After the close of business yesterday the Fair Work Commission's General Manager Bernadette O'Neill issued this statement.
Here's the way most of the media has reported it.
Sounds pretty innocuous doesn't it? Civil court action for failing to remove the names of un-financial members.
That's what you'll read in the papers - if you see anything reported at all.
This should be a very big story. The fact that it's not should worry the living daylights out of anyone who cares about Australia.
This matter is being stage-managed by the Labor and ACTU spin doctors.
Failing to keep the books up to date is not what this is about at all.
This is an open window into the corrupt system that delivers benefits for union officials and fits you and me up with parliamentarians like Shorten, Conroy and Gillard.
Trade Union Royal Commissioner Dyson Heydon AC QC heard extensive evidence on this matter. He said this about Sheldon:
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The evidence permitted an inference that Mr Sheldon was giving knowingly false answers, and that he had known for years that false membership numbers were being put forward. From that flows a further inference: that there was some advantage to be gained from doing this. The relevant advantage was an increase in TWU voting power at the ALP Conference and an advantage to Mr Sheldon as leader of the TWU delegates.
But you won't see that reported.
This would have been Tony Abbott's moment in the campaign sun. Tony understood the significance of the TWU membership fraud and other union related frauds and scams just like this one.
Malcolm Turnbull's failure to make corruption like this a campaign issue is unforgivable.
Make no mistake - Australia will continue to pay the price of Turnbull's "not anti-union" stance for years to come.
Turnbull cannot claim ignorance in his conscious and unconscionable decision not to purse the issue of widespread corruption - here's the ABC's report on the day the TURC 's final report was released
Trade union royal commission findings: Malcolm Turnbull says report shows widespread malpractice in unions
Updated 31 Dec 2015, 4:56AM
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has described the final report of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption as a "real watershed moment" for the labour movement and for Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten.
Key points:
- Report refers more than 40 individuals and organisations to authorities
- Recommendation for independent body to investigate union records
- Opportunity for Labor to undertake real and everlasting reform, Turnbull says
The report, prepared by Commissioner Dyson Heydon and unveiled on Wednesday morning, has referred to "widespread and deep-seated" misconduct by union officials.
More than 40 individuals and organisations have been referred to various authorities, including police, directors of public prosecutions, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Fair Work Commission.
There was also a recommendation for an independent body with greater powers to investigate union records and finances.
"They can take this opportunity to support these recommendations and undertake real and everlasting reform of the trade union movement," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Sydney.
"This is not a case of a few rotten apples spoiling the whole barrel — there are many union officials, and widespread cultures, of impropriety and malpractice."
The Federal Government has vowed to re-introduce legislation re-establishing the Australian Building and Construction Commission and wants it passed by the end of March next year.
Mr Turnbull warned he was prepared to fight an election if Parliament did not support the measure.
"If this is not passed, if we cannot get the passage of this legislation through the Senate, then in one form or another it will be a major issue at the next election," he said.
"And we will be going to the members of the unions and we will be saying to them we want you to get a fair deal."
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash described the final report as "D-day" for corruption within the union movement.
"Today, the denial stops and today, the distractions stop," Senator Cash said.
But since then - nothing. Gutless. No judgement. Not fit for office.
This is some of the history of my involvement with the TWU membership fraud - all published to this website as it happened.
Here is an extract from its report showing its member numbers in 2010 - 40,501 members
Here is 2011 - 40,813
(the original post listed several years of returns then continues)
Yesterday's disclosure by the Labor Party and TWU NSW branch that the real number of members is just over 17,000 may cause some problems for the officers of the union who signed off on the accounts, for the auditors and for the Fair Work Australia rubber stampers.
I've published a screen grab of the SMH article yesterday that reported the Labor Party and TWU admissions about the new numbers - just over 17,000. What the SMH did not report on was the sworn statutory declarations made by the TWU state secretary for NSW Wayne Forno, or the numbers in his annual returns, claiming 43,800 members for 2013.
The SMH focuses on the TWU losing influence in the NSW Labor Party. Given the apparently questionable statutory declarations to FWA that may be the least of their worries.
ENDS
I then compared the financial statements from the TWU with the membership numbers and dues payable
The Transport Workers Union's NSW website is here - Wayne Forno tells us that the NSW branch has more than 30,000 members.
The NSW branch website tells us exactly how much each member pays in dues - $617 PA through direct debit or $660 PA through payroll deductions.
Like all Registered Organisations the TWU NSW branch reports to Fair Work Australia annually. It filed two returns for the calendar year 2013:
A financial report - here
A report concerning membership numbers and office holders - here
The arithmetic is not complicated - the TWU tells us that each financial member pays at least $617 in annual membership fees. The TWU NSW branch claims to have 43,835 members. So somewhere in the financial accounts we will looking for about $27 million. Let's go.
(original post contained a statutory declaration about member numbers).
So what do the financial accounts tell us?
Just to step through the process - here is the Fair Work Commission website which holds records for every Registered Organisation (ie union) registered under our industrial laws - it looks like this
(then followed pages of financial documents)
Clearly $27 million is not accounted for in the NSW branch financial records. Either there are some zeros missing or the money must be accounted for elsewhere. That's our mission today - to find it. More soon.
ENDS
25 July 2014 I report the matter to Fair Work Australia
I sent this unanswered email to Bernadette O'Neill
From: Michael Smith <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Jul 25, 2014 at 11:07 AM
Subject: TWU membership numbers
To: [email protected]
Dear Ms O'Neill,
STATUTORY DECLARATION REGARDING TWU MEMBERSHIP NUMBERS
On 22 July 2014
this article appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, it includes a claim that the TWU NSW branch has "amended" its member numbers from more than 38,000 down to 17,800. The report quoted a "TWU spokesman" who said the union had ''amended'' its affiliation to NSW Labor ''in line with a clarification of party requirements''.
On 24 March 2014 the secretary of the TWU NSW Branch Mr Wayne Forno made a statutory declaration under the Statutory Declarations Act 1958 that the branch had 43,835 members. That declaration is filed with the Fair Work Commission
here.
Is the Fair Work Commission investigating the matter?
I propose to treat this email to you as an open and public communication and to publish it and any reply I receive.
Kind regards,
Michael Smith
I received no answer.
Original email sent to Commissioner Tony Negus today.
Dear Commissioner,
FORNO, Wayne - Branch Secretary, Transport Workers Union of Australia, NSW Branch
On 24 March 2014 Wayne FORNO apparently made the following Statutory Declaration at Parramatta, NSW - filed
here at the Fair Work Commission.
Mr FORNO declared that his union's register of members had been maintained under Section 230 (1) (a) and Section 230 (2) of the Act. He declared that the number of persons who were so recorded was 43,835.
Here is Section 230 of the relevant act.
FAIR WORK (REGISTERED ORGANISATIONS) ACT 2009 - SECT 230
Records to be kept and lodged by organisations
(a) a register of its members, showing the name and postal address of each member and showing whether the member became a member under an agreement entered into under rules made under subsection 151(1);
(c) a list of the names, postal addresses and occupations of the persons holding the offices;
(d) such other records as are prescribed.
(a) enter in the register of its members the name and postal address of each person who becomes a member, within 28 days after the person becomes a member;
(b) remove from that register the name and postal address of each person who ceases to be a member under section 171A, or under the rules of the organisation, within 28 days after the person ceases to be a member; and
(c) enter in that register any change in the particulars shown on the register, within 28 days after the matters necessitating the change become known to the organisation.
The Fair Work Commission is a Commonwealth authority for the purposes of the Statutory Declarations Act 1959 and the use of a Commonwealth Statutory Declaration under that act is stipulated
here.
On 22 July 2014 the Sydney Morning Herald published
this report.
To summarise, on 24 March 2014 FORNO declared under the provisions of Section 230 of the Fair Work Act the number of members in the TWU of Australia NSW Branch was 43,835. On 22 July 2014 a "TWU Spokesman" had "amended" its affiliation and the full SMH report states the actual number of members was 17,300.
Perhaps you might let us know if the AFP is investigating the matter. I will treat this letter to you as an open communication which I propose to publish.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Smith
ENDS
I'm speechless on this TWU membership numbers issue.
On 22 July this year The Sydney Morning Herald published a story by Ben Schneiders and Royce Millar on the TWU's membership numbers - link here. The headline was
TWU loses Labor Party influence as membership rort is caught
The story ran on the eve of the NSW Labor Party conference where the TWU's influence was cut in half as a result of the correction to its membership numbers.
You might recall we reported on the Statutory Declaration of membership numbers made by the TWU's NSW secretary Wayne Forno on 24 March 2014.
I thought it incredible that the numbers could be reported in March, only to be cut in half in July. However what I've just had pointed out to me beggars belief.
On 1 December, 2013, the Sydney Morning Herald published a detailed story on the TWU's numbers, including a great deal of analysis and admissions by officials that the numbers were inflated. That's 3 months before this year's series of statutory declarations by TWU officials.
Here's a link to the Fairfax story - the headline is below.
TWU inflated membership numbers to gain voting clout
None of that seemed to bother either Wayne Forno, the NSW State Secretary or Michael Kaine, the National Assistant Secretary.
The TWU national report to FWA lists membership at 94,025. Michael Kaine, who is also a lawyer, signed and dated a statutory declaration on March 31, 2014. (see http://www.e-airc.gov.au/files/179v/AR2014.97.pdf)
The same year returns for state branches of the union shows
I see from the Fair Work Australia website that there is still no inquiry or investigation into the TWU and its annual reports. It's very difficult to understand why.
ENDS
On Monday 4 August 2014 I made this report to the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police.
The key points were:
- The AFP enforces the Statutory Declarations Act 1958
- On 24 March 2014 Mr Wayne Forno swore an apparently false Statutory Declaration, stating the TWU NSW Branch had 43,835 members - by his admission he knew at the time it had 17,300.
This morning I received this letter from Superintendent Mark McIntyre of the AFP Crime Operations department.
The Fair Work Commission has no enforcement role in relation to policing the Statutory Declarations Act 1958 - it also has no role in policing murder, rape or armed robbery. Police prosecute a range of Australians every day - normally without regard to the status their job might confer on them. That is the duty of police. Their role is to detect offences and bring offenders before the courts.
Joel Silver makes some very good points in this paper submitted to the Royal Commission into Union Corruption and Governance, summed up in this quote:
While there is some merit in their separate registration and regulation, there is
nothing so unique or complicated about trade unions as to justify investigations
into them being handled by a specialist agency, let alone to the exclusion of
ordinary law enforcement. Agencies including the Australian Federal Police and
Australian Crime Commission have experience in such investigations (of which
the General Manager Fair Work Australia was shown to be lacking), and whose impartiality is not as easily called into question. Such agencies should have responsibility for all and
any future investigations
I note that the Fair Work Commission's GM Bernadette O'Neill is yet to report any inquiry or investigation into this matter.
I'll have more to say, rest assured. While the Gillard Government went out of its way to protect its union mates, we will hold this Government to account in undoing any actual or perceived special protections for mates of the elites.
ENDS
I made more calls, sent emails, contacted the Minister Eric Abetz. Nothing happened
As the TURC operation for its second and unexpected year kicked off, the FWC belatedly listed and inquiry into the TWU.
In July last year we reported on apparently false statutory declarations made by Wayne Forno and other officials of the Transport Workers Union. Those declarations grossly inflated the TWU's membership numbers. In turn, the inflated membership numbers delivered Tony Sheldon and his cronies unearned power and influence within the Labor Party.
It's now 8 months since the Fair Work Commission was made aware of the prima facie falsely sworn declarations and the apparently fraudulent claims regarding membership numbers within the TWU. Our initial report contained evidence that would lend itself to a prosecution brief. But there's been no prosecution. There's been no investigation. And until just over one week ago, the Fair Work Commission hadn't even started preliminary inquiries into the matter.
8 months after it received our report, this announcement appeared within a section of the FWC website hidden several clicks away from public view.
Current inquiries & investigations
Current inquiries
- Transport Workers' Union of Australia—inquiry commenced 5 March 2015 (pursuant to s.330 of the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009)
The FWC process provides firstly for an inquiry into a reported breach of the law.
After the completion of an inquiry, the next step is to establish a investigation.
At the completion of the investigation, the matter may be referred to the Commonwealth prosecution agency for further action.
FWC - protecting union mates since Craig Thomson.
ENDS
And after all that - the Gillard protection racket operated out of Fair Work says this is about a failure to update membership numbers within a union.
Here is a selection of comments from Commissioner Heydon's report on the TWU and Sheldon's conduct.
Mr Sheldon’s conduct was done in order to benefit an organisation – the TWU – in increasing delegate numbers and therefore voting power at the NSW Labor Conference. It was also done in order to procure an advantage for an officer of the TWU, Mr Sheldon, since his power as leader of the TWU delegates would increase. That is conduct falling below the professional standards of a leading trade union official.
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During his oral testimony, Mr Sheldon admitted that there were not 39,212 members that could vote in a union ballot that year,54 and that roughly half of the declared members were in fact unfinancial members.
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Plainly, the 2008/2009 declaration submitted by Mr Sheldon was wrong. It grossly inflated the eligible number of TWU of NSW members to be used for the purposes of calculating the TWU of NSW’s delegates to the ALP Annual Conference.
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Mr Sheldon’s explanation cannot be accepted. All along the TWU should only have been reporting the ‘number of members eligible to vote in a ballot for an office in that union...’.63
-
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It was plain throughout the examination of Mr Sheldon on this topic over 15 pages of transcript77 that senior counsel assisting was extremely sceptical about Mr Sheldon’s evidence on this topic. Mr Sheldon can have been in no doubt that his claim that what happened was an innocent mistake shared by others was not being accepted and that senior counsel assisting was contending, as lame explanation succeeded lame explanation, that Mr Sheldon knew the errors were persistently being made.
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These are non-credible answers and senior counsel assisting was indicating his incapacity to believe them.
-
The examination concluded with the following gratuitous comment from the witness, not in answer to any question:86
THE WITNESS: You’ve probably asked me the same question about 10 different ways. I can give you a few suggestions. You’ll get the same answer.
MR STOLJAR: You haven’t answered yet, Mr Sheldon.
-
The evidence permitted an inference that Mr Sheldon was giving knowingly false answers, and that he had known for years that false membership numbers were being put forward. From that flows a further inference: that there was some advantage to be gained from doing this. The relevant advantage was an increase in TWU voting power at the ALP Conference and an advantage to Mr Sheldon as leader of the TWU delegates.
After Sheldon released this media statement attacking the TURC, Commissioner Heydon made this notation to a section of his Final Report.
344 Tony Sheldon’s statement is as inaccurate as the other point made in his letter: ‘The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found the royal commission was wrong to allege an agreement between Toll and the TWU to set up a fund on training, safety, auditing and education was anti-competitive’. The Interim Report made no allegation of this kind. All that it did was to note that the ACCC had announced on 21 October 2014 that it was conducting an investigation, and state that this was an appropriate course: Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption, Interim Report (2014), Vol 1, ch 7.2, p 998, para 55. It is unfortunately necessary also to draw attention to a false statement in the following part of a letter to the Editor of The Australian, published on 26 November 2015: ‘The Transport Workers Union was forced to spend time and resources answering questions at the Commission. We have been vindicated at every turn.’ Quite apart from the findings made against the Transport Workers’ Union in this Chapter, of which Tony Sheldon would have been ignorant at the time of writing his letter, it is not true that as at 26 November 2015 the Transport Workers’ Union and its officials ‘have been vindicated at every turn’. See the criticisms made in the Interim Report (Vol 1, ch 4.2, 4.4, 6.2 and in particular 10.2 concerning the deceitful membership numbers supplied by the Transport Workers’ Union to the Australian Labor Party with a view to boosting the Transport Workers’ Union delegate strength at New South Wales State Labor Conferences, and Tony Sheldon’s knowingly false evidence on that subject).
Today the tragic Employment Minister Michaelia Cash is quoted in her media statement made to The Australian and the AFR last night.
The trade union royal commission made serious findings of membership rorts against the TWU. It found that these rorts were undertaken to falsely inflate the number of members in order to boost the power base of TWU bosses in the Labor Party. These are very serious matters and it is appropriate that they now be considered by the courts."
Well Michaelia, sadly you prove once again that you're a sucker. You've been taken in. You're right that these are serious matters - but that's not what any court will hear based on Bernie O'Neill's statement.
You might think the Gillard/Bernadette O'Neill approach is "appropriate" in dealing with these racketeering organised crooks and that a court should consider O'Neill's suggested breaches.
I don't.
Australia deserves a lot better performers in our government than the insipid ineptitude of the judgement-free Turnbull Coalition.
The tragedy is Turnbull rolled Tony Abbott to give us this.
Only 6 months ago Turnbull promised this.
Turnbull flags sweeping reform following union royal commission as unions urge caution
The Turnbull government has flagged sweeping new laws to tackle trade union corruption after a Royal Commission found the labour movement was riddled with "widespread" and "deep-seated" misconduct.
The final report by Commissioner Dyson Heydon referred key union figures including the disgraced former Health Services Union Kathy Jackson and Victorian Labor MP Cesar Melhem to prosecutors for possible charges. But it made no adverse finding against Labor leader Bill Shorten, who was head of the Australian Workers Union when it committed a series of breaches detailed in the report.
Labor and the unions swiftly dismissed the report as a political witch-hunt, saying that the cases highlighted by Mr Heydon were isolated and did not represent systemic problems among union officials.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Employment, Senator Michaelia Cash, and Attorney-General Senator George Brandis address the media after the release of the final report from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in Sydney. Photo: Janie Barrett
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Employment Minister Michaelia Cash strongly indicated that many of the report's 79 recommendations would be adopted by the government in the form of new laws, amounting to a significant tightening of union regulation.
"If its recommendations are substantially adopted, if the lessons of this report are learned, the trade union movement will emerge much stronger," Mr Turnbull said.
Describing the report as a "watershed moment" for unions, Mr Turnbull vowed to make union reform an election issue if the Senate blocks new laws.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-flags-sweeping-reform-following-union-royal-commission-as-unions-urge-caution-20151230-glwthv.html#ixzz4D0XjEHbd
Well they blocked those laws Mal. What happened? Did you forget?
The election campaign is effectively over. People are voting. And waiting for leadership that will never come from you.