Within an hour of opening the royal commission into trade unions at 9.30am on Thursday, Mr Heydon called two sudden adjournments to deal with an urgent "problem". Trade unions royal commission hangs by a thread: Dyson Heydon Credit:Renee Nowyarger Surprisingly, the source of the problem was not disclosed and did not appear to relate to the hearing at hand, which was dealing with the national construction union. But the first adjournment was called at 10.10am, shortly after Fairfax Media published a story about the commissioner's upcoming attendance at a Liberal Party fundraiser. The story revealed that Mr Heydon is listed as the keynote speaker at the Sir Garfield Barwick Address on August 26 in Sydney. The invitation to the event, written on a Liberal Party letterhead, says the $80 cost should be made to the Liberal Party of Australia's NSW division. It also calls for donations if people are unable to attend. The invitation's fine print says: "All proceeds from this event will be applied to state election campaigning."

On the first occasion at 10.10am, Mr Heydon called for a five-minute adjournment after being approached by a staff member during the hearing. "I need to adjourn for an important problem that has just arisen," he said A short time later, at 10.53am, the commissioner called for another unexplained adjournment. "Another problem has arisen that I must attend to. If it is convenient, we might take the morning tea adjournment now," he said. The royal commission's media office could not be contacted before it put out a statement at 11.22am which said Mr Heydon would not be delivering the Sir Garfield Barwick address.

"As early as 9.23 this morning (and prior to any media enquiry being received) he advised the organisers that: 'If there was any possibility that the event could be described as a Liberal Party event he will be unable to give the address, at least whilst he is in the position of Royal Commissioner,'" the statement said. At 11.30am, Attorney-General George Brandis was on the phone to the commissioner after hearing the media reports. His colleague Julie Bishop told Parliament the commissioner had told Mr Brandis he had already confirmed he would not be attending the Sir Garfield Barwick Address. By the afternoon, the final defence was mounted with the release of an email exchange between Mr Heydon's assistant and an organiser of the August 26 event. The organiser, Gregory Burton, sent an email saying: "As you know, although nominally under the auspices of the Liberal Party lawyers' professional branches, this is not a fundraiser - the cost charged is purely to cover dinner including our guests and a small contingency for fixed costs in case of a numbers collapse…. Although people will disclose it if they go over the state donation limit".

Mr Heydon's assistant replied that "if there is any possibility that the event could be described as a Liberal Party event he will be unable to give the address, at least while he is in the position of royal commissioner". The last time Mr Heydon's attendance at a function raised eyebrows was when he gave a lecture at a Quadrant function in October 2002, before his appointment to the High Court the following year. At the time, his speech was described by many as a job application to John Howard. The ACTU is now calling on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to shut down the $61 million royal commission into trade unions, saying it has become compromised as a "taxpayer-funded political exercise". From the start, unions have been calling the royal commission a political witch hunt. News about the Liberal Party fundraiser invitation further fuelled those accusations.