• The Australian
• September 22, 2015 11:02AM
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Former trade union boss David Hanna.

A former senior construction union official has detailed a meeting he had with CFMEU boss Michael O’Connor where they discussed the dumping of documents — with a receipt of the hire truck used to take them to a rubbish tip being shown — as a royal commission investigates whether crimes were committed.

David Hanna, who resigned from his post from the militant union earlier this year, has told the trade union royal commission about telling the national secretary about the dumping and destruction of documents, which the inquiry has heard occurred the same day subpoenas were issued.

That meeting took place in a coffee shop in Sydney while other officials were discussing separate allegations against Mr Hanna.

“I was talking to Michael and I was quite angry at the time over the situation and I was venting and I pulled (the truck hire receipt) out of my pocket and I said ‘Look, I’ve even got this’,” Mr Hanna told the inquiry.

“He didn’t have a close look at it, it stayed in my hands.

“I did relate, you know, if we moved documents from the office in April.”

He also said he believed the union’s national construction boss Dave Noonan may have also been shown the receipt.

The inquiry has heard that state secretary Michael Ravbar directed the removal of several tonnes of CFMEU documents from it’s Brisbane office on the day the royal commission issued a subpoena on April 1, 2014.

Mr Hanna told the inquiry the documents were first taken to his property, before a “tip truck” was hired to take them to a rubbish tip.

Mr Hanna yesterday denied the existence of any receipt from the hire company, but said today that he was in a bad state of mind then and told the inquiry about how travelled to the business and asked for a copy of the receipt.

The media officer for the construction union’s Queensland branch, Jessica Kanofski, later told the commission she was “shaken” and “upset” by police questioning about the alleged document destruction.

Ms Kanofski, who was hired by Mr Hanna before the BLF’s merger with the CFMEU, told Ms McNaughton she had no knowledge of the incident.

She told counsel for the CFMEU, John Agius SC, that the Australian Federal Police “escorted” her police officer husband home from work before questioning her over the allegations.

Asked by Mr Agius how she “felt”, Ms Kanofski said “it was a pretty horrible experience, I was very shaken up by it,” she replied.

“I told them I was very nervous and very upset about them being there.”

“I didn’t feel safe in my own home”.

The visit lasted up to 20 minutes, she said.

The AFP offices paid a second visit to her husband’s work, Ms Kanofski testified.

Asked why the AFP involved her husband, Ms Kanofski said “I believe because he’s a police officer, they said something about professional courtesy but I’m not sure”.