Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's lawyer has demanded a "please explain" from the trade union royal commission over the timing of its announcement, late last Friday night, that its top counsel had made no submissions of any criminal or unlawful conduct by Mr Shorten.
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And in a scathing letter sent to the commission's solicitor assisting, James Beaton, and senior associate Shelley Scott, Mr Shorten's lawyer, Leon Zwier, has also complained that requests for the commission to call him on Friday were ignored.
Mr Zwier states in the letter to the commission that "last Friday 6 November I called and left messages for you to call me. I was told that you were in the hearing but the message would be passed on to you. I was seeking to understand the proposed timing of the release of [counsel assisting the commission] Jeremy Stoljar's AWU submissions".
"My call was not returned. As you will appreciate knowing this information about the timing of the release of the AWU submissions was important to my client.
"I am aware that [the trade union royal commission] published a press release concerning Mr. Shorten. Can you please explain why you chose not to send it to me on or before its release to the media. Can you please ensure that all future TURC media releases which directly refer to Mr Shorten are provided to me on before the proposed release."
The letter from Mr Zwier will put further pressure on the commission, which on Saturday said it had done nothing wrong and that staff had been working under great pressure to meet a Friday deadline.
Mr Shorten, a former leader of the Australian Workers Union, responded that the timing of the release was further proof of a "politically motivated royal commission – and this is typical of the way it's been conducting itself".
Counsel assisting, Mr Stoljar, SC, found criminal charges should be considered against Mr Shorten's factional ally and former AWU secretary Cesar Melhem, who is now a Victorian MP, over $100,000-a-year payments to the union, for which false invoices were said to have been created.
And construction giant Thiess John Holland also faces possible charges over those payments, which occurred during the building of the $2.5 billion EastLink tollway in Melbourne.
But Mr Stoljar said "there is no submission that Mr Bill Shorten may have engaged in any criminal or unlawful conduct".
The timing of the release has led to suggestions from within Labor that the commission was attempting to manipulate the media coverage of the issue and effectively bury the story by releasing it after TV news bulletins and newspaper deadlines.
Despite the findings, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said on Sunday Mr Shorten had nevertheless been involved in "secret deals, trading away conditions for workers and he admitted that he received an undeclared personal benefit from somebody who he was negotiating with on behalf of his members. Now, you know, people will pass their own judgements in relation to that".
The commission's final report is due by the end of the year.
