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Bill Shorten has been warned that his credibility as a witness is at risk, by royal commissioner Dyson Heydon, who chastised the Labor leader for using the inquiry into trade unions as a political platform.
It is in your interest to curb these, to some extent, extraneous answers.Â
Justice Dyson Heydon
But Labor workplace spokesman Brendan O'Connor has fired back at the commission chief's "extraordinary intervention", labelling his comments prejudicial and arguing they called into question the motive for establishing the inquiry.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten faces questions at the royal commission on Thursay.
Justice Heydon interrupted the Thursday morning hearing to say Mr Shorten's answers were non-responsive and overly lengthy in parts. While some of the answers could be relevant and interesting, they were taking up too much time, he said.
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"You, if I can be frank about it, have been criticised in the newspapers in the last few weeks and I think it is generally believed that you have come in here in the hope that you will be able to rebut that criticism, or a lot of it," he said.
"I am not very troubled about that, though I can understand that you are, and it is legitimate for you to use this occasion to achieve your ends in that regard.
"What I am concerned about more is your credibility as a witness.
"It is in your interest to curb these, to some extent, extraneous answers."
Justice Heydon said some of the fault may be with senior counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar, who was cross-examining Mr Shorten.
"But I think it is partly your fault that we are proceeding rather slowly through the material," he said.
"You do not have to accept what I am saying to you, it is offered, as it were ... with a view to vindication and prosecution as were, of your own interests as a witness here."
Mr O'Connor, however, said Justice Heydon appeared to be suggesting Mr Shorten reduce his answers to "yes, no, or I don't know".
"That is a very remarkable intervention by a royal commissioner, and he made some prejudicial comments about the appearance of Mr Shorten which I think calls into question the motives of the establishment of this royal commission into the union movement," he said.
"I've said all along this is a witch-hunt. It has been established by the government...the rules of the commission were written by the government and the retired judge, of course, is appointed to that, but it's not run by a court.
"That's becoming increasingly apparent to all of those that are witnessing what is going on today."
Asked about Mr Heydon's intervention during a press conference after he left the royal commission hearing, Mr Shorten said: "Mr Heydon has a job to do. I get that. This is Tony Abbott's royal commission, but I am more than satisfied with the opportunity to put forward the case for Labor and the case for standing up for workers".Â