Brought to you by Bill Shorten - direct from the Bruce Wilson copybook:

Huntsman denied any improper payments had been made and said from 2004 it paid the AWU for an on-site  "workplace change facilitator", whose role was to balance the "needs of the unionised workforce and the company".

There are now lots of eyes fine-tooth-combing electoral returns and other documents associated with Bill Shorten, the AWU and the Labor Party.   Bottom line?   Bill Shorten is cactus.   Here's the latest instalment from Fairfax this afternoon.

Bill Shorten's union took hundreds of thousands from building company

Ben Schneiders, Royce Millar, Nick Toscano

One of Australia's biggest builders paid Bill Shorten's union nearly $300,000 after he struck a workplace deal that cut conditions and saved the company as much as $100 million on a major Melbourne road project.

Fairfax Media understands that, at the time, Thiess John Holland regarded the payment as an acknowledgment of the flexibility of the AWU deal, which was struck by Mr Shorten. 

It's unclear what the union used the money for. Prime Minister Tony Abbott has previously accused the AWU of running a "business model" whose purpose was "ripping off workers to advance its own political position".

The deal was hugely favourable to the builder, allowing it to effectively work around the clock by reducing conditions around rostering and weekend work, helping the project finish five months early. It was lauded in a 2006 report by the free enterprise lobby, the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), which claimed it saved the company tens of millions of dollars.

The payment was part of more than $1 million of largely unexplained employer cash flowing into the AWU's Victorian branch between January 2004 and late 2007, when Mr Shorten was either state or federal secretary.

These include almost $200,000 from cardboard manufacturer Visy industries, which at the time was run by Shorten's billionaire friend Richard Pratt, almost $100,000 from aluminum giant Alcoa, and $300,000 from chemical giant Huntsman.

The figures are detailed in fine-print in documents lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission as well as documents before the Abbott government's royal commission into union corruption. 

Fairfax Media understands that some of these amounts include spending on training and payroll deductions that the union will defend if quizzed by the royal commission. 

Huntsman denied any improper payments had been made and said from 2004 it paid the AWU for an on-site  "workplace change facilitator", whose role was to balance the "needs of the unionised workforce and the company".

John Holland declined to comment.

A spokesman for Mr Shorten said: "Specific questions about individual contributions from individual companies to the union should be directed to the individual companies or the union". 

Last week Mr Shorten was called to appear before the royal commission after Fairfax Media revealed the AWU had received $38,228 from Winslow Constructors in 2005 to pay the union dues of 105 of its employees. The Winslow payments continued for a decade, amounting to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

there's a lot more to this story published at Fairfax - click here to read it on their site

AAP and The Australian follow up in the past few minutes:

Shorten's AWU received builder donations

A building company gave Bill Shorten's Australian Workers Union more than $211,000 shortly after he negotiated a controversial wages deal for Melbourne's EastLink in 2005.

Documents lodged with the Australian Electoral Commission show Thiess John Holland paid the money in donations and "other receipts" in 2006 and 2007.

Fairfax Media reports Mr Shorten, who was AWU national secretary at time, negotiated with the company over the deal, which the Institute of Public Affairs calculated saved the builders more than $100 million.

A Labor source said it's common for companies to make payments for things like occupational health and safety training and trade training.

A spokesman for Mr Shorten directed questions about company donations to the companies and the AWU.

"Specific questions about individual contributions from individual companies to the union should be directed to the individual companies or the union," he told AAP.

Fairfax Media reported that at the time Thiess John Holland regarded the payments as an acknowledgement of how flexible the AWU deal was.

An IPA analysis of the deal found it would save the company $58 million in probable additional costs, $31 million in spurious OHS claims, $12.3 million in bad weather delays, and $9.2 million in work disruptions.

The operator would also earn an extra $184 million because the toll road would be completed and open faster.

AWU returns lodged with the AEC show payments of $134,500, $39,875, $20,917, and $16,500 from Thiess John Holland in 2006-07 and 2007-08.

Payments were also lodged from Huntsman Chemical, Toll Logistics, and Incolink.