Maritime union national secretary Paddy Crumlin says the changes are 'counterproductive and counterintuitive'. Credit:AAP Mr Di Giorgi said it was an attempt to "calm" union workers and avoid disruption of the project. In an email to Eni Australia on October 28, 2008, Mr Di Giorgi said a $1 million payment was made to the Maritime Employees Training Limited. "This training contribution is intended to maintain the relationships established with the maritime unions and facilitate their cooperation to mitigate the risks with HSE/IR issues in relation to Blacktip Project activities….," he said. In response to the email, ENI executive Walton Stephen said the statement "sounds a little too much like a bribe" and suggested it be reworded to avoid this impression.

"My understanding of the reason we are making this contribution is in recognition that there is a shortage of Australian seafarers and, as such, we have had to utilise foreign vessels on the project and therefore we are providing funds to the maritime industry to support the training of additional seafarers in the future," Mr Stephen said. The proposed agreement was then reworded by Mr Di Giorgi in an email on November 3 to say "this training contribution is intended to sustain the training of new and existing employee[s], in relation to future projects in Australia, at company's benefit as well". In a sworn statement, Mr Di Giorgi said Saipem needed to use foreign-crewed vessels to bring pipes from Indonesia to Australia for the Blacktip Project because of a shortage of Australian vessels and crews. He said MUA workers were opposed to the use of foreign crews and vessels, but the union had suggested additional training of Australian maritime workers "may be a solution". He said it was agreed that savings to Saipem through the use of foreign vessels and crew would be paid to a training organisation for maritime employees to be trained to meet the labour skills shortage that had caused Saipem to use foreign workers.

"The training was also a gesture of good faith towards the maritime employees who were against the use of foreign workers on the Blacktip Project; to calm them down and show them that Saipem was committed to the long term development of skills in the maritime workforce in Australia," he said. "Our position was that we had to use foreign workers to get the Blacktip Project done because there were not enough skilled Australian maritime employees and Australian vessels." Mr Stoljar said the MUA would not accept foreign tugboats and threatened that "if this did happen it would take action to disrupt the project supply chain and activities on the project site". Speaking outside the royal commission, the national secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, Paddy Crumlin, said companies had not been coerced to contribute to the union training fund. "They pay because they are committed to having a proper dialogue with an Australian workforce because they are good employers," he said.

"We have never had a slush fund. Every dollar that was collected off employers was given willingly to train young Australians to work on … short-term contract jobs. "This has been a co-operative dialogue between unions and employers." Mr Crumlin said the Abbott government's royal commission was a "jihad against trade unions". "This is part of the Abbott government regime, a political attack on the rights of Australians to work in their own country because it is cheaper to bring in foreign labour, because they pay no tax and they get paid foreign rates of pay far lower than Australian's earn. That's all it's about," he said.