HSU, Nicola Roxon’s office and now the Royal Commission.
Fiona Ward and her friends all seem to lead back to Bill Shorten and his supporters. There are some very serious questions that Bill Shorten, Wade Noonan and Fiona Ward need to answer regarding the criminal allegations against Shorten and his supporters have faced that I raised above.
Either Fiona Ward has to be sacked or moved to another job or all allegations against Shorten and his supporters have to be dealt with by an interstate police force.
Bill Shortens time in the witness stand this week did a lot of damage to his position as Labor leader and things are just going to keep getting worse in the next few months.
The Royal Commission is exposing and doing a lot of damage to Bill Shorten’s corrupt power base and dodgy supporters. Others like Diana Asmar from the HSU Victoria Number 1 Branch are due back in the witness stand at the Royal Commission in a month or two and that will highlight Shorten’s failures regarding the HSU further. And it is likely Bill Shorten will be back in the witness stand about the same time.
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Categories: Bill Shorten
A cracking read. (I get an early look at the posts, here in the US.)
Cheers,
Bill Thompson
I agree with Bill Thompson, a really good in-depth expose of how these union people are intertwined ……with Shorten, the unions and the Labor Party the common denominator. It appears they have their sticky fingers spread over so much perceived corruption both in Victoria and Federally. How many more married Labor women do we have to hear about who never use their husband’s name…..or is that “par for the course” in the Unions and Labor Party? It also concerns me that Noonan and his Victorian Police position is involved…what webs they weave!!
This Royal Commission is worth every cent of its alleged $25 million cost (SMH) if not more. Keep it coming man!
The plot thickens as it is revealed that Shorten had a mole in a position who could influence the Victorian Police in their verdict that a conviction against Shorten probably would not be successful. Kathy must be given her day in Court and all the facts be revealed. Australia cannot have a rape artist as its Prime Minister.
Shorten will never be prime minister Sydney. Shorten’s appearance at the Royal Commission a few days ago has basically ruined any chance of him being Prime Minister of this country. Shorten is a union thug/thief who has been exposed for the thug/thief he truly is. There will be more humiliation for Shorten when he reappears at the Royal Commission in the next few months. As for the “mystery woman”, she is working for Wade Noonan in the police ministery department because Shorten has planted her to not let the Victorian police lay charges against Shorten & his criminal gang. The Federal police or an interstate police force must communicate with the Royal Commission to lay charges against Shorten & his criminal gang. Basically the Victorian government & Shorten are influencing the Victorian police to let Shorten & others get off the hook.
The Police Union also has to be looked into regarding their influence as to why investigations have not been conducted thoroughly as in the Rape charges against Shorten. How much influence, having the Police Union influence and someone in the Police Minister’s office would it take to hide certain evidence, not interviewing relevant witnesses etc. as has been mentioned by the rape victim. This whole thing has a stench that turns ones stomach and I for one am sick to death of hearing about these criminals getting away with their corruption, theft, destroying evidence and instead of being punished they appear to get rewarded. Let’s hope that the RC investigates every word of Shorten’s evidence and pulls it apart at the seams upon his return along with the cover ups by his minions. How corrupt must they be when you start to have long time ex Labor MP’s and members starting to speak out against these criminals and there have been quite a few of late who have been having their say……BUT sadly the MS media just want to white wash the facts blaming it, as usual on a Abbott Witch Hunt. How can they live with themselves knowing they have stolen from the poorest workers in Australia?? As a Miscellaneous Workers union member years ago who was sold out by our union in an underhanded deal to allow the TWU more bargaining power for the road crew sickened me but we had no recourse due to no proof of our suspicions which were later backed up verbally by a few of of the TWU members who advised us to join the TWU but they would not accept us as members and our employer also was against it. Some obviously have no conscience…Shorten’s involvement will reflect badly on our ex GG as she must have known what has been going on…her daughter being married to the main corrupt criminal…ignorance by the wife cannot be used an excuse…All these women use their maiden name until they realise that things are starting to blow up in their faces then they revert to their married name as a means to mislead once again.
It is all getting very interesting as the plot thickens. If it can be shown that any of the money obtained from Companies went to Union Officials then the book must be thrown at them. My dominating concern at the moment is that Kathy gets a fair hearing and has her day in Court.
In the article in The Australian there were two other names that Shorten wanted suppressed (Jelica Addamo and Teresa Talia) – I wonder why?
Fiona Ward’s name pops up in the comments section of this 2009 article about the other Shorten staffer who was named at the Royal Commission (Lance Wilson):
“Parliamentary Secretary and Labor Unity convenor Bill Shorten has announced a long-expected retirement from the bearpit of the ALP’s Administrative Committee (journalists please note it’s not the Administration Committee) to pass the torch to one of his crew, Lance Wilson.”
Jock the TURC will be revealing some very embarassing correspondence which involves Jelica Addamo and Teresa Talia and Bill Shorten and his key executives in the next few months
It seems that if you work in a Labor related organisation you can hold positions in up to 3 different organisations at the one time. Now that is really having your snout in the trough. Billy has all the girls on side.
Might be handy too for Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson having Bill Shorten’s man (or should I say woman), Ms Ward, working for the Vic Police Minister – though not so much for kathy Jackson.
Lots more about Fiona (Darwin) Ward here (2002):
“At just 19, Fiona Darwin made something of a Sophie’s choice between her boyfriend and her love of the Australian Labor Party. The Labor-voting boyfriend thought she spent too much time volunteering for the ALP, and told her that she had to make a choice.
Such is her devotion, Ms Darwin, now 23, is campaign director in the marginal Labor seat of Mordialloc, a delegate to ALP state and youth conferences and on the women’s policy committee, among other roles. And the boyfriend? Toast.
“He voted Labor but could not understand the big deal, he couldn’t understand why I was so passionate and committed,” she says. “I said to him, if you don’t understand why this is so important, then you don’t understand me.””
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/10/11/1034222594921.html
I on 11-7-2015 filed a complaint with the AEC that it should investigate all declarations, and this article indicating unions were providing staff to ALP candidates underlines that if candidates didn’t declare this they in my view filed a FRAUDULENT declaration as to donations. Obviously, I intend to file a supplement to my 11-7-23015 complaint, with this article included, so the AEC can pursue this further, that is if they have the balls for it.
The more you dig, the more you find out about this incestuous Labor Party and its “man” Bill Shorten. Thanks for the research revealing corrupt practices. I hope the AEC is reading it.
A very interesting article again.
I find it incredible all these intermarried people in the labor-Party. It is getting worse with everything which is coming to light at present. What a web they have weaved, good luck to the Royal Commission to sort it out, but it seems to me, that this corruption is so ingrained, that only a total clean-out of all these unions and committee’s will do this clean-up.
It is terribly dangerous, that in Victoria we have the Police-minister involved in the unions through close family-relations.
I thought that the Royal Commission had its own Police-force, I thought Mr Abbott appointed them this year!
I believe the cost of the Royal Commission originally was 56 Million, I do not know how much was added for the extra year.
By the look of things, it will be totally impossible for this RC to handle everything, which is coming out to date.
Don’t forget that during the last few months of Gillards regime she appointed a lot of heads of institutions, i.e. ASIC and quite a few at FWA.
Really this government should get rid of them it would be a tremendous cost, but it might be cheaper in the long run.
The whole saga reads like an old-time legend in the One Thousand and One Nights tales, the story of Ali Baba (RC) and the Forty Thieves (in their secret den).
I wonder if their ‘nod, nod, wink, wink password is ‘Open Sesame’.
Shorten’s gift of the gab attitude has certainly helped to get him his present position in the Labor party. His elevation to the political cesspit is I believe a short stay. as the rungs are precarious. The allegations against him are so damaging that even the fickle electorate should denounce him, if not they deserve all they get. His smug attitude and hypocritical rhetoric in his appearances on the media are not a pretty site. This guy is Shorten by name and short on morals short on ethics short on integrity and short on truth. It is difficult to keep up with these women that seem to hang around him, with Noxen, Ward /Darwin, Addamo Talia, lost count.
Allan Usherwood from Myalup WA.
It would appear it’s really only a legal Maffia of families, connections, and mates, all tied up in the same club. And the workers are their victims. If it was a company, they would be jailed.
And there I was, watching the Royal Commission with bated breath, they returned from their 10 minute recess. They had agreed to remove the names from confidentiality and …..then adjourned for the weekend.
I think somewhere along the line I have heard this woman’s name also linked closely with Gillard. Will have to do a bit of digging and see if I can find the connection.
You just can’t trust a backstabber.
The truth comes out – Bill Shorten’s electoral donations were actually larger than was previously reported:
http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Returns/10/P2585A04.pdf
http://periodicdisclosures.aec.gov.au/Returns/9/P2522A02.pdf
Also both declarations are dated 10 July 2015, one day AFTER Shorten’s appearances at TURC on 8 & 9 July 2015.
So many crooks ,so little time.
It’s been almost half of a year since the post, but it must be known that this week the Police minister Wade Noonan has taken 3 months off from his minister’s job. I think your post had something to do with Noonan taking his time off Shane. Noonan was exposed after that post, and don’t forget he’s CMFEU backed as a politician & police minister. John Setka & Shaun Reardon have both been charged by the Victorian police, and I think that they both counted on Noonan to getting them off the hook. It seems as well that the protection of Shorten by Noonan’s office is crumbling too, and as well it is a sign that more union officials in Victoria who have been recommended charges against them by the Royal Commission will be charged. Noonan must have realized that he can’t protect the union officials going to be charged. Obviously the Daniel Andrews government have failed in protecting their union mates.
It maybe time to revisit the Victorian Police rejection of that girls claim of rape against Shorten. She should have her day in Court.
I thought there was something very smelly about Noonan’s sudden departure from his Police position in the Vic Parliament for 3 month’s this week!
Methinks the heat in the kitchen is getting a bit too hot for “Ol’ Wadey Boy”
The kitchen is getting much more hotter on the Victorian Andrews government than ever before. Like I said Mr Noonan can’t protect the union officials in Victoria that are going to be charged, Noonan is in way over his head. For example Noonan can’t protect his government colleague Cesar Melhem who will be charged himself. The Victorian police will be charging numerous union officials in the Royal Commission. John Setka & Shaun Reardon is just the start of it.