AT a Senate inquiry this week, key public servant Nigel Hadgkiss was subject to a sustained personal attack. A person there described it as worse than the recent attack on Lieutenant General Angus Campbell by Labor senator Stephen Conroy. Labor senator Doug Cameron went off the deep end while the only Liberal present, senator Chris Back, sat back in silence. If this is how the Liberal Party is going to treat its general in the war against union thuggery, we have cause for concern. Last year Hadgkiss was placed to lead the Fair Work Building and Construction body. He fronted the inquiry to answer questions about the government’s bill. But Cameron just asked insulting questions and badgered Hadgkiss with accusations he wasn’t fit for office. Key players are disappointed the event wasn’t captured on camera, not because Cameron needs to be shamed (trying to shame him is futile) but because Back needs to be shamed. The Liberals must learn to stand up and protect their own. Now that a royal commission into union corruption has been declared, there is conflict brewing. All players must pick a side and stand fast. This is no time for weakness. Alliances also must be reviewed. Friendships between Liberal people and Labor-affiliated union people may need auditing. Malcolm Turnbull regularly causes consternation to Liberals when he mixes with those “on the Left”. However, more concerning are bonds between Ian Macfarlane and Greg Combet and Michael Kroger and Paul Howes. When Macfarlane had Combet appointed to help with SPC, I did a ring around to look for an explanation. The only non-defamatory explanation I received was that a mutually beneficial friendship exists. Do the Liberals realise how unsavoury this looks? Kroger raised eyebrows a few years ago for attending Howes’s 30th birthday party and launching his book. In 2012, Kroger reportedly hosted a small lunch at his home with Howes, Greg Hunt and Josh Frydenberg. It is a free country and one can associate with whomever one pleases, but it is reasonable for observers to question the wisdom of these Liberal-union dalliances. We are all judged by the company we keep, and in party politics judgments come thick and fast. I get the sense people in the Liberal Party and the media do not understand the Australian Workers Union. The AWU is not like any other union; it occupies a unique and reviled place in the movement. It has always been a highly politicised union. The AWU is a political organisation more than an industrial one; it exists to put people into parliament. Bill Ludwig, the “godfather” of the AWU, has just been referred to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission for investigation by the Queensland Racing Commission of Inquiry. Ludwig was on the board of the taxpayer-funded racing body, which was described by the Queensland government as “being run like a personal empire” and awarding contracts “without due process”. The royal commission into unions will target the AWU in the near future. Both Howes and Ludwig may end up being severely embarrassed at about the same time. Combet may end up being implicated in some way too. How will this look for their Liberal friends? Union people are expertly trained in infiltrating and organising groups and power structures with a view to control. Their method is to form a relationship with one person and use that relationship to leverage into others, wedging their way into the group, harvesting information, making friends, trading favours, using information and alliances to manipulate events. The influential are targeted first; charm is used to create relationships that bind. Large employers have been cleverly and successfully organised by unions into arrangements they have been brainwashed into thinking of as beneficial. Many employer groups have been organised too. State Liberal governments have been played for mugs but federal Liberals remain unconquered, desired territory. At stake is a financial slice of the coming infrastructure boom. If Labor-affiliated unions can wedge themselves into the Liberal power bases, they may survive until the next Labor government. In this context, events that seem incidental or alliances that seem harmless need to be treated seriously. theaustralian.au/opinion/columnists/some-alliances-are-politically-dangerous/story-fnkdypbm-1226855165295
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 18:26:25 +0000
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