Labor and Liberal party figures are calling on Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to answer questions about deals done during his time at the helm of the Victorian arm of the Australian Workers Union.
Acting Employment Minister Christopher Pyne says Mr Shorten needs to refute claims of a 2005 deal in which a Melbourne building firm, Winslow Constructors, paid the AWU nearly $40,000 for 105 memberships.
The opposition leader on Sunday again refused to answer questions from the media about the allegations, insisting he would provide responses when he fronts the royal commission into trade unions later this year.
"I'm happy to take any questions that the royal commission has when I appear there," Mr Shorten told reporters in Canberra.
He said he had spent every day of his adult working life doing his best to represent workers.
"The record will reflect that," he said.
Mr Pyne says Mr Shorten needs to explain what Winslow received in return for its payments to the union.
"These are the questions that Bill Shorten needs to answer and just this patter `I won't give a running commentary on the royal commission' doesn't cut the mustard," Mr Pyne told Network Ten's Bolt Report on Sunday.
Former NSW Labor treasurer Michael Costa says Mr Shorten has questions to answer about whether the employees knew they were union members.
"What Bill needs to kill this is to produce the membership forms that were signed by the individuals who were members," he told the program.
"From the reports that I read, they're campaigning against WorkChoices yet they're snuggling up to the employers."
Opposition immigration spokesman Richard Marles says the royal commission is an $80 million smear campaign against Labor coming from the author of WorkChoices, but will ultimately highlight Mr Shorten's "great" union career.
"(Prime Minister) Tony Abbott has made it his life's work to undermine the conditions of working people," Mr Marles told ABC TV.
"If this is going to be about who has done more to improve the lot of workers, this is great ground for us, this is great ground."
Mr Marles says the deal was voted on and supported by members in the workplace and passed the Industrial Relations Commission's no-disadvantage test.
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