The call for a Royal Commission into the AWU scandal involving Julia Gillard IS LOUDER THAN EVER - Gillard, the lawyer, brought a defamation action in defence of the 'bagman' who now wants to testify 'with immunity'

THE CALL FOR THE ROYAL COMMISSION INTO THE AWU SCANDAL INVOLVING PRIME MINISTER JULIA GILLARD IS LOUDER THAN EVER – “It was not a slush fund” says AWU accountant – it was something more sinister – new revelation – Julia Gillard, lawyer, brought on a defamation action in defence of Ralph Blewitt (“the bagman”) – enough is enough, bring on the Royal Commission and step down Julia Gillard from the Office of the Prime Minister till the RC is concluded – The nation’s reputation is on the line

Gillard’s account of slush fund rejected – October 29, 2012 – Sydney Morning Herald

A KEY former union accountant has undermined Julia Gillard's depiction of a slush fund she helped set up in 1992 as being a legitimate association needed to help finance union election campaigns.

Ms Gillard - then a salaried partner at law firm Slater & Gordon - gave extensive legal support to the establishment in Perth of the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association from which more than $400,000 was stolen by her then boyfriend.
She told a media conference in August that she understood the association's purpose was to gather money from payroll deductions and other fund-raising events ''where it would be transparent to people that the money was going to support their re-election campaign''.

After it was revealed in 1995 that the association had been corrupted by Ms Gillard's boyfriend and senior AWU official Bruce Wilson, she told senior partners at Slater & Gordon: ''Every union has what it refers to as an election fund, a slush fund … so that they can finance their next election campaign.''

But the man who was the West Australian branch accountant of the AWU at the time says the union already had an election fund and there was no precedent to establish such a formal legal entity as the Workplace Reform Association for such a purpose.
Russell Frearson said the association was operated in complete secrecy by Mr Wilson and his crony, AWU state secretary Ralph Blewitt, with a separate bank account and post box address.

Mr Frearson said neither he, other branch officials nor the AWU's auditors knew anything about the association until its operations were exposed in 1995. ''They kept it very close to their chests. No one knew what was going on,'' he told The Age.

Mr Frearson - an ally of Bruce Wilson who joined the state administrative team when he took control of the branch in 1991 - said the union already had a dedicated election fund in operation when the Workplace Reform Association was incorporated in June 1992.

''Once Bruce took over we had set up an election fund for officials and everyone was contributing $30 a week,'' he said.

Mr Blewitt confirmed in an interview last week that he had been involved in fraud during his time as AWU state secretary and said he was willing to assist any new police investigation of the matters if he were granted immunity from prosecution.

Ms Gillard has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. She says she had no knowledge of the operations of the association after it was formed and broke off her relationship with Bruce Wilson when the corruption was exposed.

The Age revealed two weeks ago that the association was only registered after Ms Gillard - who failed to advise senior partners about the work or open a formal file - vouched for its legitimacy to the WA Corporate Affairs Commission.

But the registration documents prepared on Ms Gillard's advice described the association's objectives as promoting workplace training and safety and made no reference to money-raising - prohibited for such bodies under the then WA Associations Incorporation Act.

The WA police fraud squad later discovered construction company Thiess had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars into the fund under a memorandum of understanding struck with Bruce Wilson two weeks before the association was incorporated.
They also discovered an initial invoice for $25,272 paid by Thiess to the association at the end of April 1992 - two months before it was incorporated.

Mr Frearson scoffed at suggestions union officials would openly set up a such formal association to support their re-election.

''If companies were making a contribution to an individual, you wouldn't go anywhere near the branch,'' he said.

''That sort of stuff you would expect to be kept separate from the ordinary running of the branch.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/gillards-account-of-union-s...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/industrial-relations/le...

He said Slater & Gordon would co-operate in any investigation by the police or industrial court, but the firm's reputation was "well and truly intact".

Ms Gillard, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, said in late August she provided legal advice for the slush fund's establishment but knew "absolutely nothing about its workings" until serious allegations were raised in 1995.
She then left the firm, where she had been working as a salaried partner.

After the meeting, Mr Nowicki said the board had an obligation to make an independent statement about the allegations, separate from Mr Grech who joined the firm in 1994.

"I can't fathom how the board itself, without investigating, can be satisfied that the statements by Andrew are or are not accurate," he said.

"Grech was an associate - if there ever was an inquiry, he would be a witness to the inquiry."
Liberal senator Eric Abetz had earlier urged Slater & Gordon shareholders to press the board for answers concerning Ms Gillard's role with the AWU Workplace Reform Association slush fund.

"They should ask why in August the firm, which is listed on the ASX, issued a statement glossing over this issue, when others insist Ms Gillard left the firm under a cloud," Senator Abetz said.

"Shareholders should demand that the firm identify and locate all missing files and documents on this scandal and co-operate fully with any Victorian police inquiries into these matters."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/investigations/awu-stalwart-calls-f...
AWU stalwart calls for slush fund inquiry

A LONG-TIME staunch Labor supporter and former union boss is calling for a public inquiry into a secret slush fund at the heart of a fraud scandal that has dogged Julia Gillard since 1995.

Tim Daly, a Labor member for 35 years and head of the Australian Workers Union in Western Australia for a decade until 2008, said the slush fund was unprecedented in its operation, secrecy and the very large amounts of cash it raised.

He said it should offend every unionist that nobody had been held accountable over the slush fund, known as the AWU Workplace Reform Association. Mr Daly helped discover its existence in April 1996, after hundreds of thousands of dollars had already been paid by building company Thiess, and siphoned off.

"I want to see some sort of public inquiry into this -- I will support an inquiry and I will tell it what I know," Mr Daly told The Australian in Perth yesterday.

"It will be messy and it will be harmful for some people, but an inquiry is necessary to prevent these things from ever happening again. I am loyal to the AWU and the Labor Party, I just don't like crooks. I think that one of the crooks is now prepared to tell the truth.

"The fact is that when you have companies paying off unions in secrecy, the workers have no chance. There has been a great reluctance to get to the bottom of this very serious matter for 17 years. The slush fund (in the way it worked) was corrupt, there is no question about it, but I have a nagging concern that people still do not want to see this all come out."

Mr Daly said while most unions have slush funds to pay for elections, the AWU Workplace Reform Association was "highly unusual"-- it was bankrolled by a major employer, Thiess; it was kept secret from the rest of the union and its membership; and it received sums of money that were remarkable for the period.

A senior forensic accountant, John Lourens, who is analysing account records and legal documents related to the slush fund, states in a newly released report that "at a minimum, the AWU financial swindle involves a misappropriation of $880,663".
Former AWU official Ralph Blewitt has told The Australian that the AWU Workplace Reform Association was fraudulent.

In an interview in early August, Mr Blewitt said: "I knew there were sham transactions. I could face criminal charges. I will make myself available (to police) on that one condition that I have immunity from prosecution. My greatest fear is that I incriminate myself, but this has to come out now. "

Ms Gillard was a salaried partner at Slater & Gordon law firm in Melbourne when she helped to establish the slush fund for her then boyfriend, AWU official Bruce Wilson, and his friend AWU bagman Mr Blewitt.

The Prime Minister, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, said in late August she provided legal advice for the slush fund's establishment but knew "absolutely nothing about its workings" until serious allegations were raised in 1995.

The existence of the slush fund, which was designed to raise money for union elections, was withheld from other union members and the leadership for four years from April 1992.

Ms Gillard did not disclose her legal work on the slush fund to the other partners at the firm until serious claims of fraud were raised against Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt, both of whom refused to co-operate with subsequent police investigations.

As a result of the lack of disclosure, Ms Gillard's relationship with the firm's partners "fractured, and trust and confidence evaporated", according to a statement two months ago by the firm's former senior partner, Peter Gordon.

Money in the slush fund's accounts was siphoned off, with large cheques made out to cash, while about $100,000 went into a $230,000 Melbourne property bought in 1993 in the name of Mr Blewitt, for the use of Mr Wilson.

Slater & Gordon said it intended to make no further comments, adding that "the people (Ms Gillard and Bernard Murphy, now a Federal Court judge) who were acting for the former clients involved at that time left (the firm) in 1995 and 1996".

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/commen...

The AWU scandal involving Julia Gillard’s then boyfriend and client - and a slush fund she helped to create - may have ripped off twice the money widely reported:

A LONG-TIME staunch Labor supporter and former union boss is calling for a public inquiry into a secret slush fund at the heart of a fraud scandal that has dogged Julia Gillard since 1995.

Tim Daly, a Labor member for 35 years and head of the Australian Workers Union in Western Australia for a decade until 2008, said the slush fund was unprecedented in its operation, secrecy and the very large amounts of cash it raised......

Mr Daly said while most unions have slush funds to pay for elections, the AWU Workplace Reform Association was “highly unusual"-- it was bankrolled by a major employer, Thiess; it was kept secret from the rest of the union and its membership; and it received sums of money that were remarkable for the period.

A senior forensic accountant, John Lourens, who is analysing account records and legal documents related to the slush fund, states in a newly released report that ”at a minimum, the AWU financial swindle involves a misappropriation of $880,663”.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2012/10/the-awu-scandal-proof-positive-t...
Friday, 26 October 2012

The AWU Scandal - Proof positive that a file does indeed exist.
One of our number wants you to know that a file does exist in the archives of the Western Australian people.
That's a very important old fashioned notion, isn't it. It belongs to the people.
Some-one has knocked off your stuff.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/opinion/questions-just-wont-go-away-for-juli...

FOR MORE IN DEPTH COVERAGE:

http://indymedia.org.au/2012/10/11/royal-commission-or-bust-on-the-awu-s...
ROYAL COMMISSION or bust into AWU scandal and Prime Minister Julia Gillard, it goes to the highest office in the country with too many involved - from Gillard, Shorten, Ludwig, Roxon and others and of course McClelland too. The questions out there are so many, the allegations everywhere that not having a Royal Commission is bull dust and a different set of rules for the privileged and the elite.

http://indymedia.org.au/2012/10/13/no-royal-commission-then-no-trust-in-...
(The Royal Commission has to happen, the whole Office of the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Julia Gillard, the Cabinet, the AWU and the ALP remain tainted otherwise and we deserve better than this - the files with Slater and Gordon should be released to a Royal Commission, Ralph Blewitt and Bruce Wilson must provide testimony, and no files or documents held back, and what no-one has said so far that should be a must, is that the meeting that took place at Boulder Town Hall (WA) in 1992 allegedy with Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson speaking to AWU members about their funds - members benefits - into what is now described as a 'slush fund' this is key and a transcript of that meeting and the speeches may need to be provided)
This mess needs a Royal Commission for everyones sake and till it happens the Office of the Prime Minister is included in the tainting and aspersions.
It is not "the internet nutjobs" who are the problem, the questions and the sea of aspersions are the problems and they have a right to be asked and the example from the highest office in the nation is now the poorest and actually it is reprehensible.

http://www.indymedia.org.au/2012/08/19/its-time-julia-gillard-and-the-al...
http://indymedia.org.au/2012/08/05/royal-commission-into-the-awu-allegat...
Prime Minister cannot continue to leave an example of 'trust me' and 'I was young and naive' while other Australians would have come before the justice system.
Julia Gillard claimed that she was young and naive while her then partner, Bruce Wilson, siphoned members' funds from the AWU but instead she was a 36 year old lawyer, and a partner in the burgeoning law firm, Slater and Gordon.
A Royal Commission is long overdue into the AWU scandal and especially with the now 66 year old Ralph Blewitt coming out of nowhere, for whatever reasons, and publicly admitting wrong-doing and calling for his immunity from prosecution in order to provide testimony.
Australia cannot point the finger at other countries and lampoon them as tinpot regimes with keystone like processes, accusatory in terms of corruption, nepotism, cultures of favour dispensation, clandestine social but powerful networks to the point of being aversive to white collar criminality while grave questions remain like a dark pall over the Office of the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, however indeed over the whole of parliament and therefore its parliamentary processes.