The secretary of the HSU's Victoria No 1 branch, Diana Asmar, has been returned with a resounding majority, but still faces scrutiny over the branch's alleged failure to follow procedures for issuing entry permits to organisers.
The first female secretary of the RTBU's Victorian branch, Luba Grigorovitch, is set to lead a ticket in next month's union elections, after the Federal Court rejected a rival faction's challenge to her candidacy.
Kathy Jackson's lawyer has succeeded in staving off the HSU's bid for a $700,000 summary judgment against her for now, with the Federal Court ordering him to provide more medical evidence of her condition.
The impact on public sector bargaining of the implied constitutional limitation on Commonwealth interference with state governments is still not well enough understood, according to long-serving CPSU Victoria secretary Karen Batt.
ACTU computer records suggest a single person sat the online right of entry permit tests for six HSU Victorian No 1 branch officials according to counsel assisting the Heydon Royal Commission, but the branch's secretary Diana Asmar has flatly denied she gave instructions for such a practice to occur.
The Heydon Royal Commission has heard that a campaign fund associated with the TWU's national office and NSW branch contributed up to $200,000 to a group who ousted the leadership of the Queensland branch in 2010, and a further $120,000 to HSU and Flight Attendants Association election candidates two years later.
TWU Vic/Tas branch secretary Wayne Mader has told the Heydon Royal Commission today that officials from his branch made donations to candidates in HSU and ETU elections out of their own re-election fund.
Former HSU leader Marco Bolano has told the Heydon Royal Commission this morning that he was "surprised" to discover that tobacco giant Philip Morris had contributed funds to his 2009 election campaign and "stunned" that political "enemy" Bill Shorten had done likewise.
