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May 9th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda NSW laws to appoint an administrator to the embattled Health Service Union (HSU) East branch have been amended in the state’s upper house, to curtail what were labelled “extraordinary” powers given to Finance Minister Greg Pearce.
The bill, introduced into NSW Parliament on Tuesday, originally gave Mr Pearce the power to appoint an administrator to a NSW-registered union if there was evidence of gross misconduct, or if he has “reason to believe” it is subject to an investigation.
But the Greens and crossbenchers supported a Labor amendment which instead gave that responsibility to the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC), with all complaining the government had given itself too much power to dismiss a union’s leadership.
Labor’s industrial relations spokeswoman Sophie Cotsis said while the opposition supported appointing an administrator to the troubled HSU East branch, the original bill “overreaches by giving a minister of the crown unprecedented power”.
However, under subsequent amendments from the government and Shooters Party, if the IRC fails to act on an application within 28 days, Mr Pearce will then have the power to appoint an interim administrator.
“Our concern with these amendments is the possibility that they will allow the application to go into the IRC and then to be frustrated and delayed,” Mr Pearce said.
“We want to have frankly a big stick to ensure that there is no capacity for this to be frustrated.”
Greens MP David Shoebridge said the process of putting a union in to administration “must be transparent, and that process must be free of political interference”.
“That kind of centralised power being given to a single politician who will have partisan interests for the government, often in direct conflict with unions who will be seeking wage and other benefits for their members against the government, to give that kind of power to the finance minister is really an extraordinary proposition,” Mr Shoebridge said.
The amended bill now has to go back to the government-controlled lower house before it can pass parliament.
On Monday, Fair Work Australia released a report alleging former HSU official turned federal MP Craig Thomson spent almost $500,000 of union funds on escorts, cash withdrawals, meals and electioneering.
Federal Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten, who last week applied to the Federal Court to have the branch put in administration, backed the NSW push to appoint an administrator.
“The O’Farrell government, following our lead, has said it wants to put an administrator in,” he told Macquarie Radio on Wednesday.
“We’re happy to work with the O’Farrell government to identify a mutually agreed administrator.”
Unions NSW had called for Mr Pearce to be stripped of his power to appoint an administrator, saying the responsibility should instead be handed to a court.
“A court should decide who administers unions through alleged difficult periods, not politicians who may have other agendas at play,” Unions NSW Secretary Mark Lennon said in a statement.
The bill came at a time when HSU members needed protection in the workplace, Mr Shoebridge told AAP.
Union members came close to a walkout on Friday amid a long-running staffing dispute at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital.
“For this reason we moved an amendment that allows these organisers to continue in their positions when an administrator is appointed,” Mr Shoebridge said.
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