Sky News23 November 2012
Abbott demands PM be open on slush fund Watch
Coalition Leader Tony Abbott wants the PM to be 'open' about her role in establishing a union slush fund
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The AWU scandal: Why it matters
IT is the million-dollar union scandal that has haunted Julia Gillard for 17 years. Here are the answers to your questions.
PM faces new claims over union past
A FORMER law-firm colleague of Prime Minister Julia Gillard says her version of the AWU mortgage scandal just doesn't stack up.
PRIME minister Julia Gillard told a press conference today the latest claims were part of an ongoing smear campaign.
"What this boils down to is 17 years ago I couldn't recall events that happened 2 and a half years earlier.
"And let's be very clear, the matter I couldn't recall related to Slater and Gordon issuing a mortgage not a matter associated with any union fund or account.
"There would be plenty of people who would say looking back over two year it's a bit hard to recall every bit of paper that comes across your desk."
"What is means is this whole campaign of smear actually boils down to absolutely nothing."
Ralph Blewitt has spoken with officers at Victoria Police headquarters on Flinders St. Picture: Nicole Garmston
"Let's also be clear, this wasn't a file I ran, I was not the partner in charge of it, I was not the solicitor operating it so I don't think it's remarkable in any way that I wouldn't have full recall of documents that on a file that I didn't run as a solicitor," Ms Gillard said.
"In law firms documents get handled by paralegals and they get handled way back when in those days by mail rooms and the like."
RALPH BLEWITT
He is the former Vietnam Veteran whose testimony to Victorian police threatens to blow open the Australian Workers Union scandal - again. A former official with the Timber workers Union, the 66-year-old Mr Blewitt says he is motivated to speak out after being contacted by Harry Nowicki, a one-time Melbourne lawyer, and Michael Smith, the former Sydney radio broadcaster who lost his job over the AWU scandal. A self-confessed “bagman” for the AWU, Mr Blewitt played the role of loyal deputy to Wilson as the two men ran amok during the early-to-mid 1990s. Mr Blewitt’s claims will be seized upon by the Opposition as they seek to hammer the Prime Minister in the last week of parliamentary sittings for 2012.
JULIA GILLARD
According to the Prime Minister, she was a “young and naive” lawyer in her early-30s when she fell in love with Bruce Wilson. Ms Gillard at the time was a salaried partner at Slater & Gordon and began a romance with the then union official after travelling to West Australia to provide legal advice to the AWU. Ms Gillard left the legal firm in late 1995 after management conducted a secret internal inquiry into matters related to the AWU. Soon after, Victorian Liberal minister Phil Gude raised the allegations for the first time in the Victorian Parliament, reportedly after receiving a file of material from two men - one a union official, the other a Labor MP. In August, the Prime Minister held a marathon press conference in Canberra to deal with a raft of allegations that have dogged her for 17 years.
IAN CAMBRIDGE
A one-time joint national secretary of the Australian Workers Union, Ian Cambridge is now a commissioner with Fair Work Australia. Mr Cambridge spearheaded the initial investigation into the AWU scandal, attempting to find out the whereabouts of hundreds of thousands of dollars that were unaccounted for. In a lengthy 1996 affidavit, Mr Cambridge documented for the first time how a series of bank accounts were established with proceeds distributed largely through a series of cash withdrawals. He also documented the role of Slater & Gordon as legal adviser to the AWU officials and was critical of the firm's role in a property transaction, involving the Kerr St Fitzroy property purchased for $230,000 in early 1993.
BRUCE WILSON
He was once a feared warrior with the Australian Workers Union who was touted as a future Prime Minister. But these days, Bruce Morton Wilson lives a quiet life on the mid north coast of NSW, working as a part-time chef at a small club bistro. Mr Wilson has refused to discuss his role in what may be one of the nation's largest union rorts, involving the alleged misappropriation of up to $1 million in funds from the AWU over a four year period from 1991 to 1995. The former AWU State Secretary in West Australia and then Victoria, Mr Wilson was the spearhead behind a series of accounts and entities that were established without the knowledge of other union officials. But his testimony - if he was ever forced to give evidence - would be explosive.
BOB SMITH
For the past 17 years, Bob Smith has maintained a steely silence on what he knows about the AWU scandal. The former President of the Victorian Legislative Council was perhaps the first union official to discover that something was astray. In mid-1995, the then Victorian State Secretary uncovered a number of unauthorised bank accounts linked to AWU entities. He set about trying to uncover how Mr Wilson, in particular, had established these funds in secrecy.
Ms Gillard was at Werribee today to launch Wyndham Healthy Communities at Wyndham City Council, said there had not been one substantiated allegation of wrong doing in the past 20 years.
PM's slush fund discrepancy
PM's discrepancy Watch
A lawyer who worked with Prime Minister Gillard says there is a discrepancy in her explanation of a loan. Courtesy 7:30 Report
"If you look at all the documents what they show ... there is a question about a certificate of insurance, the conveyancing file shows that Mr Blewitt personally followed that matter up."
"Let's also be clear, this wasn't a file I ran, I was not the partner in charge of it, I was not the solicitor operating it so I don't think it's remarkable in any way that I wouldn't have full recall of documents that on a file that I didn't run as a solicitor," Ms Gillard said.
"In law firms documents get handled by paralegals and they get handled way back when in those days by mail rooms and the like."
Ms Gillard was at Werribee today to launch Wyndham Healthy Communities at Wyndham City Council, said there had not been one substantiated allegation of wrong doing in the past 20 years.
"If you look at all the documents what they show ... there is a question about a certificate of insurance, the conveyancing file shows that Mr Blewitt personally followed that matter up."
Ralph Blewitt
Former AWU official Ralph Blewitt arriving at Victoria Police headquarters. Picture: David Caird Source: Herald Sun
Bagman speaks to police
Earlier today, a former Australian Workers Union official will this morning tell Victorian Police what he knew about the union scandal in a key development that may shed light on the 17-year-old fraud.
Ralph Blewitt, a self-confessed bagman, and one-time State Secretary, has left police headquarters in Melbourne after meeting with Victorian fraud squad detectives and delivering a 10-page statement outlining his recollection of key events.
Mr Blewitt, who flew in from Malaysia earlier this week, plans to tell police about the formation of the AWU Workplace Reform Association, the “slush” fund used to channel around $400,000 in misappropriated monies.
He is also expected to speak about the purchase of a $230,000 inner-Melbourne property in 1993 – which is now the subject of fresh questions involving the Prime Minister Julia Gillard.
The evidence from Mr Blewitt will help police decide whether to re-open the investigation into how up to $1 million in AWU funds were misappropriated between 1991 and 1995.Bruce Wilson, who was in a relationship with Ms Gillard for much of this time, was the mastermind behind the formation of several accounts and entities that were kept secret from other AWU officials.
Mr Blewitt’s decision to break his silence on the union scandal comes as the Prime Minister is under pressure to explain an apparent discrepancy over her recollection of a $150,000 mortgage used to help purchase a property in Fitzroy, inner-Melbourne.
Nick Styant-Browne, a former equity partner with Slater & Gordon, has challenged the Prime Minister over comments she made during an 1995 interview with senior partners of the law firm.
According to Mr Styant-Browne, Ms Gillard "claimed in the interview in 1995 that the first she heard about the Slater and Gordon loan for the acquisition of the Kerr Street property was in about August of (1995)".
But he said documents showed there was "no doubt that Ms Gillard knew about the mortgage from Slater and Gordon in March of 1993 (and) was specifically involved in taking steps to facilitate that mortgage".
"That is a matter of documents, it's not a matter of assertion and hearsay," he said.
