July 8, 2014
The Electrical Trades Union is claiming victory after it was cleared in the Industrial Magistrates Court this morning of charges that it had failed to comply with legislation relating to a website set up to fight State Government industrial legislation.
The ETU was charged under the Industrial Relations (Transparency and Accountability of Industrial Organisations) and Other Acts Amendment Act 2013 that it had failed to produce documents or properly declare its office bearers’ credit card statements and earnings when it set up a website under the domain name www.opposethesefascistlaws.com
Magistrate Bernadette Callaghan found the union not guilty on all counts.
A union spokesman said the “trumped up charges” had been aimed at disrupting union campaigns against the State Government, including the Not4Sale protest against asset sales.
ETU Queensland State Secretary Peter Simpson said he always believed the union had complied with all required provisions of the Act.
“We were horrified when the Attorney-General (Jarrod Bleijie) brought this case to trial in the first place,” he said.
“Today’s decision has vindicated our position.
“Unfortunately, we anticipate that (Mr Bleijie) will now waste more of his seemingly unlimited taxpayer-funded bucket of money in appealing today’s decision.
“We are obviously seeking costs for the money we have had to expend on defending what was clearly a politically motivated case against the union.
“The decision basically means just because a government doesn’t like the name of a website, as long as it complies with the legislation – and it does – they have no leg to stand on. It is a win for the fair go.”
Mr Simpson said the LNP’s attack on ETUQ was nothing but a cynical attempt to stifle the union’s campaigning.
“They wasted hundreds of thousands of taxpayer’s dollars attacking us rather than governing. This was purely ideological and has been seen as just that. This government has a pathological hatred of unions because of our ability to mobilise broad community support for important issues through effective campaigning,” he said.
