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Grattan on Friday: Abbott’s lucky to have adamaged Shorten

July 10, 2015 6.07am AEST

Michelle Grattan

Professorial Fellow at University of Canberra

Bill Shorten’s appearance at the royal commission into union corruption has not onlydamaged him but diverted a good deal of attention from the signs of serious division and

tension at senior levels of the Abbott government.

To go to the latter first: the week saw Agriculture Minister and Nationals deputy leader

Barnaby Joyce explode with anger after a Chinese coal-mining project in his New England

electorate was approved; Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull none-too-subtly call

out Tony Abbott’s hyperbole on Islamic State; and both Turnbull and Joyce furious about

Abbott’s ban on ministers appearing on Q&A (which some hope might be lifted now the ABC

has released tough terms of reference for the inquiry into the program).

The decision on the Shenhua mine rested with Environment Minister Greg Hunt, not the

cabinet, which may have given Joyce the feeling of greater licence to denounce it. Even so,

Bill Shorten has emerged from the royal commission with wounds that are not mortal for his

leadership but serious enough to set it back. AAP/David Moir

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his language was distinctly un-ministerial. “I think it is ridiculous that you would have a major

mine in the midst of Australia’s best agricultural land,” he said on Facebook.

Joyce’s o!ce maintains his failure to make an expected joint appearance with Abbott in

Grafton was a genuine scheduling problem – given his mood, it might have been a good

thing he wasn’t there.

To add to Joyce’s angst, former independent member for New England Tony Windsor is

making noises about possibly recontesting the seat. Even the threat is enough to raise

Joyce’s blood pressure dangerously.

Joyce seethes publicly; Turnbull brings more calculation. Joyce confronts; Turnbull provokes.

Tuesday’s speech to the Sydney Institute was a repudiation of how Abbott has handled much

of the national security debate – never mind that Turnbull insisted they were on the same

page.

Don’t overestimate the IS threat was one Turnbull message, when Abbott says it’s coming for

everyone. Remember that people equally committed to defeating terrorism can di"er aboutappropriate measures, Turnbull said, when Abbott casts any disagreement as laying out the

red carpet for terrorists. And there was a lot more.

Discontents are rife in the higher reaches of the government, but it is Shorten, not Abbott,

who is currently under immense pressure.

Shorten emerged from two days at the royal commission with wounds that are not mortal for

his leadership but serious enough to set it back particularly when, despite Labor being in

front in the polls, he has not been doing well personally. The revelation he failed to declare

that a company which had an enterprise bargaining agreement with his Australian Workers

Union (AWU) had financed his campaign director for the 2007 election looked bad.

It’s true that many politicians make mistakes and have to update declarations. But in this

case it appears worse because the man was employed by the company, and then by the

union, so making the situation less transparent; the EBA relationship could be seen as a

conflict of interest; and Shorten made the disclosure only in the last few days. This timing left

him open to the claim that he acted when he knew the matter would become an issue at the

commission.

The commission heard a lot about the AWU receiving side payments from companies with

which it had EBAs. The general accusation was that workers got less than they should

because of the cosy relationships between employers and the AWU, which yielded payo"s

and more members for the union. Shorten rejected conflict-of-interest allegations,

maintaining he and the union did their best for the workers, though sometimes

circumstances limited what could be done.

Especially damaging was commissioner Dyson Heydon telling o" Shorten for his style of

answers. While Heydon framed his criticism in terms of the witness’s own interests and as “a

prima facie view”, he was accusing Shorten of being political and talking around questions.

“A lot of your answers are non-responsive,” Heydon said. “You, if I can be frank about it,have been criticised in the newspapers in the last few weeks and I think it is generally

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believed that you have come here in the hope you will be able to rebut that criticism or a lot

of it. I’m not very troubled about that, though I can understand that you are, and it’s

legitimate for you to use this occasion to achieve your ends in that regard. What I’m

concerned about more is your credibility as a witness.

“A witness who answers each question ‘yes’, ‘no’, ‘I don’t remember’ or clarifies the question

and so on gives the cross-examiner very little material to work with. It’s in your interest to

curb these to some extent extraneous answers.”

It is being widely speculated that these comments suggest Shorten’s performance as a

witness will attract negative comment in the commission’s report, quite apart from whatever

is found on questions of substance.

Asked later about Heydon’s casting doubt on his credibility, Shorten said pointedly: “He has

a job to do, I get that, it’s Tony Abbott’s royal commission.”

Shorten was reinforcing Labor’s fundamental argument about the commission – that it is

Abbott’s expensive witch-hunt against him. In attempting to tend the wounds he is left with,Shorten and Labor will dwell on the obviously political nature of the inquiry.

But that won’t stop a critical report, if that’s what comes at the end of the year, inflicting more

harm as the election nears.

What’s out there from the evidence provides a lot of grist for the media and Labor’s

opponents. But there is not any instance of illegality, and various company cases are

confusing, able to be argued di"erent ways. That may both help and harm Shorten – some

people will give him the benefit of the doubt, others will take the “smoke must mean fire”

position.

One-time ALP national secretary Bob Hogg has called on Shorten to resign, asking on

Facebook: “Is the concept of conflict of interest beyond your understanding?”

Quite a few in the caucus will be feeling a high degree of frustration that the Abbott

government is very vulnerable while Labor has relatively ine"ective firepower. But Shorten is

protected by the party’s rules, the lack of an alternative and the searing that leadership

instability previously inflicted.

In the immediate aftermath of this week’s injury, a test of Shorten’s resilience will be whether

he can get the focus onto the government’s weak spots. Then he has to manage the ALP

national conference at the end of the month. He can’t a"ord that to turn bad.

Listen to the latest Politics with Michelle Grattan podcast with guest, Race

Discrimination Commissioner Tim Soutphommasane, here or on iTunes.

Tim Soutphommasane

00:00 22:31