More problems for Australian Labor
News.com.au reports:
THE union boss Michael Williamson has allegedly been caught attempting to take a bag of documents out of the HSU while a police raid occurs on the premises.
Detectives from Strike Force Carnarvon moved in this morning to raid the premises as part of their investigation into alleged corruption in the Health Services Union.
The head of the fraud squad, Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson, confirmed police were considering charging someone with attempting to hinder the investigation by removing information.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the person is Mr Williamson. The documents he attempted to remove were seized by police. Mr Williamson is also a former National President of the Australian Labor Party.
The Australian Labor Party is near terminal. Gillard’s tenure could well now be weeks, not months. The delay is working out who to replace who with.
Meanwhile back in NZ, Whale reports:
As regular readers will know I have been focusing on dodgy unions and their lackadaisical financial records.
One union which I highlighted was the Meatworkers and Related Trades Union in which I found over $4 million of members funds missing.
As a result of my investigations one of the meat companies laid a complaint with the Serious Fraud Officewho declined to investigate. Perhaps they should have not been so hasty in dismissing the complaint. Perhaps Helen Kelly might like to apologise to AFFCO after labeling their complaint as “hatred”.
I have learned yesterday that the Meatworkers and Related Trades Union has been ordered by The Registrar of Incorporated Societies to comply with the law and has required the Union to re-do their latest financial statement to include the figures for the unincorporated branches.
This means that the union claims that it was all above board for them to not issue consolidated accounts and essentially hide members monies in subsidiaries was based on poor advice and they are now being required to properly file audited accounts.
If this is correct, I am glad the Registrar has ordered compliance. Incorporated Societies are obliged to have their accounts in the public domain, and unions are not exempt from that – even ones affiliated to the NZ Labour Party.