Not worried about AWU, Shorten link-MP

The trade unions royal commission must be allowed to do its job without political interference, Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese says.

Mr Albanese says he's "not at all" worried about attempts to draw links between Opposition Leader Bill Shorten and his former union, which is accused of generating fraudulent transactions and using the funds to sign up phantom members.

"We have to make sure that the royal commission does its job. It should do it without ongoing running commentary," he told the Nine network on Friday.

Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne accused Mr Shorten of ducking questions over the Australian Workers Union and any knowledge he had of fraudulent accounting.

The court of public opinion would compel him to answer in the end, Mr Pyne said.

"He needs to respond about what he knew and when," he told reporters in Adelaide.