‘The behaviour of the royal commissioner has been absolutely beyond reproach,’ says PM after Heydon pulled out of commitment to speak at event

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Tony Abbott has dug in to defend the integrity of the royal commissioner he appointed to investigate trade union corruption, after Dyson Heydon pulled out of a commitment to speak at a Liberal party fundraiser.

The revelations that Heydon was due to address an event organised by the NSW division of the Liberal party fuelled a political storm over the future of the inquiry, with Labor, the Greens and unions demanding the prime minister shut down the “$80m political witch-hunt”.

In an effort to defend his conduct, the former high court judge released a recent email exchange between him and the organisers of the $80-per-person Sir Garfield Barwick address, which was due to take place on 26 August.

Trade union royal commisisoner Dyson Heydon billed to speak at Liberal fundraiser Read more

Heydon had been listed as the keynote speaker as early as April. Organiser Gregory Burton wrote to Heydon on Wednesday to describe “final arrangements” for the address.

The email included a copy of the guest invitation, which also gave people the opportunity to make donations of other amounts, payable to the Liberal party’s New South Wales division, and said that “all proceeds from this event will be applied to state election campaigning”.

According to the exchange, Burton said: “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 of course people will disclose it if they go over the state donation limit.”

Heydon’s personal assistant replied on Thursday at 9.23am and kept open the option of his attendance, with a proviso: “He does not wish to answer any questions after his address. 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 whilst he is in the position of royal commissioner.”



Labor probes Dyson Heydon link to Liberal fundraiser – question time live Read more

The story of Heydon’s attendance was broken by Fairfax Media by about 10.35am.

At 11.22am, the commission issued a statement to announce that Heydon “will not be delivering the Sir Garfield Barwick address”.

The foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, said she was advised the attorney general, George Brandis, first heard about the matter through the media and “telephoned the commissioner about 11.30 this morning and the commissioner advised he had already confirmed he would not be attending”.

Brandis disputed the description of the event as a fundraiser, saying Heydon had an “absolutely stainless reputation for punctilious integrity” and his withdrawal should be the end of the matter.

During Senate question time, the attorney general maintained that the Sir Garfield Barwick address was “a public function … not a political function”.



But in the House of Representatives, Abbott initially appeared to accept the description of fundraiser.

The prime minister said at the beginning of question time: “Plainly, the royal commissioner himself believed that it was inappropriate to give the address at a Liberal party fundraiser because … as the statement issued on his behalf this morning said, ‘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’.”



Abbott said he would “gladly defend the integrity of the royal commissioner” and argued that “the behaviour of the royal commissioner has been absolutely beyond reproach”.

“The royal commissioner had withdrawn from this event before I was even aware of it,” he said.

“If members opposite want to debate the royal commission, let’s bring it on. Let’s bring it on because what the royal commission has done is shine a light into some dark corners of our public life where union officials have ripped off workers to help themselves.”



Labor sought to cut short question time to censure the prime minister “for failing to immediately sack his royal commissioner and [for] establishing a royal commission that was biased from the start”.



The Coalition used its numbers to defeat the motion, arguing the opposition was unfairly tarnishing the reputation of an eminent jurist.

The manager of opposition business, Tony Burke, said that Abbott, in setting up the royal commission into his political opponents, had “wanted someone who would be partisan; he wanted someone who would be biased”.

“Be in no doubt: if a juror behaved in this way they’d be off the jury immediately … but somehow this prime minister believes that a royal commissioner can behave this way and that’s fine,” Burke said.



The shadow attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said he was not suggesting Heydon was biased, but argued there was an appearance of bias.



Dreyfus described the proposed attendance at a Liberal party fundraiser as an “extraordinary error of judgment” that would call into question any findings that would ultimately be made by the royal commission.

“He should resign because by his own actions he has created the appearance of bias, and discredited and compromised every single further action by this royal commission, and if he does not resign he should be sacked by this government,” Dreyfus said.

The leader of the house, Christopher Pyne, said the opposition’s motion was “a massive smokescreen from the Labor party’s embarrassment about their tawdry relationship with the trade union movement”.

In a speech to parliament, Pyne said Labor wanted to hide the fact that the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, “was prepared to trade away penalty rates for the poorest workers in the cleaning industry in exchange for cash for his union, when he was the secretary of the union, to pay the membership”.

“Labor finds itself on the side of bashing the umpire,” Pyne said.



Shorten, who was questioned by the royal commission for two days in July, has previously defended the quality of the agreements he negotiated when he headed the Australian Workers’ Union.

The NSW state director of the Liberal party, Tony Nutt, said the event invitation included information necessary to meet electoral disclosure laws, but he played down the amount of money that would have been raised.

“The suggestion that this memorial lecture was a significant fundraising event is ridiculous,” he said.