Union boss Derrick Belan can explain why the tattoo of his parents he had done on his leg was paid for with his union credit card.

In 2014, the then-National Union of Workers NSW secretary took a photo of his father, late NUW boss Frank Belan, and his mother to the Buen-Arte tattoo parlour at Emu Plains to have a design drawn up to be put on his right calf, according to evidence before the trade union royal commission.

He was happy with the end result.

Derrick Belan’s tattoo, paid for with his union credit card.

In a written statement to the commission, tattooist William Buenen said Belan returned a day or so later and told him: “My mother cried when I showed her my tattoo. She said to tell you ‘thank you for making me look so young and beautiful’.”



The $432 cost was put on Belan’s NUW-issued credit card.



Belan told the commission on Tuesday he had to put the cost on his union card because the ATM next to the parlour was out of cash and his private credit card was back at the office.

He said he asked his niece, office accounts manager Danielle O’Brien, to take the money back.

“I never stole from the union,” he said.

Belan has been asked about a number of expenses on his union credit card including a cruise, the tattoo, rent for a property he lived in and fees for a dating service.

Belan said the $1,840 cost of the Pacific Jewell cruise on his corporate Amex card never came to his attention because O’Brien may not have put it before him.

“It’s all Danielle’s fault, is it?” counsel assisting the commission Sarah McNaughton asked.

Belan replied: “Yes, I believe so.”

The hearing continues.