John Williams (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Watt says that I'm showing it's politically motivated—'politically motivated' or just prepared to get anyone you can, with anyone's money, to team up behind your political campaign?

Senator Watt is obviously paying attention. Perhaps he might be able to answer this question for me—through you, Madam Deputy President. In 2007, AustralianSuper donated $27,500 to the Australian Workers' Union. Who were the directors of AustralianSuper at that time? Senator Watt might not be aware who the directors of AustralianSuper were at that time. Let me give him some names. Does 'Greg Combet' refresh Senator Watt's memory? He was a minister in a Labor government. He was a director of AustralianSuper. Mr Bill Shorten, the current opposition leader, was a director, in 2007, of AustralianSuper. Another name, someone I referred to in my valedictory yesterday, is one Senator Doug Cameron. He was a director of AustralianSuper.

What did AustralianSuper do? They donated $27,500 to the Australian Workers' Union. What did the union do? The union registered it on the Electoral Commission website as a donation. Why would an industry super fund be donating to the Australian Workers' Union? They registered it as a donation and, within weeks, the Australian Workers' Union made a donation of $25,000. To who? Senator Brown's listening very carefully. I wonder who they donated $25,000 to? They donated it to the election campaign of Mr Bill Shorten. That's very odd, isn't it? A cynic would say, 'What's going on here?' We have an industry super fund donating money to the AWU, which Mr Bill Shorten is very much a part of. He was a director of AustralianSuper, along with Greg Combet and Senator Cameron. Twenty-seven and a half thousand dollars goes to the Australian Workers' Union, listed as a donation, and, within weeks, $25,000 from the Australian Workers' Union goes off to the campaign fund for Mr Bill Shorten to come into parliament.