AWU affair
Julia Gillard, who subsequently became Prime Minister of Australia, was a salaried partner at law firm Slater & Gordon who provided pro-bono legal services to Wilson, with whom she was romantically involved, for the establishment of the Association and for the purchase of the Fitzroy property.
After stating that she had no intention of leaving Slater & Gordon, Gillard left the firm prior to the conclusion of the investigation, and pursued a career in politics.
Ian Cambridge, the former AWU national secretary and current Fair Work Australia commissioner, who detected the alleged misuse of funds in the 1990s, called for a judicial inquiry into the affair.
[3] The Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption investigated the matter and recommended that fraud charges be considered against Wilson and Blewitt, but that there were no grounds for prosecuting Gillard, though her conduct as a solicitor had been "questionable".
[1] It is alleged that the house was part paid for by funds "drawn from accounts directly related to the AWU Workplace Reform Association", with the balance lent by Slater & Gordon.
[1] A police investigation in 1995 and 1996 looked into the possible misappropriation of funds through the association,[9] and in 1996 Ian Cambridge, former national secretary of the AWU and currently a commissioner of Fair Work Australia, lodged an affidavit claiming that Wilson and Blewitt had extorted money from construction companies.
Gude alleged that Gillard's Senate candidature "may not be the only reason she is no longer working for Slater & Gordon" and that she may have indirectly received a financial benefit through the association, and may therefore have been a recipient of fraudulently obtained funds.
[35] In 2011, reporter Glenn Milne covered the allegations, on the website of The Australian, including a claim regarding Gillard's living arrangements with Wilson.
[9][36] Milne based part of the article on a statutory declaration by a former AWU vice president, Bob Kernohan, that had been aired by 2UE presenter, Michael Smith.
[34][37] ABC's television program Media Watch found that the allegation had been considered untrue by News Limited lawyers and removed from an article Milne wrote in 2007.
[37] Michael Smith left his position at 2UE over editorial differences that emerged as a result of an interview which he had recorded with Kernohan about the allegations but never aired,[38] and Milne was dropped from his roles at The Australian and the ABC's Insiders program.
[41][42] In a speech condemning profiteering by union officials, McClelland said that "I know the Prime Minister is quite familiar with this area of the law; as lawyers in the mid-1990s, we were involved in a matter representing opposing clients" and that this had coloured his thinking on legal reforms.
During the conference she responded to some of the allegations, and attacked the credibility of the recently returned Blewitt, referring to him as a "self-confessed fraudster", a "stooge" and a "sexist pig".
[56] In January 2013, the Australian Financial Review reported that, in October 2012, journalist Michael Smith sent police a formal complaint alleging that Gillard had created a "false document", a power of attorney, that had enabled the house in Fitzroy to be purchased in 1993 with money from the union "slush" fund.
They include that they operate largely in secret, have deficient or non-existent record-keeping and that candidates commonly plead ignorance on how money is raised and spent.
The report also recommended fraud charges be considered against former Australian Workers Union officials Bruce Wilson and Ralph Blewitt for their use of a secret slush fund in the 1990s.
Justice Heydon said there were no grounds for prosecuting Ms Gillard, but agreed with counsel assisting Jeremy Stoljar's submission, that her conduct as a solicitor had been 'questionable'.
