Yesterday the Commissioner set out the  broad schedule for the remainder of his Royal Commission.

The final report is due on 31 December but it's likely to be delivered in mid-December as was the Interim Report last year.   It's useful then to take last year's year-end schedule as a guide for this year.  

Counsel Assisting's submissions were published and put to The Commissioner on 31 October (that allowed time for affected parties to respond etc).   Take the latter half of October in preparation  - that gives us about 6 weeks of hearing days left in the life of the TURC.

Labor/ACTU activity

With the end closely in sight Labor and the ACTU can be expected to try to eat up as much of that time as possible in delaying  the Commisson.  Every day spent in peripheral arguments is one fewer day available to hear evidence of union corruption.   As an example, the simple question of apprehended bias against the Commissioner consumed two weeks of sitting time.

You can  expect increasing attacks from Labor and their media mates on the Commission's integrity, bias, probity and the like as Labor prepares the ground to discredit the final report - yesterday's reaction to the ACTU's apprehended bias decision was a case in point.

Meeting TURC's commitments - no time for other matters

The TURC has made several commitments and has set expectations in relation to a few still outstanding matters. With just 6 weeks of sitting days left, the TURC has an immense amount of ground to cover just to meet those commitments without looking at any new matters - yet my inbox has dozens and dozens of union related allegations of serious corruption.  None of those allegations will see the light of day as matters stand.

The Commission was extended into 2015 in part because of  "grave threats to the power and authority of the Australian state" - perhaps I missed it but I don't know that we've heard evidence yet that would satisfy that description.

The Commissioner's timetable (above) suggests that the bulk of the remaining time will be consumed by CFMEU matters.   But the Commission has set expectations about the AWU and HSU as well.

AWU, Thiess and Bill Shorten

Recall that Bill Shorten was scheduled to give evidence to the TURC around now.   At his own request Shorten had that partially brought forward - here's the Commissioner's statement:

AWU hearings to resume in July

18 June 2015

Commissioner Dyson Heydon today issued a summons for the Honourable William Shorten to appear before him on Wednesday 8 July 2015.

The Commissioner has agreed to a request from lawyers representing Mr Shorten to bring forward the date of his proposed appearance from August/September.

The Commission's preference had been to address all matters concerning Mr Shorten in one sitting. However, given Mr Shorten's request to bring his examination forward by several months, this will now not be possible.

When Shorten did appear he was not excused on the Summons:

The ABC's FourCorners program told us that a Thiess executive in the EastLink freeway construction project during Shorten's time as AWU chief will give evidence contradicting Shorten's claim that he was not involved in negotiating a $300,000 apparently corrupt payment from Thiess to the union.  I'd envisage a few hearing days in that matter.

Thiess, other corporations and the givers of bribes

The whole question of Theiss's course of conduct in making dubious payments to the AWU needs further ventilation.   Secret commissions or bribes aren't just received, they're offered or given - each party is guilty of an offence.  The TURC report will appear to be  biased or partisan if it focusses on union officials without giving equal weight to investigating corrupt executives of corporations which make the payments.  

Recall that last year Counsel Assisting's final submission incorrectly stated that the WA Government's $60M contract award to Thiess for the Dawesville Channel came after Thiess won a competitive public tender.   That error was fundamental - Thiess was granted the contract after Carmen Lawrence's government cancelled a public tender process and gave the contract to Thiess without competitive process.

Thiess made suspect payments to the AWU official Wilson.   Wilson  was involved in lobbying on behalf of Thiess to the WA Government.   On the public statement of former Western Mining Corporation chief Hugh Morgan, Carmen Lawrence believed Wilson had the power to have her removed as Premier, Morgan says that as a result, she acceded to Wilson's directions.   In circumstances where Wilson is known to have received such a large amount of suspect money from Thiess, the probability that Thiess executives were knowingly involved in making the corrupt payments to him in return for his services should be properly investigated.

Kathy Jackson, Craig Thomson and the HSU

The TURC has set expectations that Kathy Jackson, Craig Thomson and the HSU investigations will be finalised during this year. Here is the Commissioner's opening statement from 24 April 2015.

The Federal Court action against Ms Jackson is now complete and there's a multitude of matters to be put to her by the TURC as a result - more than $1,000,000 worth.   The TURC's final report will be decimated by the Labor/ACTU collective if it fails to include a comprehensive investigation of those matters.   Labor and the unions have delivered the consistent narrative that Ms Jackson was given the kid-gloves treatment by the Commission - in the absence of further work by the TURC that allegation will be a potent and perhaps telling point in the attack on the Commission's credibility.   The TURC will need some hearing days to ensure that all the relevant ground is properly covered with Jackson.

Craig Thomson is yet to make an appearance at the Commission at all - yet the Fair Work investigation into his conduct makes findings in relation to hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent payments to him over several years.    The Commission's final report should include this notorious matter.

The prospects of extension of time for the TURC

It was during September/October last year that the ground was set for the Commission's extension into 2015.  The Governor General signed the amended Letters Patent enlarging the Commission on 31 October.

It's logical that there'd be some consideration of the need to further extend the Heydon Commission.   Given the Labor/ACTU efforts in discrediting the Commission thus far it's reasonable that any extension of the terms would be very hot political issue with fierce resistance and condemnation from the Opposition.

2016 is a scheduled federal election year.   There'd be some in Tony Abbott's government making the case for no extension - giving the government a finalised report setting out "enough" systemic union corruption to take a corruption-busting policy to the election.

Others might argue that going to an election with an ongoing Commission of enquiry into systemic union corruption would be more politically useful.

Whatever the politics, the community and in particular the victims of dastardly acts done by corrupt and powerful union leaders deserve a complete and authoritative exposition of union corruption.   If that needs more time, then so be it.   The Heydon Commission has been prudent in managing its expenses, relative to the damage to the economy done by union corruption the operating expense of continuing the Commission's enquiries are minimal.

SUMMARY

With great respect to the Commission and its staff, it's taken about 18 months for the TURC to demonstrate an understanding of the Labor/union complex.   Only now is the Commission starting to show signs of pursuing the makers of corrupt payments like Thiess.   Thus the investment in start-up financial capital and the more important issues of creating an investigative culture and modus operandi are only now beginning to their potential for an outstanding return of investment. 

It would be a shame for that investigative culture to be packed into cardboard boxes and put away in a dusty compactus.   The community has lingering doubts about union corruption.   The Labor/union collective's disproportionate attacks on the TURC's inquiries lately have reinforced those concerns.   Why is there such co-ordinated resistance to a corruption busting investigation - how close is it getting to a damaging fundamental truth?

The Heydon Royal Commission appears to have more unfinished business than it can complete in six weeks.   It should be extended.