The Australian Council of Trade Unions will go ahead with its application seeking to have unions royal commissioner Dyson Heydon disqualified from the role.
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Mr Oliver said the ACTU had decided on its course of action after waiting for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to shut down the inquiry.
“Given Tony Abbott has failed to act, the ACTU must now take further action”, the ACTU said in a statement.
The ACTU will make an application to the commission asking Justice Heydon to remove himself on the grounds of political bias.
“The Labor movement has had grave concerns that Tony Abbott set up a political royal commission to spend millions and millions of taxpayer dollars…to engage in a political witch hunt”.
Labor had earlier delayed a Senate vote on a motion calling on the governor general to dismiss Heydon, after crossbenchers wanted him to have the opportunity to respond to potential submissions seeking his disqualification.
Justice Heydon – appointed to oversee the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption – has been the subject of much controversy since it was revealed he was scheduled to speak at a Liberal Party event.
If Mr Heydon is disqualified, legal experts say it will be a simple process to appoint a new royal commissioner and complete the inquiry’s work.
A Senate motion says Mr Heydon has “failed to uphold standards of impartiality expected of a holder of the office of royal commissioner” by accepting the speaking invitation.
“When it comes to this current crisis engulfing the royal commission, that is not a crisis of Labor’s making, it is a crisis of Mr Abbott and his captain’s pick”.
Abbott told parliament it was a criminal offence to attack a serving royal commissioner, although “I am sure that former justice Dyson Heydon is big enough to deal with the vicious slander to which he has been exposed from members opposite”.
“Accordingly we respectfully request Your Excellency to revoke the letters patent issued to the Honourable John Dyson Heydon AC QC”, the proposed motion would state.
“If they find another royal commissioner, so be it”.
If the move is unsuccessful the unions will appeal to higher courts.
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“That should not be determined by a kangaroo court in the Senate where the chief prosecutor is Senator Wong – a former CFMEU employee herself hardly coming with clear mind to this issue”, Abetz told the ABC on Wednesday.
