The Heydon Royal Commission has raised the possibility that the CFMEU's bans on Boral concrete supplies might have contravened anti-cartel and blackmail laws, in addition to flouting secondary boycott provisions.
In a testy exchange with CFMEU barrister John Agius SC this morning, Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon has ruled that airing a building company director's secret recording of a telephone call with a union organiser was not unlawful because it was in the public interest for it to be played.
The Heydon Royal Commission today denied leaking information to the media, after the CFMEU’s construction division complained about the emergence into the public arena of material that is expected to be aired at next week’s hearing into the union.
A senior TWU official has acknowledged spending only minimal time on the superannuation work his branch charged industry super fund TWUSUPER some $90,000 a year to perform, but the former head of the fund's trustee defended the arrangement before the Heydon Royal Commission today.
The Heydon Royal Commission will turn its sights on the CFMEU next week, moving to Melbourne for three days starting on Monday, followed by one day in Sydney on Friday.
HSU whistleblower Kathy Jackson told the Heydon Royal Commission this afternoon that she once handed over $7,000 from a union political fund to David Asmar - a former staffer of Labor Senator Stephen Conroy - for "ALP memberships".
Former HSU leader Marco Bolano has told the Heydon Royal Commission this morning that he was "surprised" to discover that tobacco giant Philip Morris had contributed funds to his 2009 election campaign and "stunned" that political "enemy" Bill Shorten had done likewise.
