Union inquiry: Gillard denies reno allegations
UPDATED: Former prime minister Julia Gillard has denied any prior knowledge of a slush fund set up by her former partner, union official Bruce Wilson, also insisting money from the fund was not used to renovate her home.
Gillard has told a royal commission into trade union corruption that the extent of her involvement in the setting up of the slush fund was in providing legal advice to help incorporate an association.
It has previously been alleged at the commission that money from the fund, known as the Workplace Reform Association, was used to buy a house, and also to renovate her home in the Melbourne suburb of Abbotsford in 1994.
Gillard had entered into a relationship with Mr Wilson in 1991.
She was a salaried partner at law firm Slater and Gordon in 1992 when she provided the legal advice.
On Wednesday she told the commission that at the time she believed the association was being established to help Wilson fight union elections in Western Australia.
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“I had no knowledge at that time or knowledge at any time about the banking arrangements of the Workplace Reform Association,” Gillard told the commission.
“I provided legal advice,” Gillard said when pressed by counsel assisting the commission, Jeremy Stoljar SC.
“I then had no further contact with the work of the association or its banking arrangements.”
Gillard also rejected suggestions from Stoljar that it was significant that she did not open a file in Slater and Gordon’s office system in relation to the advice she had provided to Wilson.
Stoljar asked Gillard if she should have opened a file for the advice, given it was substantial work.
But Gillard, who was calm and spoke evenly as she gave her answers, said in hindsight she could have but did not agree it was a substantial task.
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“Mr Stoljar, I can assure you that I did more substantial jobs than this for free for trade unions during my days at Slater and Gordon,” she said.
Gillard arrived at the commission building hours early on Wednesday, and was sworn in just after 10.30am for questioning about the fund affair that has shadowed her career for the past two decades.
She tendered four separate statements – a primary statement of just four pages and three additional statements of a page each.
Gillard, who spent an hour in the witness box in the morning before a brief adjournment, is expected face further questions about whether union funds were used to renovate her home.
In her supplementary statements, Gillard rejected previous evidence to the commission by a builder, Athol James, who said she had told him Wilson was providing cash to pay for renovations to her home in Abbotsford, Victoria, in 1994.
“I never said to Athol that Bruce Wilson was paying for his work and I did not obtain cash from Bruce Wilson for the work Athol James undertook,” Gillard said.
Gillard also rejected claims by a former union employee, Wayne Hem, that he deposited $5000 into Gillard’s bank account on Wilson’s orders.
Gillard said she had no recollection of ever receiving money in her account from Wilson.
“All payments made for renovations on my property were from my own money,” she said.
The hearing in Sydney continues.
