The royal commission into trade unions has failed to deliver the federal government's "sword that will cut both ways" and has treated suggestions of corporate misbehaviour with "incredulity", the peak union organisation says.
In a speech to the Chifley Research Centre on Wednesday night, Australian Council of Trade Unions assistant secretary Tim Lyons said the royal commission's focus on industry superannuation seemed to be based on an assumption that there was conflict in union involvement in such funds.
He said questions asked in the commission also appeared to be suggest that union involvement in bargaining should be restricted.
He said the inquiry into superannuation was "nothing more than an old fight in a new ring".
"The focus on industry superannuation - and the bargaining that delivers superannuation outcomes for workers - is consistent with the longstanding antipathy of the Liberal side of politics," Mr Lyons said.
"It reminds me of the views expressed by then Opposition Leader John Howard, who in a parliamentary debate around superannuation payable under the Accord, called industry superannuation a Chicago-style protection racket."
Mr Lyons also questioned the federal government's promise that the royal commission would be a "sword that will cut both ways".
"There has been evidence concerning the involvement of firms run by persons with very serious criminal records in the construction industry," he said.
"Some of these firms appeal to "phoenix" as a standard mode of operation.
"These firms are sub-contractors on projects run by much larger firms, and in some cases major publicly listed firms.
"And yet no investigation appears to have been mounted as to why and how the head contractors allow such subbies to gain and maintain work on their jobs."
Suggestions of corporate misbehaviour, according to Mr Lyons, "have been treated with incredulity or as irrelevant to the terms of reference, and the evidence not received".
The commission's questioning of employers who had contributed to training funds and who had signed up to industry superannuation funds assumed they were "rolling over in the face of an illegitimate exercise of power.
"But it is not wrongdoing. It is not corruption. It is bargaining," Mr Lyons said.
The commission has conducted 57 public hearings and 14 private hearings involving more than 200 witnesses in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. It has focused on the activities of officials associated with organisations including the Australian Workers Union, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, the Health Services Union and the Transport Workers' Union.
Commissioner Dyson Heydon will deliver his interim report to the Governor-General on December 15.
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