![Bill Shorten during his time as Australian Workers Union secretary. Photo: James Davies Bill Shorten during his time as Australian Workers Union secretary. Photo: James Davies](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/de21b17c-3b17-4dc6-8b21-bbed7da5cc64.jpg/r0_0_729_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
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Bill Shorten faces one of the toughest tests of his political life as the royal commission on trade unions turns its spotlight on the Opposition Leader's union and Labor factional past. Whether they come on Wednesday or at a future hearing, there are key questions Mr Shorten will need to address.
Winslow
Builders Winslow paid the AWU union hundreds of thousands of dollars for dues over a decade that included Mr Shorten's stint as Victorian secretary.
Current AWU state secretary Ben Davis told the royal commission that the Winslow deal had "profoundly" weakened the union's industrial position in the workplace.
1. How can Mr Shorten justify such deals, if they weaken the union?
2. How widespread was the practice of employers paying dues?
Thiess John Holland
One of Australia's biggest builders, Thiess John Holland, paid Mr Shorten's union nearly $300,000 after he struck a workplace deal in the early 2000s that cut conditions and saved the company as much as $100 million on the $2.5 billion Eastlink road project in Melbourne
The payment was part of more than $1 million of employer cash flowing into the AWU's Victorian branch between January 2004 and late 2007, when Mr Shorten was either state or federal secretary.
3. Did Mr Shorten propose the payments to Thiess John Holland?
4. What, precisely, was the money for?
5. What became of the money?
Chiquita Mushrooms
Mr Shorten reportedly signed an enterprise agreement with Australia's biggest mushroom producer, Chiquita Mushrooms, which saved the company more than $3.5 million a year. The company made monthly payments of $4000 to the AWU and workers were given lower pay rates.
6. Was Mr Shorten aware of payments from Chiquita Mushrooms to the AWU?
Australian Netball Players Association:
In 2005, Mr Shorten issued a press release to announce that 120 players from the Australian netball players association would join the AWU.
7. Did players freely choose to become members and did any money change hands?
Cleanevent
Mr Shorten's successor as Victorian secretary of the AWU, Cesar Melhem, made a deal whereby cleaning firm Cleanevent gave his union up to $25,000 a year after the union traded off higher wages and casuals' penalty rates and saved the company about $2 million in labour costs.
8. Did Mr Shorten as AWU chief foster a culture where the union focused primarily on Labor factional politics over the wages and conditions of members?
9. Were employees of Cleanevent signed up to the AWU without their knowledge while Mr Shorten was an organiser or union official?
Political spending
Last month, Fairfax revealed the AWU had tipped in $25,000 to Mr Shorten's campaign for the seat of Maribyrnong in 2007 while Mr Shorten was AWU federal secretary.
10. Was the AWU contribution made in accordance with the union rules around political spending?