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Articles on Trade union royal commission

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The choice of Kimberley Kitching to replace former Victorian senator Stephen Conroy was controversial within Labor, dividing the right faction. Mick Tsikas/AAP

Senate targets Kitching’s ‘untruthful’ evidence to commission

The Senate has voted 35-21 to note that its newest member, Victorian Labor senator Kimberley Kitching, was found to have provided untruthful evidence to the Fair Work Commission.
The government argues its industrial relations bills are necessary to deal with widespread corruption uncovered by the trade union royal commission. AAP/Joel Carrett

Explainer: what are the ABCC and Registered Organisations bills?

To what extent would the ABCC and Registered Organisations bills actually deal with union corruption or criminality if passed?
Bill Shorten’s strong ties to the union movement are problematic for his credibility as alternative prime minister. AAP/Lukas Coch

Bill Shorten needs to demonstrate independence from the unions

Bill Shorten can heave a sigh of relief at the statement from the royal commission into union corruption that he didn’t do anything illegal in the activities it examined in his Australian Workers’ Union…
Sam Dastyari unleashes with Michelle Grattan in Canberra’s Muse wine bar and bookstore.

Politics podcast: Sam Dastyari unleashed

Sam Dastyari Unleashed
In The Conversation's first live podcast, Sam Dastyari gives a candid insight into Labor's strategy to win back government, the threat of the Greens and much more.
Labor says it will move a motion in the Senate this week for a message to be sent to the Governor-General, requesting he dismiss Dyson Heydon as royal commissioner. AAP/Alan Porritt

Can the Senate force the removal of a royal commissioner?

Given the Governor-General usually acts on the advice of the government and its ministers, an address from the Senate on Dyson Heydon is unlikely to have any effect.
Applications from trade unions failed to convince Dyson Heydon to disqualify himself as royal commissioner. AAP/Joel Carrett

Heydon rejects apprehended bias claim, stays on as royal commissioner

Dyson Heydon didn’t accept that merely agreeing to give the Sir Garfield Barwick lecture could create an appearance of bias. Judges and royal commissioners are allowed to have political views, he said.
Commissioner Dyson Heydon during a hearing of the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption in August. AAP Image/Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption

Royal commissioner Heydon rejects calls to stand down from trade union inquiry

Dyson Heydon has dismissed the unions’ application that he quit the royal commission into trade union corruption on the ground of “apprehended bias”.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott speaks with a child after laying a wreath on Eddie Mabo’s grave on Mer Island in the Torres Strait on Monday. Tracey Nearmy/AAP

Yes, Mr Abbott, things are ‘a bit out of control’

I think it is a bit out of control and I think it’s important … not just to talk about tighter management … but actually do it. Tony Abbott would have been absolutely right – if he had been speaking about…
The application for royal commissioner Dyson Heydon to quit follows his acceptance of a invitation to deliver the Garfield Barwick address. Joel Carrett/AAP

Heydon puts off ruling on apprehended bias

Royal commissioner Dyson Heydon has delayed his decision on union applications that he stand down on the grounds of “apprehended bias”.
Dyson Heydon prided himself throughout his judicial career on the robust independence and intellectual integrity he brought to the role. AAP/Renee Nowytarger

Bias and the ‘black-letter’ judge: who is Dyson Heydon?

How has a former judge with an avowed commitment to judicial independence and probity found himself at the centre of a very public controversy over his own impartiality?

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