Senator Linda Reynolds today slammed the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Labor Party for soliciting political donations in exchange for industrial peace.

The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption last week revealed that during the 2013 Federal Election campaign, Chris Cain the MUA State Director and Campaign Fundraising Director for Adrian Evans, ALP Candidate for Hasluck, solicited a $30,000 donation “for the purpose of securing industrial peace”.

As revealed by Andrew Burrell on 9 January in his expose in The Weekend Australian:

“Documents tendered to the royal commission show that the $30,000 was transferred from Van Oord Australia to a bank ­account called ALP (WA) Hasluck federal campaign”

“The royal commission was told that Mr Evans’s campaign fundraising director, MUA state secretary Chris Cain, approached Van Oord Australia senior executive Herm Pol in May 2013 to seek the donation.”

“The request was made after a discussion between Mr Pol and Mr Cain over manning levels for a vessel on a new project.”

“The gift has been kept hidden from public scrutiny despite it being among the biggest corporate donations Labor received during its 2013 election campaign.”

Senator Reynolds calls on Adrian Evans to come clean on what exactly what promises the MUA made in exchange for the undisclosed donation.

Senator Reynolds said that the results of the 2013 Federal Election clearly showed that the people of Hasluck reject the dirty tricks and standover tactics of the Union Movement, which were evident in the last Hasluck campaign. By placing their trust in Ken Wyatt they elected an excellent representative who puts their needs first, and rejected the politics of thuggery and intimidation so prevalent in the ALP today.

“Adrian Evans and the ALP need to explain their involvement in this grubby affair. It’s exactly this sort of behaviour which the Royal Commission was set up to investigate.”

“Clearly they knew what they were doing was wrong, hence their failure to disclose the donation to the Australian public.”

“Adrian Evans needs to explain to the people of Hasluck what promises he made at their expense to fund his campaign.”

—ENDS—

Media Contact: 08 9368 6633