Paper trail in shreds
AFP collects evidence as Cash battles senators
BAGS of shredded documents were among evidence seized from union offices by the Australian Federal Police, which yesterday sensationally slapped down critics who accused it of being politicised.
As the Registered Organisations Commission fights the AWU in Federal Court today to obtain the documents, the Opposition is expected to double down on calls for Employment Minister Michaelia Cash to resign.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and several ministers threw their support behind Senator Cash yesterday and said she was going nowhere.
Senator Cash has faced hours of parliamentary grilling in the past 48 hours over whether she or her staff tipped off the media about simultaneous raids at Australian Workers’ Union offices in Sydney and Melbourne.
A senior staff member resigned on Wednesday night after admitting to his boss he received a tip-off from a media organisation about the raids – and then called other media to alert them.
The resignation came after Senator Cash vehemently denied to an estimates hearing that neither she nor her office had anything to do with informing the media.
Senator Cash yesterday wrote to ROC Commission Commissioner Mark Bielecki asking him to consider referring the leak to the Australian Federal Police.
The ROC is investigating whether the AWU breached rules to allow the union, then run by Bill Shorten, to use members’ money to donate to left-wing activists GetUp! and three 2007 election campaigns.
The AFP has agreed not to hand over the evidence to the ROC until a court hearing is finalised. A directions hearing is scheduled in the Federal Court in Victoria today.
AFP Commissioner Andrew Colvin has slammed the commentary regarding the AFP’s independence.