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.
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