National office seeks to extend takeover despite administrator’s opposition
A national takeover of the Healthcare Workers Union, triggered by a series of scandals that have rocked the branch, will continue for another year, a move its own executive is fighting.
HWU was placed into administration in May 2025. Age allegations revealed Millions of dollars were misused And Informants were threatened.
Embattled secretary Diana Asmar agreed to stand down after a lengthy court process that allowed the national executive of HWU’s parent body, the Health Services Union, to put the branch into administration and fix its governance and finances.
Manager Charlie Donnelly said last month he would end the administration process on schedule and hold union elections this month.
He said the union had made a loss of $2 million in 2024-25 and was on track to make a profit of $1.5 million this year, citing a membership base of more than 14,500 (36 per cent higher than December 2024).
But HSU’s national office has now moved to disrupt this process and will appeal to the Fair Work Commission to halt the administration’s closure. It will be claimed that an independent review of its offices revealed that the HWU was not yet ready to take back control.
“The national auditor found that although significant progress has been made, the changes introduced to the branch have not been fully implemented and the branch will benefit from a longer period of management,” an HSU national spokesperson said.
“Therefore, we are asking for a modest extension of the administration for another 6 to 12 months.”
In an email sent to members on Thursday, AgeDonnelly said the effort to cancel the planned election and create a new board to take over executive powers was “deeply concerning”.
“This board will take control of the branch, keep it out of the hands of members, and have the power to postpone elections further into the future,” he said.
He said that when he was appointed in December 2024, the HWU was “in crisis” and “has ceased to function as an effective union”.
“Like any union, there are still challenges, but this union is now operating effectively. It’s growing. It’s organizing. It’s winning,” Donnelly said. “This union belongs to you. You deserve the right to choose your own future and choose your own leadership.”
The Fair Work Commission brought civil proceedings against Asmar, alleging that a printing company affiliated with Asmar received $2.7 million from the HWU member fund for no services, that the money went into private accounts, and that refunds of more than $120,000 were sought without evidence of relevant business expenses.
Court documents obtained by this imprint show that investigators tracked 170 transactions between 2016 and 2021 that paid $2.7 million to the Southern Publishing printing company.
In May, the commission also reported that new civil proceedings had been launched against Asmar on suspicion of plotting to harm four union whistleblowers.
According to the commission, Asmar said of a female union worker: “I’m going to kill her, you understand… She will regret the day she was born.”
Asmar is also accused of fabricating false allegations in an attempt to damage the careers of whistleblowers and threatening to leak embarrassing personal photos of one of them to the media.
