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AWU raids: union vows to challenge federal police warrants in court AWU raids are a new low for Turnbull government, Bill Shorten says
(about 3 hours later)
Raids at the Australian Workers’ Union headquarters in Melbourne and Sydney are likely to see the union challenge the investigation and warrants in federal court. Bill Shorten has attacked the federal police raids on Australian Workers’ Union offices in Melbourne and Sydney overnight, saying they were a new low for the Turnbull government.
The Australian federal police raided the headquarters on Tuesday in support of a Registered Organisations Commission (ROC) investigation into donations the AWU made to activist group GetUp! when federal Labor leader Bill Shorten was in charge of the union. “Yet again, yesterday, the government is wasting taxpayer money in an increasingly grubby effort, by a grubby government and, quite frankly, a grubby prime minister,” the federal Labor leader said on Wednesday.
Union lawyers are expected to challenge the investigation at Melbourne’s federal court on Monday, an AWU spokesman said. “They have been exposed for standing for nothing and all they have left is to try to damage the reputation of their opponents.”
“The application will be to object to the validity of the investigation and the warrants,” the spokesman said. Daniel Walton, the national secretary of the AWU, has criticised the Registered Organisations Commission for asking the federal police to conduct the raids, saying the AWU would be making an application in the federal court on Wednesday for a return of the documents seized.
The ROC received information that documents were being interfered with in the union’s offices “by being concealed or destroyed” while it was investigating whether the donations were within the union’s rules. It said a magistrate authorised the AFP raids to seize the documents. The AFP raided the union’s headquarters on Tuesday in support of an ROC investigation into donations the AWU made to the activist group GetUp when Shorten was in charge of the union.
The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, earlier this month referred the issue to the ROC following reports the union gave about $100,000 to the leftwing advocacy group when it launched in 2005. The ROC received information that documents were being interfered with in the union’s offices “by being concealed or destroyed” while it was investigating whether the donations were within the union’s rules. It said a magistrate had authorised the AFP raids to seize the documents.
AWU’s national secretary, Daniel Walton, branded the raids “an extraordinary abuse of police resources” and said they were part of an attempt to smear Shorten. The employment minister, Michaelia Cash, this month referred the issue to the ROC after reports the union gave about $100,000 to the leftwing advocacy group when it launched in 2005.
Walton said the documents seized were over 10 years old and “do nothing more than highlight the fact that the union made a few political donations”. Daniel Walton branded the raids “an extraordinary abuse of police resources” and said they were part of an attempt to smear Shorten.
He said the documents seized were more than 10 years old and “do nothing more than highlight the fact that the union made a few political donations”.
“We’re extremely concerned about the actions of the Registered Organisations Commission and extremely concerned of the actions of the Turnbull government,” Walton said on Tuesday.“We’re extremely concerned about the actions of the Registered Organisations Commission and extremely concerned of the actions of the Turnbull government,” Walton said on Tuesday.
GetUp! on Tuesday said it had previously acknowledged receipt of a donation of $100,000 in 2005 from the AWU. On Tuesday GetUp said it had previously acknowledged receipt of a donation of $100,000 in 2005 from the AWU. “There is no suggestion of any impropriety on GetUp’s part on the receipt and handling of the donation,” a spokesman said.
“There is no suggestion of any impropriety on GetUp!’s part on the receipt and handling of the donation,” a spokesman said in a statement. The ROC website says an ongoing investigation into the AWU’s national office and the Victorian branch commenced on 20 October.
The commission’s website says an ongoing investigation into the AWU’s national office and the Victorian branch commenced on 20 October.