Bill Shorten, having attended Monash Law School should have a firm grasp of these concepts:

A fiduciary relationship is where one person (the fiduciary) undertakes to act for another (the principal), and in doing so, must place the principal's interests ahead of its own. A fiduciary has duties to his client. They include
Not to place oneself in a position of conflict of duties relating to the principal and the fiduciary’s interests;
Not to make a profit out of the principal’s trust;
Not act for one’s own benefit or the benefit of third parties, without the consent of the principal.

A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt the motivation of the individual or organization.

A union that has sole negotiating rights on behalf of workers has a clear fiduciary duty. And taking money from the party with whom the union is negotiating with on behalf of the workers is a clear breach that is nothing short of corruption.

I can't help but notice that the coalition is moving to reintroduce its legislation to re establish the ABCC and move to stamp out corruption in the unions. If this gets blocked in the senate again, it forms a trigger for a DD election based on union corruption, timing this with negative findings on Shorten would be a disaster for Labor and partially for the Greens.

You keep dreaming there shallow minister.
Any DD will see the lieberals decimated for their perfidy and attacks on the weak and vulnerable.
The only conflict of interest is rabbott serving his master murdoch instead of the Australian people like he is supposed to.

Mikk,

If the battle is fought on the handling of the economy and trade union corruption while Shorten is getting done for swindling workers, looks like bringing back a carbon tax and starting the boats again, I think that votes will change.

Wishful thinking there SM. The workers are not so sensitive when it comes to their unions, whereas they are very sensitive when it comes to Abbott and his agenda.
We were promised a DD 2 years ago.
What is Shorten guilty of or is it your opinion. Government corruption is very different in deed. Misuse of public funds, punishable by public opinion.
Abbott's election run on lies will count hugely.
Abbott and majorities do not jell.
We need an election now.

doog,

You make your political bias very obvious.

Shadow Minister,

Unions and their leaders have earned a reputation for corruption and the 'ends justify the means'. Most union members would be aware of union heavies obtaining benefits for themselves and their cronies, which can involve favouritism in winning plumb positions.

Some unions make it very difficult indeed for the public to see any difference between organised crime and unions.

That is one of the reasons why union membership has dropped.

However the public expectation that unions are inevitably corrupt may also blunt the public reaction to the unethical, immoral and sometimes illegal behaviour of present and past union bosses and their political associates.

The government has a lot of explaining to do to convince the public that it doesn't always have to be that way and yes, it is unprincipled and a breach of trust.

The problem for the LNP is that they have long forgotten how to listen and talk with young people and it is the other 'side' who have their ears, particularly through the spin that is common in education and on the ABC. Tony Abbott needs to be a statesman and he should also be demanding that his team do the hard yards as well to deserve reelection.

Better to concentrate on what the LNP has done and is offering than descend to the current (gutter) level of debate of Labor and the Greens 'Protest' Party.

Since when has unions talked nice to any employer. That does not work, results come from standing up for workers rights, not asking like a mob of school girls or boys.

Employers will exploit any loop hole they can find, without fear of laws. Abbott will never live to see him being excused for running an election on lies, master-mining a victory by fraud. He grossly misjudged public opinion with his fat cat budget didn't he.

Public debt has increased by 100 billion $ in 2 years, we have not moved forward at all in that time. The fix it Tony has failed miserably you could say. Lately he has shown signs of reverting to his former self, when he had a mandate on the back of a fraud election, remember that.