Unions ACT secretary Kim Sattler has the full support of her organisation, after fronting its board this morning to explain her part in the Australia Day fracas.
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There was a “full and detailed discussion of the complex issues related to the events surrounding Australia Day”, when an angry mob of protestors hounded the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader, prompting security to whisk them away to a waiting car.
Ms Sattler has been accused of providing false accounts of her role in inciting the disturbance at Old Parliament House in January and was asked to prove that she had not brought Unions ACT into disrepute with her actions on Australia Day and her subsequent accounts to the media.
Ms Sattler and other Unions ACT officials refused to answer any questions after this morning’s meeting, but president Bob O’Neill issued a prepared statement.
“Unions ACT is fully cooperating with the ongoing AFP investigation into the incident on Australia Day. Given there is an ongoing investigation, Unions ACT have no public comment until the AFP investigation in concluded,” Mr O’Neill said in the statement.
“At today’s unions ACT executive meeting, a full and detailed discussion of the complex issues related to the events surrounding Australia Day occurred. Following those discussions, the executive has determined that secretary Kim Sattler maintains the full support of Unions ACT.”
New video footage aired on television on Tuesday night appeared to show that Ms Sattler may have helped spark the Aboriginal tent embassy protest at Canberra's The Lobby restaurant which marred Australia Day by telling protest leaders that Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott was at The Lobby and that he had earlier called for the tent embassy to be pulled down.
Ms Sattler had previously denied using that form of words to the protesters, a group of whom then approached the restaurant and mounted a rowdy protest, sparking the security scare that led to Prime Minister Julia Gillard being bundled into a car by her security detail.
The actions of Ms Sattler and former staffer in Ms Gillard's office Tony Hodges are now under investigation by the Australian Federal Police. Mr Hodges resigned over the Australia Day incident after admitting he had spoken to Ms Sattler and told her Mr Abbott was at the restaurant.
with Noel Towell
