The Trade Union Royal Commission will on Friday (21-8-15) hear a Notice of Motion by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) for Dyson Heydon to stand down as Commissioner of the Royal Commission. It looks doomed to fail based on the current evidence at hand and a lot of what the Labour Party / Unions have and haven’t said has badly undermined their own cause.
The Labor Party and Unions are stumbling around like a drunk outside a pub with their tactics to get rid of Commissioner Dyson Heydon and it would be comical if it was not so criminal.
The dumbest thing that Labor have done is start the ball rolling for the Senate to request that the Governor-General Peter Cosgrove sack Dyson Heydon. (Click here to read more) The fact that they have done this shows they have no confidence in the legal arguments they will be running at the Royal Commission on Friday. More on that later in the post.
Other issues that Labor will have to overcome is the lack of evidence to show perceived bias, the fact that they have always been looking for ways to close down the Royal Commission and the blatant tactics to smear the Royal Commission and Dyson Heydon.
Background
The Trade Union Royal Commission was established on the 13th March 2014 and right from the start the Unions and Labor Party have tried trashing its reputation and made it clear they wanted it closed down.
Last week it was reported that Dyson Heydon had planned to give a speech at a Liberal Party function on the 26th of August but had cancelled it. The Labor Party and Unions said it showed real bias, perceived bias and one Labor politician even called Dyson Heydon a bagman. I wrote an article titled “There is a stronger case of Dyson Heydon being biased in favour of Labor than the Liberals”. (Click here to read the article)
The bottom line is that Dyson Heydon never actually did anything so there is no real bias and very little perceived bias if any. The only ones jumping up and down complaining are the Unions and the Labor Party which by their own admission have wanted the Royal Commission closed down from day one. As the letter shows below the unions and quite a few of their officials are also the ones facing criminal charges so it is no surprise they want the Royal Commission halted.
On Monday the ACTU sent a barrister to the Royal Commission requesting emails and letters etc (discovery) regarding Dyson Heydon’s invitation to the Liberal Party function. Heydon gave them the emails and letters etc. A timetable was set for the Unions if they decided to proceed with an application for Heydon to recuse himself from the Royal Commission. A hearing date of 10am Friday was set.
Yesterday (19-8-15) the ACTU announced they would proceed with an application. (Click here to read)
No real evidence
The Labor Party and unions are running around everywhere looking for scraps of evidence to help support their application.
The latest pieces are that Heydon was critical of former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd in a speech in 2013 where he said their governments were “non-substantive”. (Click here to read the article) Well who cares? Everyone criticised Rudd and Gillard including many Labor and Union people.
Also it is reported:
“Royal commissioner Dyson Heydon and a Liberal Party member who invited him to speak at a dinner were both on a committee advising Tony Abbott on the move to a republic.”
“When Mr Abbott was executive director of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy in 1993, Mr Heydon and barrister Greg Burton were appointed to a legal advisory committee to ACM.” (Click here to read the article)
That happened 22 years ago and Dyson Heydon is a lawyer who gives legal advice so it is no big issue.
Everything the Labor Party and Unions have come up with so far is trivial at best. A lot of readers of this site have experienced real bias such as when a judge hears a matter with only the other party are there and the judge hands down a judgment in their favour etc. So should we close down a Royal Commission because the Unions and their political arm the Labor Party whinge loudly about perceived bias?
It must be noted that the person instructing the ACTU’s barrister is ACTU Secretary Dave Oliver who was in court on Monday. This is a disgrace as Oliver is up to his neck in scandalising the courts given his wife, Suzanne Jones, was a corrupt appointment as a judge by Julia Gillard. (Click here to read more) He has a hide to complain about another judicial appointment.
Royal Commission fights back
The Labor Party and Unions have been spreading a lot of deliberate lies about the Royal Commission so the Royal Commission issued a statement with relevant facts of their budget and what they have achieved which is below.
Labor Party channels Sir John Kerr (the man who sacked Gough Whitlam) for support
The last time a Governor-General stuck their nose into politics was when John Kerr sacked Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in 1975. Ever since then the Labor Party has cried that a Governor-General should be a ceremonial position only and they should keep their noses out of politics. I agree.
So for the Labor Party to now be calling on the current Governor-General Peter Cosgrove to sack Dyson Heydon shows what contempt they have for history and how shallow they are.
A big issue is that if the Labor Party really believe there is perceived bias why did they not just let the lawyers deal with it. The fact that they have tried this stunt after the ACTU lawyers had already been before the Royal Commission shows that Labor know there is no credible evidence to support the legal argument of perceived bias for Dyson Heydon to stand own. It is basically an admission by Labor they have no case.
Kathy Jackson judgment
Kathy Jackson was today ordered to pay back $1.4million to the HSU. (Click here to read more) That is a prime example of why we needed a Royal Commission. The Unions are saying that the Royal Commission did nothing and it was the HSU that pursued Jackson. Well the Unions did nothing until Jackson blew the whistle on even bigger crooks like Michael Williamson who it is estimated stole $20million from the HSU members.
There are a lot more twists and turns to play out. I wrote in the last post that the Unions would not be stupid enough to file an application for Heydon to step down. Well I was wrong, they are that stupid.
I still have no doubt that the Royal Commission will produce some very powerful evidence of Union corruption in the next few weeks and then this perceived bias drama will be forgotten.
Please use the Twitter, Facebook and email etc. buttons below and help promote this post.
If you would like to follow this website you can by email notification at the top right of this page and about twice a week you will be notified when there is a new article.
This website is independent and reliant on donations to keep publishing. If you would like to support the continuance of this site please click on the button below to donate via PayPal or go to the donations page for other donation options (Click here to go to the Donations page)
You can also support this site by buying a t-shirt or coffee mug at my online shop (Click here to visit the shop)
Thank you for your support.
Categories: Justice Dyson Heydon, Royal Commission
Rats? Sinking ship come to mind? Spineless Union tactics never change!
They know they won’t win on Friday. They are just sewing the seeds now so that later on they can say his judgement on the unions is not credible because of his association with the Liberal party.
the governor general is already a ceremonial position, has been since I think The Australia Act 1986.. they are a bit rich these people. unionists and politicians go hand in hand. crooks
You are probaby correct on the legal side of the argument, Shane. But remember mud sticks and the court of public opinion still has to hand down its verdict.
Its coming down as we type, and not in the favour of the ALP and Unions.
Heydon was critical of former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd in a speech in 2013 where he said their governments were “non-substantive”. He couldnt be more correct with that statement i.e. their governments are “not permanent”. In that SMH article it quoted “Let me just ask what is the point of the Charities Bill 2013? Why seek to enact it just before an election at a time when the government is borrowing $1 billion a week just to pay the public service?” Mr Heydon said. This is the worry with our country today, why is the government borrowing money when it has the authority to create its own currency under Section 51 of the Commonwealth Constitution and not borrow it from a Central Bank at interest. Close down the RBA – Central Banking debt based money system before it bankrupts the country.
Does anyone really believe that Bill Shorten will one day do ‘the perp walk’ for the cameras between two burly policemen, let alone ever face court or spend one hour in custody over his clearly VERY questionable actions as a trade union boss? Call me a jaded cynic, but I certainly don’t.
The Labor Party have been characteristically clever in the hyperBOWLic way they are handling this issue. They know that damning evidence is about to be made public in the TURC, (not that we haven’t see quite a bit already), so they are setting out to discredit the messenger, knowing that this will work with a large rump of rusted-on Labor voters and, more importantly, give “their” ABC and much of the commercial MSM wriggle room to selectively report – (or, as more usually the case, to NOT report) – any embarrassing details damaging to their man.
The sad fact is, history would suggest that it will work. (See my first paragraph.) The moment any move is made against Shorten or any one of a dozen others, the MSM will dutifully scream the Labor Party line that it is nothing more than an Abbott government political witch hunt.
Oh, and we can almost guarantee that within 24 hours, someone in the Liberal Party will, (as usual), obligingly provide another embarrassingly stupid ‘own goal’ that will allow the MSM to move on to telling the public about it and this whole issue will drift off the front pages and be forgotten.
More Union Members money wasted!
Rudd Gillard and Shorten should all do Jail time .along with most Union Leaders
If unions were smart they would join the ‘Dirty Tricks Club’ or ‘Houdini Help Line’ if they want to fool the ‘audience’ with illusions, instead of being Dumb Dopey Drongos trying to push a useless Notice of Motion by the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) into the Royal Commission’s mail box, ignoring the ‘No Junk Mail’ notice.
What a bloody shambles this latest ploy by The Labor and union parties to avoid the arm of the law being thrust around their dirty necks. In my last count there were 9 Labor and union mugs that were running the risk of jail for contempt. If the government had any intestinal fortitude they would have them all prosecuted but with Larry the Lamb as attorney general there is not much fear of that. Royal Commission Act 1902 art. 60 has been hidden under the carpet somewhere in archive land. Shorten talks about 50% women in parliament 1% like Maggie Thatcher would do to liven up the morons we have at the moment. Kathy Jackson joins the Labor hypocrites in whistle blowing with one hand in the till and the other whacking Craig Thomson and Williamson round the ears for dishonesty and pilfering in the true union tradition. I reiterate what a bloody shambles, we must be the laughing stock of Greece and the rest of the civilized world. Allan Usherwood Myalup
That the event was a commemoration of Sir Garfield Barwick, the tax avoiders’ best friend, should itself have suggested to Commissioner Heydon that his participation could be misconstrued.
definitely an all-or-nothing game here.
The unions won’t give up even if Justice Heydon does step down. They will take their case to the HIgh Court saying that the whole of the Royal Commission was overseen by a biased Commissioner.
Well, they have to, don’t they Bev? After what’s been divulged so far in the TURC, it’s developed into a ‘go for broke’ situation for the unions.
Which leads one to wonder what it is they’re so afraid of being made public with a recall of Bill Shorten to the stand.
It must be really damning, hence their all or nothing campaign to discredit the Commissioner.
Personally Cliff I think that the unions can see the demise of the Labor party if the Commission recommends enough people for prosecution and unions lose any credibility they once had. If this scenario plays out the Greens will start to take over Labor.
It has been obvious for months, that the unions wanted the royal Commission gone….pfffft
So does The Leader of the Opposition, therefore here are all the Unions with their costly barristers having a go at one man, Mr Dyson Heydon, the Commissioner of said Royal Commission who really does not have a bias- bone in his body.
A man who has not done a thing wrong and now they have the gall to take away his good name.
Oh well, the unions think they have so much power, they can run the country and they can as they run the ALP.
God help us, if they can get back into government. The thought is terrifying.
If Justice Heydon does resign his post in the Royal Commission, isn’t it up to federal parliament to decide what to do next.
Yes Don, it will be up to the Federal Government how to continue.
They can appoint another Commissioner, but it will take him a lot of time to bring himself up to date with what has occurred in the Commission.
Then it may be too late to get a result, before the nexr election, i.e. the charging of many people in the unions, who will have committed fraud , blackmail and corruption.
However, I think Mr Dyson Heydon will know exactly what he will do, let’s hope he stays.
I agree with Cliff’s earlier comments and think they are somewhat like what will be played out.
The Labor Party “branch of the Unions” and most of the Union movement hierarchy are so corrupt they actually believe the lies they extol……they’ve been telling them for so long and creaming off the system that they have all conditioned themselves……that’s why a large percentage of the populace believe them as they come across as reasonably credible!
This country has been totally stuffed by the greedy Unions…just ask the bosses at Toyota, Ford, GMH and hundreds of other industries. It’s been nice work to work on a factory line doing a mundane job for over $40ph with rostered days off, weeks of paid Union training etc etc. A 20yo lass I know got a full time job last year turning stop/slow signs around on Melbourne roads at a mere $48ph…so long as she joined the Union and had some paid training. She left after 4 months as she had saved enough for a $15,000 six month trip to backpack around Europe with her boyfriend…better than the $18 ph she was getting at Woollies who only gave her 15 hours work per week.
Shorten and his crew just have to go to jail but we may never see that! Just ask Bob Kernohan about Shorten and his henchmen.
There are a large amount of voters who will, through apathy or otherwise, be unaware of the findings of the current Royal Commission.
Many of these voters will be stalwart Labor supporters and will believe every obnoxious word uttered by Shorten, his honchos and the unions, and unfortunately, until the day comes when the general public have unbiased, honest news reports relating to everything affecting Australian politics, then the crooked politicians, the crooked judiciary, the crooked unions,et al, will not ever be completely eliminated.