Aussie union boss questioned over tattoo

The tattoo in question. Photo / AAP

Australian union boss Derrick Belan can explain why the tattoo of his parents he had done on his leg was paid for with his union credit card.

In 2014, the then-National Union of Workers NSW secretary took a photo of his father, late NUW boss Frank Belan, and his mother to the Buen-Arte tattoo parlour at Emu Plains to have a design drawn up to be put on his right calf, according to evidence before the trade unions royal commission.

He was happy with the end result.

Derrick Belan was grilled over suspicious spending. Photo / AAP

In a written statement to the commission, tattooist William Buenen said Mr Belan returned a day or so later and told him: "My mother cried when I showed her my tattoo. She said to tell you 'thankyou for making me look so young and beautiful'."

The $432 cost was put on Mr Belan's NUW-issued credit card.

Mr Belan told the commission on Tuesday he had to put in on his union card because the ATM next to the parlour was out of cash and his private credit card was back at the office.

He said he asked his niece, office accounts manager Danielle O'Brien, to take the money back.

"I never stole from the union," he said.

Mr Belan has been asked about a number of expenses on his union credit card including a cruise, the tattoo, rent for a property he lived in and fees for an online dating service.

Mr Belan said the $1840 cost of the Pacific Jewell cruise on his corporate Amex card never came to his attention because Ms O'Brien may not have put it before him.

When questioned about charges including payments for a south coast holiday park where he stayed each year, he said he believed he would have asked his niece, to deduct personal holiday expenses from his salary and any others would have been union business, such as "taking time out of my holiday" to have dinner with union delegates in the area.

Asked if he had subscribed to dating site match.com, Mr Belan said: "Not to my knowledge".

Mr Belan was also questioned about a number of online purchases made on his credit card including Tiffany jewellery and merchandise from the Disney film Frozen.

The commission has heard Mr Belan blamed Ms O'Brien for having to resign the post he held for 14 years until last month, saying she had put him in an untenable position.

"It's all Danielle's fault, is it?" counsel assisting the commission Sarah McNaughton asked.

Mr Belan replied: "Yes, I believe so."

Ms O'Brien has told the commission she used union credit cards for personal purchases and that her uncle also used his credit card for personal purchases.

New NUW NSW secretary Wayne Meaney told the commission he saw no problem with the union authorising a $327,000 termination payout for Mr Belan when he left his job on October 26, as well as authorising a deed releasing him from any legal liabilities.

The deed and payout has not yet proceeded after the union's national office asked Mr Meaney to put it on hold, the commission heard.

- AAP