"Just in case you haven’t noticed, here’s a selection:
The alleged involvement of bikie gangs and underworld figures with the CFMEU at Barangaroo.

The fight between the AMWU and Toyota, which continues even though Holden and Ford have fled after facing similar battles.

The negative influence unions have had on productivity and labour costs at Qantas.

The finding that former union boss John Maitland is corrupt over the granting of coal licenses that made him millions.

The prospect of a royal commission into the alleged corruption and criminal conduct of key players in several unions.

And, of course, needing no explanation, the ongoing saga of Craig Thomson and his former buddy Michael Williamson at the HSU.

This toxic trend demonstrates the ways in which unions have morphed into the businesses they so despise. What they’ve spent so long opposing – the ruthless and greedy nature of the big corporates – they are now themselves guilty of, which is perhaps a reason why less than one in five people trust them to be their representatives at work.
Unions are unequivocally businesses selling themselves to potential consumers (industry workers) in return for a service (potential support). They engage in product development and marketing just like any other business, earning substantial revenue while paying their staff generously, much more than the workers they represent. They are, through and through, as much a product of capitalism as the organisations they oppose.
Surely a judicial inquiry would deliver benefits to union members by airing the crap and eventually clearing it out. How could any union leader tasked with protecting workers be against it?"

My personal understanding is that in the absence of any legal requirement to operate transparently the unions have sought to bolster their income through whatever means either legal or not. This has been increasingly obvious over the last decade, but as the Labor party's major source of income, Labor has not taken any action to stop this, and instead removed obstacles to criminal activity by the unions.

Unions have done a great job in years gone by but don't anymore, on the contrary.

< Unions have done a great job in years gone by but don't anymore, on the contrary. >

Indeed, Indi.

"""
Fittingly, Senator Abetz was speaking in the port city of Fremantle, the scene of a number of the unconscionable actions taken to undermine the war against Axis nations.

Just as former Prime Minister Paul Keating has attempted to rewrite history with his ­recent fallacious account of Australia’s engagement in World War I, so too, have Labor historians attempted to airbrush from our history the efforts of the trade union movement and the ALP to ­incapacitate Australian forces during World War II.

Fortunately, West Australian scholar, poet and author Hal Colebatch has published a painstakingly researched, fully documented account of the treachery in a book Australia’s Secret War. Quoting from the book, Senator Abetz said: “(a) systematic campaign of sabotage criss-crossed the nation, from Townsville to Fremantle, and cost the lives of countless Australian Diggers and allied soldiers.”

The actions of the trade unionists involved included deliberately damaging planes, removing valves from radio transmitters that made them inoperative, which in turn led to an inability to provide safe direction to a squadron of US planes and their crewmen, all of whom were lost.

Coalminers and munition factory workers went on strike, prejudicing the war effort, costing lives, all leading to unnecessary loss and increasing the length and cost of the war.

Senator Abetz continued: “Australian women were needlessly widowed. Australian children were needlessly left fatherless.”

"""

I can't say how much of that is true. But going on the rampant corruption in the ALP and their union mates, it would seem nothing's changed?

Your post is valid "Organised Labor, Organised crime." BUT it can also be said that.
Organised business, Organised crime.

The big difference is organised business can and do use the Government and criminals to do there dirty work.

One political commentator summed up the situation
in this way:

"For conservatives, unions are ever the bogeymen
of Australian politics. Many libertarians flatly
deny the right of workers to organise collectively,
equating it with a form of labour monopoly. For others,
it's simply an ingrained loathing of unions as the
key political force underpinning the ALP itself.
So, any time union misconduct rears its head,
conservatives are apt to leap on the allegations."

Apparently - the real value of attacking trade unions
for the Abbott government is tactical.
By attacking powerful unions like
the CFMEU the government can go after the funding base that
supports the ALP. It can also try to link misconduct
directly to senior ALP figures such as Federal ALP Leader,
Bill Shorten.

We're told that - "the people who really get worked up
about industrial relation laws and unions more generally
are the owners of capital - in other words Big Business
and Bosses, not to mention the right-wing activists
of the political spectrum that line up with them,
like the Sydney Institute."

"The age-old hatreds of Australian politics ensure that
trade unions will always be a juicy target during
periods of conservative government.
However, during the Howard years the Coalition established the
Cole Royal Commission into corruption in the building and
construction industry. The inquiry was motivated by exactly
the sort of allegations that have come to light in
recent days - standover tactics, union kickbacks, and so on.
Yet despite spending two years and $60 million - making it
one of the most expensive in Australian history, the Cole
inquiry did not result in a single prosecution."

Any balanced analysis of trade unions suggests that they
aren't generally corrupt and that the majority of union
officials spend their time doing exactly what they're
meant to: representing their members.

It will be interesting to see what eventuates as a result of
all this fuss. And will voters be really distracted by
it from holding the current government to account.

PS.

"The big difference is organised business can and do use the Government and criminals to do there dirty work"

Really,

Please do tell! Examples are better than rhetoric.