While Minister Shorten was in the High Court for the union guy from the TAFE - he was also in the Federal Court to help out Michael Williamson's team in the HSU
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
(Don't panic - it's Wednesday, not Tuesday as I said in this audio!)
The timing is uncanny. While Justice Heydon of the High Court was hearing from the Minister of the Crown and his legal team in support of the union guy from Bendigo TAFE, the Federal Court of Australia heard the Minister's Application to have an administrator appointed to the HSU, and to fight against Kathy Jackson.
Remember that? Bill rolls out the taxpayer funded team for the union guy from Bendigo - while at the same time he's got the Corrs Chambers Westgarth partner Val Gosterncnik working for him (and the pro-Michael Williamson crew) to get "the right" Administrator appointed to the HSU. Lots of votes at play in the HSU. Very important Kathy Jackson wasn't allowed to lead it, so important it needed a special application from the Minister. At taxpayer expense.
If Justice Heydon thought Bill was being partisan in the Greg Barclay/Bendigo TAFE matter - wait till he hears about the way Bill helped out with the HSU! The way Bill used the former HSU official-come-lawyer (later a Commissioner of Fair Work - appointed by you-know-who) Val Gosterncnik was just amazing. He was then acting for Fair Work Australia and in that role had a full copy of the investigation report and its appendices in the Craig Thomson/HSU matter. And Bill got him to act on his behalf in the application for "the right" Administrator to the HSU! And even better, Bill (and Stephen Conroy) got "the right" Administrator appointed to the HSU for their power base's benefit - and all the legal work was done at taxpayer expense!
Here are the details on the HSU application from a very busy partisan minister for lop-sided dealings that favour union officials (taken from this post of 7 November 2013).
Keep in mind that the FWA Report on Thomson was not released to the Senate Committee or the public until 7 May, 2012. The PM and her ministers stated before that time that FWA was independent of government and the release of the report was a matter for FWA.
On 3 April, 2012 Bernadette O'Neill sent the FWA Report on Thomson and other documents to Val Gostencnik of Corrs.
On 12 April, 2012, Minister Bill Shorten retained Mr Gostencnik of Corrs Chambers Westgarth to act for him in Federal Court Proceedings against the HSU and in particular Kathy Jackson.
Was there any discussion with the Prime Minister's office by Minister Shorten's office
prior to this intervention?
The Minister’s office informed the Prime Minister’s office of developments relating to the intervention in the Federal Court proceedings.
When was legal advice obtained in relation to this intervention and from whom was it
obtained?
Corrs Chambers Westgarth were engaged to provide advice and act for the Minister in relation to this matter on 12 April 2012.
On 30 April 2012 Minister Bill Shorten made an Application to the Federal Court of Australia for the appointment of an Administrator to the Health Services Union. Val Gostencnik of Corrs acted for him and provided detailed affidavit evidence on behalf of Minister Shorten in the originating application.
No one knew what was in the FWA Report and no one therefore could have publicly acted on it. It was confidential to FWA, the affected persons who were given time to respond and to their legal advisers. Police were not given access to the report.
How then to explain the conflict of interest in Mr Gostencnik advising the government on the drafting of the legislation, then providing legal advice to the independent GM of FWA as to avoiding cooperation with NSW Police (when the internal AGS lawyer had already advised that FWA had legal authority to release the documents sought by police), then accepting an advance copy of the FWA Report from the independent body FWA while simultaneously acting for the Minister Bill Shorten in his application to have an Administrator appointed to the HSU.
On 29 April 2012, one day before Bill Shorten's Application to have an Administrator appointed and 8 days before the release of the FWA Report into Thomson, Julia Gillard decided that a "line had been crossed" and she asked Thomson to quit the party
On 2 April 2013 Aaron Patrick revealed even more in the Australian Financial Review newspaper.
One new member of the commission (FWA), Val Gostencnik, was a partner at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, who represented Shorten in a legal fight last year for control of the HSU. When Jackson accused Shorten of physically confronting her at an internal Labor Party vote, Gostencnik threatened to sue media outlets on behalf of Shorten, including The Australian Financial Review, that published the allegation. Shorten strongly denied the accusation.