As things stand, the government has strongly backed Justice Heydon to stay at the commission, which is due to report by the end of the year.
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The commissioner has since provided a statement saying he has pulled out of the speech.
But Mr Pyne said the commissioner was doing a “terrific” job and said calls for him to be sacked were an overreaction.
“If it is true that a royal commissioner investigating Tony Abbott’s political opponents is now attending a Liberal party fundraiser, that is incredibly serious, incredibly concerning”, Shorten told reporters on Thursday.
Government frontbencher Christopher Pyne has questioned why royal commissioner Dyson Heydon was invited to speak at a NSW Liberal Party fundraiser.
An email exchange from Wednesday and Thursday, between Mr Heydon’s personal assistant and lawyer-organiser Gregory Burton, suggests the commissioner knew before this week the event was being held under the auspices of the Liberal Party.
The event was organised by the legal branch of the New South Wales Liberal Party and first advertised in April.
After leaving the High Court, Justice Heydon explained to the ABC that he did not write judgments with his fellow judges because he was a stickler for proper English who abhorred split infinitives and dangling participles.
The invitation to the event, written on a Liberal Party letterhead, says the $80 cost should be made to the Liberal Party of Australia’s NSW division.
“As early as 9.23am this morning (and prior to any media enquiry being received) he advised the organisers that “if there was any possibility that the event could be described as a Liberal Party event he will be unable to give the address, at least whilst he is in the position of royal commissioner”, a spokesperson for Justice Heydon said in a statement.
CFMEU national construction secretary Dave Noonan said the royal commission should be shut down.
“The CFMEU has maintained that from outset the commission has displayed a bias against unions in the way it has conducted its proceedings”.
Both Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and the unions argue that the planned speech, abandoned as of Thursday, suggests a political allegiance rendering Mr Heydon potentially incapable of delivering findings perceived as unbiased.
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It was revealed this week Justice Dyson Heydon was to attend the fundraiser as a guest speaker, leading many to question the integrity of the royal commission. Otherwise, it may go for a union boycott of the commission. The events of this week make that less likely.
