The report found the union's funds had been spent building a rehearsal studio for Chris Williamson's commercial use. ''This was stark favouritism,'' it said. Michael Williamson. Credit:Nick Moir United Edge, a company of which Michael Williamson was a third owner, received $4.7 million in the four years to September 2011. United Edge, which provided IT services without having to tender, operated rent free from the HSUeast headquarters. Then there was the $384,625 Julieanne Williamson received for allegedly doing the union's archiving from 2005 to 2009. Mr Temby is particularly critical of this transaction. ''Assuming that the work was actually done, and done by Mrs Williamson alone, and she worked a 37.5-hour week throughout the 50-month period - collecting folders, dismantling and collating them for scanning, week after tedious week for 52 weeks of the year - then she was being paid at a rate close to $34 per hour plus GST … a high hourly rate for what appears to be basic clerical work.''

Mr and Mrs Williamson declined to be interviewed by Mr Temby, but she wrote to Mr Temby saying: ''I felt I should have been charging $200ph, as the work was downright disgustingly filthy.'' The acting general secretary of HSUeast, Peter Mylan, told the investigators Mr Williamson told him it had been decided to scan the union's records and his wife was doing it. Mr Mylan ''had never seen her actually doing the work, but he knew she had done it,'' the report said. Mr Mylan said the union's librarian had done the scanning but when the librarian told Mr Temby ''she did not know what he was talking about'', Mr Mylan was asked ''to consider his position''. By the next week the story had changed somewhat. Mr Mylan told investigators he had made some ''assumptions and presumptions'' and had not seen the files brought in for scanning but he still believed Mrs Williamson had done the work.

''The truth of the matter, we think, is that there was a system set up which saw regular and large sums paid to Williamson's wife, that Mylan became aware of the system later on and went along with it … He does not know what work, if any, Mrs Williamson did in any given two-month period. Nor do we.'' The Williamsons received a discount when they hired the union's architect to plan their holiday home. For the four years until last year, Ron Mah-Chut was paid a total of $3.4 million by the union. Mr Mah-Chut told investigators Mr Williamson entered into a verbal agreement for an annual retainer of $88,000. This entailed spending one day a week scouting for sites suitable for the union to develop into retirement villages or holiday destinations. None was bought, the report noted. On top of his retainer, Mr Mah-Chut reaped 2 per cent of the purchase price of any property the union bought. Over three years, he was paid $255,000 on top of his retainer. ''When asked if he charged Williamson less for the work at Lake Macquarie by reason of the large amount of work he did for the union, after initial hesitation, Mah-Chut replied in the affirmative,'' the report said.

Mr Temby and Mr Robertson noted that nepotism was rife in the union. Mr Williamson's brother Darren, his sister-in-law Monique Irvine, his close friend Cheryl McMillan and her sister-in-law Julie Astill were among the dozen highest-paid people in the union. Mr Williamson was revealed to be receiving a salary of $394,675 as of last September, when Mr Temby and Mr Robertson were appointed to conduct an internal review of the union, after the Herald raised allegations of corruption. The report revealed that Mr Williamson's salary increased 25 per cent after a consultant was appointed to review salaries. The wage review was conducted by Beth Jensen, the partner of the HSU's Victorian barrister David Langmead. Among Mr Temby's and Mr Robertson's recommendations were that the recruitment of family members be prohibited, the union should adopt proper accounting practices and conduct tenders for services exceeding $200,000. Loading The report said: ''We express the hope that the administrator will take forceful steps, in a timely fashion, to fix the more grave defects in the union, and hand it back to the members in a better state than it is now.''