Coroner & Legal
Unions say Eric Abetz a hypocrite over concerns a federal Icac would harm reputations
Australian Workers Union head, Scott McDine, criticises Abetz for damaging Julia Gillard’s reputation at union royal commission
Union leaders have accused senator Eric Abetz of hypocrisy for opposing a federal anti-corruption body due to possible harm to the reputations of people under investigation.
They cited the reputational damage to trade unionists by the royal commission Abetz launched, including to former prime minister Julia Gillard.
At a Senate committee hearing into a national integrity commission on Thursday, Abetz objected to the possibility it could investigate conduct that falls short of criminal behaviour, including “commercial immorality” which he said was as “very vague notion”.
“We’d all have our views on … commercial governance and acting with the very best levels of morality. But don’t we actually need an objective test, such as that behaviour is either criminal or not criminal?
“When do we start impugning people’s reputation by saying ‘it wasn’t criminal behaviour but’ and leaving people’s reputation besmirched?”
Abetz cited the example of former New South Wales premier Nick Greiner who he said had his career “absolutely demolished courtesy of an over-eager [Independent Commission Against Corruption]”.
“We also had wild opening statements from people at Icac where the evidence then doesn’t support the opening statement; we have Icac pursuing [Margaret] Cunneen and then [the case] blowing up in their face.”
Abetz, formerly the employment minister, established a trade union royal commission that spent two years investigating a wide variety of alleged misconduct from criminal behaviour down to conflicts of interest between union leaders and members.
Australian Workers Union national secretary, Scott McDine, told Guardian Australia “comments like this make you wonder if Abetz has any of the normal human capacity for self-reflection”.
“Here is a bloke who dedicated much of his brief time on the front bench to using quasi-legal constructions to impugn the reputations of his political enemies in the labour movement,” he said.
“Here is a bloke who spent most of his time in opposition trying desperately to smear the reputation of our first female prime minister over allegations that were later rejected by his own carefully curated kangaroo court.”