Royal commissioner Dyson Heydon has dismissed a bid by unions for him to step aside from the probe into corruption.
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Two weeks ago, the Australian Council of Trade Unions applied for Heydon to disqualify himself from the head of the royal commission into trade unions, after he controversially withdrew from making the Garfield Barwick address when it was revealed to be a Liberal Party fundraiser.
Regardless of whether Mr Heydon disqualifies himself, Mr Oliver wants the whole commission to end immediately.
“In my opinion, the applications must be dismissed”, Heydon announced.
Written reasons will be published on Monday afternoon.
The documents show that the day before on August 12, after receiving a phone call from former Labor political adviser Marcus Priest, a NSW Bar Association staffer asked Mr Stoljar if he knew Justice Heydon was aware of the status of the address.
Justice Heydon was contacted again in March by the coordinator of the event.
“I have considered all the submissions”.
“First, the applicants have not articulated why, and there is no rational basis for concluding, that a fair-minded observer might, acting reasonably, apprehend any predisposition against the Labor Party or the unions in a speaker who merely agrees to give a legal speech at an event with the characteristics described”, he wrote in a document outlining the reasons for the judgement.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Monday said it was important for the royal commission needed to continue its work in exposing union corruption.
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis said after the brief statement from Mr Heydon that the government was pleased with the decision. Heydon subsequently withdrew from the event after the details became public, but it sparked debate over his impartiality and perceptions of bias in his role overseeing the royal commission. “I would be very confident that his espousal of the appropriate legal principles and his application of those principles to the facts of this case will be a very strong one”, Mr Brandis told Sky News.
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Instead of providing all correspondence when the unions asked during earlier hearings he “chose to stay mum”, he said.
