A 2015 law change allowed the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and its training arm to together spend nearly twice the limit on the ACT election campaign last year, because the two groups are separate legal entities.
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Before 2015, so called "third-party campaigners" were not allowed to act in concert in election campaigns, but that restriction was removed by the Labor government. As a result, the CFMEU was able to spend $38,000 supporting Labor and its training arm, Creative Safety Initiatives, was able to spend another $35,000, despite a $40,000 cap on spending for any single group.
Separately, Unions ACT spent $22,200 of its own money, and Trades Hall Building, a trust that funds Unions ACT, spent another $37,000, also within the new rules.
Acting Electoral Commissioner Rohan Spence told an ACT parliamentary estimates inquiry on Wednesday that the commission had audited the groups to determine that the different entities were legally separate - looking at governance structures, ABN numbers and the like. It had found there was legal separation so the spend was within the rules, he said.
The Liberals' Jeremy Hanson said there was nothing to stop the CFMEU or other groups setting up a number of separate entities and spending the cap many times over - a statement with which Mr Spence agreed.
But asked why he had not made a recommendation to the parliament to close the loophole, Mr Spence said it was not up to the commission to make policy recommendations, but was a question for the Assembly to deal with.
The Greens' Caroline Le Couteur told Mr Spence that the commission regularly made many policy recommendations on how to improve the running of elections.
"An awful lot of your recommendations have policy implications," she said. "So I'm confused, given the answer you gave."
Mr Hanson said it was precisely the commission's job to make recommendations about loopholes that had been exploited.
But Mr Spence insisted it was not something for the commission to take a view on, and he was "simply administering the Electoral Act as it stands".
Asked earlier this year why the CFMEU's training arm had spent money on election advertisements and other campaign material, the union's ACT secretary Dean Hall said the Liberals could not be trusted to maintain safety and training in the construction industry. High-quality training and safety was fundamental to ensure workers returned home to their families, he said.
