Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has declared he's 100 per cent relaxed about his record as a union boss ahead of an appearance before a royal commission.
He has denied allegations he traded away workers' terms and conditions in exchange for direct payments to unions. "No never," he told ABC TV on Sunday.
Mr Shorten has asked the royal commission to bring the hearing forward to July 8 and provide him with copies of documents so he can fully respond to all allegations. "I don't have at my hands all of the detail of all of the claims being put to me," he said.
He always expected his time in the union to be examined because the government's royal commission had been set up as "an opportunity for people to settle scores".
He angrily attacked weekend newspaper reports about the commission examining share dealings of his first wife Deborah Beale from when the pair were married.
"My former wife has been dragged into some sort of smear campaign," he said.
"She is a decent person."
'My absolute best'
Mr Shorten said he was proud of his record as a modern and moderate union leader who had worked co-operatively with employees and employers.
"I always did my absolute best from when I got up, to when I went to bed every day, working out how do I get better conditions for workers," he said.
Mr Shorten responded to allegations Melbourne East Link tollway builder Thiess John Holland had paid the Australian Workers Union $300,000 from 2005.
The money was used for health and safety training.
"We gave them (Thiess John Holland) some flexibility," he said.
There were 26 fixed rostered days off, but Mr Shorten believed that 13 should be fixed and 13 should be floating, so that they could be taken at a time that wouldn't shut down the project completely.
The measure was in return for the best construction rates, he said, adding that the job finished ahead of time which saved the taxpayer money.
