But the AWU succeeded in showing the “suspicion” that the union had breached its rules was not a reasonable ground to conduct the raid, meaning the case will now move to consider whether the warrants were invalid and evidence collected should be returned to the union. On Friday justice Bromberg rejected the AWU’s claim the regulator had no power to investigate alleged historical breaches. The judge found that the ROC’s delegate Chris Enright believed if the union had made the political donations then those acts were in breach of its rules, the “reasonable grounds” on which he relied to order the raids. But Bromberg said this was Enright’s “own understanding” and he had “no basis” to find Enright had knowledge of Cash’s actual purpose. The judge declined to make any finding on the credibility of Cash denying she intended to harm Shorten.

Source: The Guardian October 11, 2019 01:23 UTC