Royal Commission into Trade Unions

[stui magpie]

All has been very silent on here about an important bit of investigation, the royal commission into unions. Since there's multiple threads every time Bud has a brain fart, I'm sure at least one can be put to this use.

The HSU is copping a grilling and rightly so IMHO. Little Bill should be thinking long and hard about his links with some of the people in there.

Today apparently was a bit more about ex labor party national president Michael Williamson living the grand life off the sweat of the members.

[Tannin]

Taxpayer dollars, Stui, it's about taxpayer dollars. The HSU guys stole how many taxpayer dollars? Ans: zero. There are multiple millions of dollars stolen every month by dodgy businesmen, multiple millions ripped out of shareholders' pockets with frauds of all kinds. Fraud on shareholders is a vastly, vastly bigger problem, but I never hear Abbott and his goons say a word about it, just as you never say a word about it. This Royal Commission is nothing more than a try-hard fishing expedition set up by Abbott (a) to try to find some dirt on his opponents somehow, and more importantly (b) to distract your attention away from the real issues that impact on real people, in particular Abbott's vindictive and dreadful budget disaster. Throw in Abbott's disgraceful cutbacks to the already under-funded ASIC department which is the body responsible for detecting and prosecuting fraud by businessmen on shareholders.

Taxpayer dollars, Stui, it's about taxpayer dollars. The HSU guys stole how many taxpayer dollars? Ans: zero.

Compare with the massive frauds the Liberal Party leadership has been caught red-handed at: start with Liberal icon and Assistant Treasurer Sinodinos taking $200,000 of NSW taxpayer money for 35 hours "work" trying to get hold of a cool $20,000,000 "bonus" for using his influence to have Sydney Water flogged off to his dodgy mates. Then look at the terrible record of fraud on the taxpayer by Liberal politicians - including Abbott himself - putting down as "expenses" big-dollar trips to look at your investment property in Cairns, attend Rinehart's India function, sell your book, compete in fun runs, amass a huge private library, and so on and on and on.

[David]

Hope this means that a lot of these crooks will be ratted out and unions by and large can embrace some semblance of ethical and lawful behaviour.

After that, any chance that we could have a similar royal commission into big business?

[swoop42]

The treatment and threats delivered to the woman who dared tell the truth were pretty shameful.

[stui magpie]

Tannin old son, it's not about taxpayers dollars. It's about credibility and integrity.

Unions are very largely unregulated, unlike business. They have a direct pipe into a political party and a guaranteed part of the vote and the preselection process, unlike business.

With union membership at a very low percentage of the total workforce, surely it's important that these elected officials of the working person are held to account for acting responsibly.
Lets just hope that here is an opportunity that is taken, to clean out the cancerous scum that infect the union movement (in pockets, not in whole) and have the whole be able to stand up again with credibility and integrity.

How many Labor people went down with Sydney Water? That's not a great argument about party lines, that's just proof that NSW politicians are the best money can buy.

[stui magpie]

[Culprit]

Is there anyone surprised that there is corruption? This is how the world operates be it on the companies side or union side. Some people get caught, many don't. As for Jackson, she is more than just the a whistle-blower, she is a hand-grenade thrower but forgot to pull the pin when she threw the last one in the room.

[pietillidie]

Both arguments are right: The one concerning the irrational exaggeration of union menace versus corrupt business and elite menace and the one concerning the need to clean up unions.

I have no problem dealing even with petty thugs in the unions first, but as Tannin and David would no doubt agree, I just can't wait for the inquiries into the mining industry, mining investment industry, utilities monopolies, and Gliberal Party funding machine.

[sherrife]

[HAL]

My aim is not very good.

[watt price tully]

[Pies4shaw]

I think it's fair to say that every commission royal is a biased political witch-hunt. Its what they're for: bread and circuses (well, that and the chance for lawyers to run around accusing people of things with more or less impunity, in circumstances where the very same accusations would often be ethically unacceptable in court).

That said, the question to be answered is usually whether the smears stick, rather than whether the mud is capable of being thrown. Do we need a royal commission to tell us that in any organisation there will be people who, if left to their own devices, will put their snouts in the trough?

[Culprit]

WPT is on the money. After reviewing the terms of this Royal Commission it is clearly a payback exercise. You cannot cross examine or question the witness? WTF

Oh well what goes around comes around.

[Pies4shaw]

You have a list of ones that weren't payback exercises?

[Culprit]