I had been reading the ‘independent’ Madgwick report this morning which was commissioned by the ACTU looking at the governance and financial practices of trade unions.
Given the selection of friendlies on the panel, the conclusion comes as no suprise: nothing to see, just move along. The current laws are just fine. And of course, this little homily: “It is extremely unfortunate that the good name of so many union officers and employees, committed through their work to the service of their fellow citizens, has been blemished by the reported greed and mismanagement of a few in one or two unions. Regrettably there has been collective blame.”
I then happened upon this piece of fine investigative reporting by the ABC on John Maitland, former national secretary of the CFMEU. It is well worth reading through.
There is clearly a strong case for Royal Commission into the conduct and governance of trade unions. We cannot rely on the findings arrived out, with no real investigation, of a union-appointed panel.
The coal miners’ union is bracing itself for a damaging series of revelations from an anti-corruption inquiry involving a well-respected former leader.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption’s (ICAC) probe into the granting of mining licences to entities connected to the family of New South Wales Labor Party powerbroker Eddie Obeid has already damaged the ALP.
Now the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is bracing itself for a reputational hit in the next part of the inquiry, which is due to begin on Monday.
The CFMEU’s former national secretary, John Maitland, is staying out of the public eye at the moment and has cancelled today’s public auction of a $1.6 million farm near Kempsey on the NSW north coast.
However the former union veteran still has $5-million-worth of property on the market, including a $3 million property in Victoria owned through his family company, Jonca.
Mr Maitland bought the farms after he became a multi-millionaire just four years after retiring as CFMEU head.
That wealth came on the back of an investment of less than $200,000 and a mining licence issued by his friend, the then state mining minister, Ian Macdonald.
It was the same year Mr Maitland became a Member of the Order of Australia, in recognition of his services to international and Australian industrial relations.
Now, the unravelling of the story of the rise from union man to rich mining investor threatens to drag in his former union colleagues.
Doyles Creek licence
The ABC understands a number of mining union officials have been called to give evidence to the ICAC about the Doyles Creek coal exploration licence, and the associated $10 million share price windfall to Mr Maitland.
Just two months after he left the union Mr Maitland began buying shares in a company called Nucoal. A $1 shelf company was also established, which became Doyles Creek Mining.
Among Mr Maitland’s plans was for an operation to train people to work in underground mines.
Some time after his first approach to Mr Macdonald about his training mine, Mr Maitland became a director and later chairman of Doyles Creek Mining.
The training mine idea had been proposed a decade before, when Mr Obeid was minerals minister, and it had been a strong interest of Mr Maitland in his time at the CFMEU.
A plan for a large coal mine to fund it between the town of Jerrys Plains and the Wollemi National Park was rejected between 1999 and 2000 by the state government because the area was environmentally sensitive.
But the licence for a training mine and exploration licence was issued by Mr Macdonald in late 2008, against departmental advice, to Doyles Creek Mining.
Doyles Creek was then taken over by Nucoal and, when the company was publicly floated in 2010, Mr Maitland sold almost $6-million-worth of shares. After that, he began buying up the farms he is now selling.
The veracity of letters of support for the Doyles Creek licence sent to government is likely to be examined by the ICAC.
The apparent authors are Labor politicians including Climate Change Minister Greg Combet, along with a who’s who of union officials and entities associated with the mining union.
When Mr Maitland retired in 2006, the union’s then national president, Tony Maher, lauded “the Maitland effect” on the reputation of the union and the Labor movement.
“Wherever he goes he is hailed as a long-lost brother and treated as a king. And rightly so,” he said at a farewell in 2006.
Now Mr Maitland’s name cannot be found on the CFMEU website. According to sources in the union, the reaction he now prompts is shock and disappointment as the union nervously awaits the latest ICAC revelations.
A union spokesperson said officials are unable to comment based on legal advice.
The less effective unions are the better. The CFMEU isn’t really corrupt and do insane things to employers, and that’s a bad thing. You want unions which are too corrupt to bother about ruining employers like they usually do.
James B
16 Mar 13 at 1:05 pm
It should be a matter of putting them under the same regulatory regime as incorporated companies. No favouritism, no particular animosity from the regulators, just follow the rules.
Special rules for unions have to go.
blogstrop
16 Mar 13 at 1:31 pm
Cronyism is what it seems to be.
Louis Hissink
16 Mar 13 at 1:31 pm
Commissions Royal: The gift that keep on giving…
Take strong note, Tony Abbott - putative incoming Prime Minister – use your mandate wisely, and do not cower to self-interested factional issues.
Steer us along a strong, defined path out of this wilderness. Your fellow Australians need help.
Kaboom
16 Mar 13 at 1:34 pm
where are the communists when you need them? they were elected to unions because the members trusted them to not take a backhander from the bosses.
Normie gallagher was an exception that proves the rule.
Jim Rose
16 Mar 13 at 1:34 pm
Mate’s rates give a good return.
stackja
16 Mar 13 at 1:36 pm
So logically all those good people, committed through their work to the service of their fellow citizens, would want to come down hard on the few rogue troublemakers.
Kathy Jackson must be a hero amongst her fellow union officers. I presume they must treat her like gold given how she has demonstrated commitment through her work to the service of her fellow citizens.
Tel
16 Mar 13 at 2:14 pm
The Abbott government Royal Commission will be like Costigan on steroids.
H B Bear
16 Mar 13 at 2:53 pm
True; they gave her a shovel.
Brett
16 Mar 13 at 2:53 pm
If all these unionist cheifs are so good,where the hell did this shower of lying ,incompetent ,Fascist Marxist ,untidy nayshunistclowns in scamberra come from?
Most of them got into the Liars Pardee thru unions?
Borisgodunov
16 Mar 13 at 2:58 pm
Excellent point, Boris.
Gab
16 Mar 13 at 3:19 pm
“The Abbott government Royal Commission will be like Costigan on steroids”.
I bloody hope so.
cynical1
16 Mar 13 at 3:23 pm
Anyone that thinks the union movement wont fight this next election till 9someone elses) last cent hasnt been paying attention.
They have 2 choices.
1: Gillard sets up a toothless tiger royal commision.
2: back labour to the hilt and try and win the election
Anything else will see many go to jail, and some unions bankrupted, which also bankrupts the labour party.
Gillard has allready started trying to fill union coffers through legislative changes, every buck oing there is a buck to run the dirtiest campaign seen in Australian poitics.
thefrollickingmole
16 Mar 13 at 3:39 pm
The friend who handed him the essential mining licence,Ian Macdonald was,like Eddie,another of Carr’s Ministerial appointments.In 2003 Carr appointed him Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries launching his brilliant Ministerial career,in 2004 he made him Minister for Primary Industries.Ian became Minister for Minerals and Forest Resources on 3/8/05 but it’s not clear if that was a Carr or Iemma appointment as Carr retired as Premier on 3/8/05.Perhaps the ICAC will ask Carr to shed some light on his dealings with Ian and no doubt Bob will leap at the opportunity to tell his story under oath.
Lew
16 Mar 13 at 3:46 pm
If he was an American he’d have been a frequent visitor to the Whitehouse and a triple figure $millionaire rather than a double digit $millionaire.
Crony capitalism is in the natural bailiwick of leftism.
Free market capitalism is their enemy.
And naturally individual liberty is consequently their enemy.
JamesK
16 Mar 13 at 3:46 pm
The whole rotten union – ALP criminal complex is coming unstuck. Good to see Comrade Combet getting in on the action. Can’t wait for Piggy Howes to be named. But surely the biggest fish to fry will be big Bill Ludwig. I hope the ICAC investigates how the Union movement controls industry super funds.
John Comnenus
16 Mar 13 at 3:49 pm
I thought they had been bankrupt for some time. The last good idea they had must have been in the 1980s.
Mother Hubbard's Dog
16 Mar 13 at 3:51 pm
They have been, Morally bankrupt.
what planet am I on?
16 Mar 13 at 3:59 pm
Michele Malkin often writes about the Democrat ‘Culture of Corruption’ we seem to have a similar problem here. Does anyone seriously think the Libs will have the balls to instigate a Royal Commission with genuine terms of reference?
sfw
16 Mar 13 at 4:11 pm
Actually I do. I think there’s a couple of really brave guys in that party who would try this on.
The next Inquiry ought to be on tertiary education and finding out why it’s a leftwing hotbed.
JC
16 Mar 13 at 4:25 pm
A lawyers banquet.
Time to put the ICAC, CMC, CJC, FOI and all the rest of the ‘Laws to end all Laws’ on a bonfire and burn them. Maitland, Obeid, Beattie, Howard, Kirner, Colesworths, the big Banks and their ilk have all profited by over-regulation. The big end of town, and the lawyers and rent-seekers who masquerade as the peoples champions have grown fat on restricting small business and entrepreneurs. The obvious side effect is that this restriction brings temptation, temptation that corrupts!
Sadly the treatment of the corruption is often more expensive than the crime. There are few if any penalties, and only occasionally a sacrificial lamb. To watch the wisened twats raising their eyebrows and carefully placing sneers and pregnant pauses on the public record at senate estimates, and other long running circuses are in my opinion the demise of democracy not the saviour. In fact the performances (for that they are) are in my opinion bizarre and should be rewarded with a straight jacket and trip to a padded cell.
Until the people can strip political parties of public funding and strip politicians of superannuation and remuneration, the parliaments will continue to corrupt all the institutions around them. While politicians are employed in careers as privileged public servants, government is little more than a monopoly answerable to no-one.
Time to let the people put their own champions in to ask the real questions without the need for expensive acronym wielding lawyers. Lawyers little more than rent-seekers who profit from the mess we are in.
JohnB
16 Mar 13 at 4:40 pm
Unions are weak and struggle for influence .Their will is almost broken .
The lefts big problem in oz is that compromise is in their DNA ! . They are not lovers of freedom . They are different from entreupners !. An indecisive opponent is easily held in the shadows and ignored (maybe unions should have a different regulatory regime from business !) .
At this time in our history we need a more productive political class and mainstream media .Thankfully a (still) free press ensures that sleazy union corruption reflects badly on the labor party . But the press is only half good. Can the rorters really ensure corruption in the big business world doesnt reflect badly in the press on the groups of politicians who serve it most ?. As a(A)ustralians moving foward we must grow our way out of this splendid mess ( Judith plays her role terrifically , the other mob is where the problem is ).
Economic responsibility is not negotiable .
sunshine
16 Mar 13 at 5:23 pm
If you are in the game of courage and attacking corruption, what about the intellectually corrupt ABC. Privatise the bastards!
ChrisA
16 Mar 13 at 6:25 pm
So McDonald web of lies and deceit at the expense of the public goes a lot further and deeper than any of us imagined.
If there was a special purpose jail to throw the lot of the ex NSW state labor into they should have built the bloody thing five years ago.
All I can say is I live here in NSW and it will be a damn long time before I even consider to consider voting for them.
As for Roberston how does / did that one get off so scot free?
They stink.
Aliice
16 Mar 13 at 7:31 pm
John B
You have it all wrong in my opinion when you say
“Until the people can strip political parties of public funding and strip politicians of superannuation and remuneration, the parliaments will continue to corrupt all the institutions around them. ”
What needs to be stripped out of political funding is private funding and donations and rent seekers. Even Barry OFarrell is on to this.
Aliice
16 Mar 13 at 7:34 pm
IT doesnt matter how much NDSW Labor fights for the next election. They are losers and they will stay losers for years after this.
Aliice
16 Mar 13 at 7:37 pm
Nothing would make me happier than to see Combet go down! His vicious, foul-mouth attacks on Tony Abbott leave me cold mainly because of his shear hypocrisy! Remember him and Jennie George were behind the riotous rally in 1996 when they mashed the doors of Parliament House! He has the nerve to criticise the protesters of the carbon tax because we were lied to! Combet another union hack that is holding this country to ransom!
Chez
16 Mar 13 at 9:39 pm
Aliice – I’m yet to hear a compelling argument for public funding of political parties. After all, the parties are rent seekers themselves. Of the few referenda passed since Federation, the s.15 amendments of 1977 were a truly retrograde step (filling casual vacancies with candidates of the same party). This was the first time parties were referenced in The Constitution. The Senate is the house of the states, the the filling of vacancies should be their remit on whatever grounds they choose.
The solution is to allow donations only from individuals on the roll with full disclosure. No body corporate donations. I accept this is a somewhat illiberal approach, but I can see no other practical way to cure the system of its current malaise.
Empire Strikes Back
17 Mar 13 at 8:40 am
Empire strikes back – I agree with your proposition on the need for full disclosure of all donations to political parties. However, vested interest groups on either side are so powerful, it will never happen irrespective of whoever in power. I saw the other day in the Insiders Gerard Henderson (a well articulated person, and somewhat sensible)trying to justify the Vic Libs’ $25000 payment form party coffers to a staffer who was sacked. The donors will never know whose money it was. Mind it, the situation is even worse on the other side of the political divide. We are a developed country, but in some ways we are as bad as Italy or Greece.
sabrina
17 Mar 13 at 11:33 am
[...] Oh no, not another. Just when you thought there couldn’t be any more, along comes: Just another rogue unionist. [...]
rogue unionists … | pindanpost
17 Mar 13 at 12:00 pm
Aliice,
I argue from a historical point of view. The current model of central powerful political parties is corrupting as Lawrence Springborg has high-lighted at the union level. The Queensland State Labor Government had taken the representation of workers from the shop steward, shaking the can on the shop floor, given it to the likes of the Beatties and the Blighs salaried and parachuted in from student unions to the likes of the current Nursing Directors funded out of the public purse to undertake the political and representative role of unions.
Democracy will be restored when Local members ‘shake the can’ to make their communities voice heard in Parliament. They can then vote and organise along party lines. The current situation where a central party organisation is funded from the taxpayer or from vested interests to pre-select loyal party members clearly does not work.
Historically, a few vagrant corrupt pollies was a damn site less expensive and more effective than this corruption from the top down we suffer at the moment. History will bury the current bunch of ‘possies without roots’ as they squabble for their turn in a vase at Parliament.
JohnB
18 Mar 13 at 12:14 am