# Gillard Wilson Blewitt - Investigations of alleged AWU corruption



## bigdog (17 July 2013)

We need a new thread about Gillard after politics!

Will we ever get to know what really happened????

Ms Gillard has repeatedly and strenuously denied any wrongdoing in her role as a Slater & Gordon solicitor who helped Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt establish the fund, called the AWU Workplace Reform Association.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...nt-on-slush-fund/story-fng5kxvh-1226680409694

*Police quiz ex-AWU assistant on slush fund*

    by: Hedley Thomas
    From: The Australian
    July 17, 2013 12:00AM

A RETIRED union employee who helped transcribe dozens of taped conversations during dogged investigations of alleged AWU corruption is now helping detectives from Victoria Police in their probe into a union fund scandal still dogging Julia Gillard.

Detectives from the Fraud and Extortion Squad have been in Sydney to interview Wendy Pymont, personal assistant to Ian Cambridge when he was joint national secretary of the Australian Workers Union in 1995.

Ms Pymont has provided police with a detailed statement describing her role in the investigations by Mr Cambridge, who called for a royal commission into the suspected fraud at the time.

Ms Pymont, Mr Cambridge and the other former joint national secretary of the union, Steve Harrison, are giving key documents to Victoria Police as detectives prepare a brief of evidence about the conduct of two former union officials.

Ms Pymont said yesterday: "The police have asked me not to speak to any reporters and I don't want to put a spanner in the works."

In November last year, she told The Australian she was stunned at revelations that she was hearing about the union skulduggery being investigated in 1995 by Mr Cambridge. She added: "I have kept the work a secret all this time: until now, I have not told anyone except my husband.

"My computer had to be password-protected and nobody else in the office had access. I think some people should get what they deserve -- and sometimes I think it is best to let sleeping dogs lie."

Ms Pymont said yesterday: "My view that it should be investigated properly has not changed -- and that's what is now happening."

Mr Cambridge, a Fair Work Australia commissioner who issued a public appeal earlier this year for people with knowledge of the slush fund scandal to come forward to help Victoria Police, is understood to have given detectives his diaries and other material. He said yesterday he was unable to comment.

The two former union officials under intense focus in the police investigation are Ralph Blewitt, who has admitted to his involvement in union fraud and a slush fund, and his one-time boss, Bruce Wilson, who was Ms Gillard's boyfriend at the time. The slush fund was used by the two men to bill building company Thiess for hundreds of thousands of dollars for work that was not performed.

The Australian revealed last year the existence of the extensive diaries kept by Mr Cambridge and Ms Pymont. They included claims of a $5000 alleged payment that Mr Wilson instructed a union employee, Wayne Hem, to deposit in Ms Gillard's bank account. Other claims in Mr Cambridge's diaries related to union-funded renovations of Ms Gillard's house.

Ms Gillard has repeatedly and strenuously denied any wrongdoing in her role as a Slater & Gordon solicitor who helped Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt establish the fund, called the AWU Workplace Reform Association.

She says she gave legal advice to help set up the association, which Mr Wilson later used to carry out the alleged fraud. She later described the association as a "slush fund" for the re-election of union officials, but said she had no knowledge of its operations.

Victoria Police, which has had a taskforce of detectives working on the AWU investigation since late last year, has repeatedly declined to comment on ongoing developments in the probe.


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## Macquack (17 July 2013)

Can't even let Julia Rest-in-Peace.

You are a big dog, bigdog.


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## drsmith (17 July 2013)

Macquack said:


> Can't even let Julia Rest-in-Peace.



Only her prime-ministership is dead.

That and a bit more of Labor.

The AWU and HSU issues go to the heart of what is wrong with Labor.


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## Macquack (17 July 2013)

drsmith said:


> Only her prime-ministership is dead.
> 
> That and a bit more of Labor.
> 
> The AWU and HSU issues go to the heart of what is wrong with Labor.




As far as Gillard goes, you would know that it is very difficult to pin anything on a solicitor.


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## sptrawler (17 July 2013)

Macquack said:


> As far as Gillard goes, you would know that it is very difficult to pin anything on a solicitor.




That doesn't make it right, I'm beginning to see why we don't see eye to eye.


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## Macquack (17 July 2013)

sptrawler said:


> That doesn't make it right, I'm beginning to see why we don't see eye to eye.




Yeah, your mate Tony got away with administering a slush fund.

Bottom line is, *Julia is innocent until proven guilty*.

I also see why we don't see eye to eye, because you believe in trial by media and I don't.


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## sptrawler (17 July 2013)

Macquack said:


> Yeah, your mate Tony got away with administering a slush fund.
> 
> Bottom line is, *Julia is innocent until proven guilty*.
> 
> I also see why we don't see eye to eye, because you believe in trial by media and I don't.




Not at all, Abbott gets trail by media daily, it was your statement of "let her rest in peace" why? If she has done something wrong.

I'm sure they wouldn't let you or me, rest in peace, if we had commited a crime. 
It would be nice to think they would, but that would make them as stupid as us. lol


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## basilio (18 July 2013)

Clearly we need another forum to keep bashing Julia and Labour.  Even if the alleged activity is around 20 years old and generally promoted by some of the  most notorious liars in Australia (Pickering and co)

Perhaps we should set up a similar forum on the allegations that Tony Abbott was a right thug in his university politics days (and hasn't changed one iota since then ). Or perhaps focus on how Mal Brough skewered Peter Slipper or Tony Abbott tried to claim almost $9000 of taxpayers money  a couple of years ago to promote his book Battlelines.

Nah that would be too mean wouldn't it?


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## Julia (18 July 2013)

basilio said:


> Clearly we need another forum to keep bashing Julia and Labour.  Even if the alleged activity is around 20 years old and generally promoted by some of the  most notorious liars in Australia (Pickering and co)



Whether you like it or not, basilio, there is apparently enough concern for the police to be carrying out what finally seems a proper investigation, so perhaps desist in your attempt to make it all seem like a fiction.
And btw, the political party is Labor, not Labour.  Given you are such an acolyte I'd have thought you'd have this right.



> Perhaps we should set up a similar forum on the allegations that Tony Abbott was a right thug in his university politics days (and hasn't changed one iota since then ). Or perhaps focus on how Mal Brough skewered Peter Slipper or Tony Abbott tried to claim almost $9000 of taxpayers money  a couple of years ago to promote his book Battlelines.
> 
> Nah that would be too mean wouldn't it?



And superfluous, given the superb job you're doing in attempting to do a character assassination on Mr Abbott.


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## basilio (18 July 2013)

Thanks for the  correction on Labor Julia. I missed that.

It is still appropriate to refer to *allegations *of impropriety by Julia Gilliard. And it is absolutely true that Pickering is a notorious liar.

With regard to Tony Abbott's history. Objective evidence from the time says he was a very hard player at university politics. When he became Opposition leader he took a very combative approach to Julia Gilliard and was effective at destroying her credibility. No surprises there.

With regard to the $9000 he returned to Treasury after making erroneous expenses claims. This is all documented.  But as I said I don't think its worth running an entire thread on it and attempting to have him tried and convicted  for attempted fraud. I suspect however if it was a Labor party politician there would be some very hot headed  forum members doing just that.

For the full details of Abotts  case and the workings of the Minchin protocol check out the  reports below. (Clearly you won't find it in  News Ltd media )

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/09/tony-abbott-refusal-travel-expenses?INTCMP=SRCH



> *The Minchin protocol explained: expenses, repayments and Tony Abbott*
> 
> The rules for handling claims of misuse of politicians' expenses and how they relate to recent news about Abbott



http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/minchin-protocol-expenses-tony-abbott?INTCMP=SRCH


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## pixel (18 July 2013)

Macquack said:


> Yeah, your mate Tony got away with administering a slush fund.
> 
> Bottom line is, *Julia is innocent until proven guilty*.
> 
> I also see why we don't see eye to eye, because you believe in trial by media and I don't.




+1
I too am sick and tired of mud raking.
Doesn't matter whether I'm pro or anti Julia.
(In the main, I'm anti Lawyers though.)


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## drsmith (22 July 2013)

One of the side battles in this could be Michael Smith vs Jon Faine.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/201...iew-with-me-was-sub-par-my-turn-now-jon-.html


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## drsmith (3 September 2013)

Michael Smith has been going hard on this recently. I haven't followed the detail, but a couple of articles have also appeared in the Australian today including this one from Hedley Thomas,

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...wu-fraud-scandal/story-fn6tcxar-1226709340199

It also appears Kev copped a question while in Tasmania today. His answer appears to be at least partly cut off, but the look says it all. The video is from a third party site, so I can't absolutely confirm whether it was today or old footage.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_xe6esOxCw&list=UUNl_vmWxfBo5ySCuKS_RNfA


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## bellenuit (9 December 2013)

Some interesting developments today. Also check some other entries from today in Smiths Blog

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/201...ws-of-the-courts-fraud-finding-in-the-aw.html

Http://www.michaelsmithnews.com


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## drsmith (10 December 2013)

Further to the above, Michael Smith on Alan Jones's radio show this morning,

http://www.2gb.com/audioplayer/25146#.UqZ46a2Q_IV

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/201...orias-chief-magistrate-on-the-awu-scanda.html

The Australian's Hedley Thomas,

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/201...ws-the-depth-of-much-of-our-medias-faili.html


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## DB008 (7 January 2014)

More Union thuggery/corruption - are you surprised? Gillard is also mentioned. There should be a big inquiry into this!


*Bob Kernohan - audio player
Tuesday January 7, 2014*



> Michael Smith speaks with Bob Kernohan former President of the AWU, discussing the turmoil that resulted from him being unwilling participate in an unlawful cover-up.





http://www.2gb.com/audioplayer/27741#.UsvGAWQW1B8


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## drsmith (8 January 2014)

DB008 said:


> *Bob Kernohan - audio player
> Tuesday January 7, 2014*
> 
> http://www.2gb.com/audioplayer/27741#.UsvGAWQW1B8



The Australian's coverage of the above interview,



> UNION whistleblower Bob Kernohan has spoken publicly of his final conversation with former protege Bill Shorten, in which the now Opposition Leader allegedly told him to "move on" from the AWU slush fund scandal.
> 
> In an interview with 2GB broadcaster Michael Smith - who was suspended from rival 2UE two years ago for attempting to air a prerecorded interview with Mr Kernohan - the former Australian Workers Union Victorian president said he was disappointed with the way Mr Shorten had reacted when details of the slush fund were starting to emerge.
> 
> ...




http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...ower-to-move-on/story-fn59noo3-1226796845379#


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## drsmith (13 February 2014)

Police seize documents locked in a Perth storage unit.

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/201...ted-more-search-warrants-this-time-in-wa.html


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## Calliope (13 February 2014)

drsmith said:


> Police seize documents locked in a Perth storage unit.
> 
> http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/201...ted-more-search-warrants-this-time-in-wa.html




Google Chrome has blocked access to this link as it is a "known malware distributor". Smith's enemies, and there are many, have probably infected the site.


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## bellenuit (13 February 2014)

Calliope said:


> Google Chrome has blocked access to this link as it is a "known malware distributor". Smith's enemies, and there are many, have probably infected the site.




I am getting through no problem. I know he had a problem of that type last week and is now (I think) suing Google. I didn't have time to read the complaint he made against Google.


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## drsmith (13 February 2014)

Calliope said:


> Google Chrome has blocked access to this link as it is a "known malware distributor". Smith's enemies, and there are many, have probably infected the site.



He was having issues with that over the weekend.

On his site was an extract from the following article in The Australian.



> VICTORIAN police have seized hundreds of union documents locked in a Perth storage unit that could provide important evidence for their investigation into the involvement of Julia Gillard’s former boyfriend in an alleged fraud.
> 
> The Australian Workers Union confirmed yesterday that Victorian police had executed search warrants for archives kept in the storage unit, and removed 12 boxes that could assist an investigation into former union official Bruce Wilson and the AWU Workplace Reform Association “slush fund”.
> 
> ...




http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...-fund-documents/story-fng5kxvh-1226825253411#


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## Macquack (13 February 2014)

*Michael Smith News.com *is now a charity?



> Thursday, 13 February 2014
> 
> 
> *Support for our website *
> ...




Makes me sick when fat cats cry poor.

Good luck Michael, all your supporters are tight arses who might piss in your pocket but won't give you two bob.

Don't see Joe Blow playing this card.


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## drsmith (13 February 2014)

Macquack said:


> *Michael Smith News.com *is now a charity?
> 
> Makes me sick when fat cats cry poor.
> 
> ...



If you were a regular reader of the site, you would have realised he often asks for donations.

There's nothing wrong with that. You, like everybody else has a choice.


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## sptrawler (13 February 2014)

No, it's much easier to misappropriate it.


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## bigdog (16 March 2014)

Kangaroo Court Article:

http://kangraroocoutofaustralia.com...ally-involved-in-the-julia-gillard-awu-fraud/

Smoking gun document shows John Cain and Maurice Blackburn lawyers criminally involved in the Julia Gillard AWU fraud

Below is a smoking gun document that is bound to receive substantial attention at the up and coming Royal Commission into unions because it nails Maurice and Blackburn Lawyers and their then CEO John Cain Jnr. for their role in covering-up the Julia Gillard – Bruce Wilson AWU fraud.

The document is authored by John Cain and was signed by him on the 17th of August 1995. It is direct evidence and Mr Cain will find it hard to blame others. It is one very powerful prima facie case against Mr Cain when the document is put together with the evidence in the affidavit signed on the 19th September 1996 by Ian Cambridge. (Click here to read the Ian Cambridge affidavit)

With the Royal Commission into Unions being formally signed off on Friday (14/3/14) and announcing it will hold its first hearing on the 9th of April (Click here to read) it is worth looking at one of many side players who has a lot to worry about.

Much has been written about the main players in the AWU fraud such as Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson etc but very little focus has been about the dozens of people involved in covering up the corruption. So let’s have a look at John Cain and the evidence that should have him charged or at the very least have him turning on others to protect himself. As we know concealing a crime is a crime in itself. (See the Crimes Act 1914 sections 42. Conspiracy to defeat justice and 43. Attempting to pervert justice)

Background

Regular followers of this site will know most of the background so I will keep it brief. New readers can get further backgrounding by reading the Julia Gillard / Bruce Wilson AWU Fraud Page (Click here to read)

Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard helped her former boyfriend Bruce Wilson rip off the Australian Workers Union (AWU) in the early 1990′s. Bruce Wilson worked at the AWU and set up many different bank accounts to steal money from the AWU. One of those accounts is listed on the document below and was called the “Australian Workers Union Welfare Account” which was held at the Commonwealth Bank.

Bruce Wilson and others were resigning (being sacked for fraud and theft) from the AWU on the 18th of August 1995 and the document below relates to what happened on the day before on the 17th of August 1995. There was a meeting at the Commonwealth Bank to split up the stolen funds and return some of the money to the companies where the money was stolen from.

At the meeting were John Cain, the bank manager Peter McCarthy and representing the AWU were Bruce Wilson and Bob Smith. The name Jim Collins from the AWU also shows up on Cambridge’s affidavit as having some involvement.

I copied the document from the Federal Court of Australia in December 2012 when I inspected the files in relation to the Gillard / AWU fraud. It shows money which was fraudulently gained from companies by Bruce Wilson being returned to those same companies. The document also shows John Cain, who was the CEO of Maurice Blackburn Lawyers from 1991 to 2002, instructing the bank a manager at the Commonwealth Bank what cheques needed to be written to cover-up the fraud and theft. John Cain had to know exactly what was happening and why the money was being returned to the companies. He also had to have known that Ian Cambridge was investigating fraud at the AWU.

John Cain - Maurice Blackburn page 1


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## dutchie (16 March 2014)

This might be a better link

http://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2014/03/





bigdog said:


> Kangaroo Court Article:
> 
> http://kangraroocoutofaustralia.com...ally-involved-in-the-julia-gillard-awu-fraud/
> 
> ...


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## bellenuit (8 May 2014)

*Julia Gillard on notice to get lawyer for inquiry
*
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new...yer-for-inquiry/story-fng5kxvh-1226909582423#

_THE royal commission into union wrongdoing is alerting Julia Gillard and her one-time boyfriend, disgraced union boss Bruce Wilson, that its hearings will start next week with evidence from a corrupt former AWU official who has confessed to fraud involving a slush fund set up after legal advice from the former prime minister.

Notifications are going out to parties who may be adversely mentioned in evidence from Ralph Blewitt, who returned to Australia from his home in Malay*sia this week to help the royal commission and an ongoing fraud investigation by Victoria Police.

The notifications are being made by the commission’s lawyers to ensure that people have the chance to seek to be legally represented at public hearings.

The Australian can reveal that Mr Blewitt intends to tell retired High Court judge Dyson Heydon’s royal commission about his role in a criminal fraud in the 1990s. He will give evidence of how he and his then boss, Mr Wilson, allegedly siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars from a building company to the union slush fund, the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association.

The Australian revealed online yesterday that Mr Blewitt would be the newly established royal commission’s first witness. He first confessed his dishonesty with the slush fund in interviews with The Australian in 2012. This led to revelations about the fund from further disclosures and documents including several released by a former partner of the law firm Slater & Gordon, Nick Styant-Browne, who was Ms Gillard’s colleague in the 1990s.

The royal commission’s chief executive, Jane Fitzgerald, confirmed in a brief statement that the opening hearing on Monday would “deal with matters associated with the Workplace Reform Association”, which is covered by the terms of reference agreed by Attorney-General George Brandis.

“Next week’s hearing has been necessitated by the return to Australia of a person associated with the Workplace Reform Association,’’ Ms Fitzgerald said.

She said further hearings on the matter might take place at a later date and that “any person or institution who believes they have a direct and substantial interest in the scope and purpose of the hearing” may apply in writing to appear at the commission.

Revelations about the Workplace Reform Association have dogged the former prime minister, who provided legal advice as a solicitor at Slater & Gordon to help establish the slush fund for Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt in the early 1990s. Ms Gillard and Mr Wilson have repeatedly and strenuously denied wrongdoing.

Mr Blewitt’s Melbourne-based solicitor, Bob Galbally, said: “Ralph is prepared to incriminate himself and reveal all. I have been told that he will be in the witness box for a day or two.”

Mr Galbally said he was unsure whether Victoria Police detectives, who intend to conduct a further interview with Mr Blewitt today or tomorrow, have provided their evidence of the fraud to which he has confessed to the royal commission.

Harry Nowicki, a legal associate and confidant of Mr Blewitt who has been researching the case for two years, said: “He is looking forward to giving his evidence. Ralph has come back to give his evidence because he has nothing to hide. He will be a witness of truth.”

Mr Blewitt, 69, who was a state secretary of the Australian Workers Union and an ally of Mr Wilson, has told of burying wads of ill-gotten cash in the backyard of his home. He has claimed that money was taken from the slush fund to pay for renovations at Ms Gillard’s home, and to buy a terrace house in Melbourne where Mr Wilson would live. The former prime minister has insisted that she paid for the renovations at her home.

Victoria Police detectives who have been running an 18-month investigation with Mr Blewitt’s co-operation, intend to charge him with fraud-related offences, to which he will plead guilty. He is expected to give evidence against others. It is understood that in return for his co-operation and guilty plea, police will make courtroom submissions that Mr Blewitt should not be sentenced to jail.

Mr Blewitt’s travel expenses for his current visit to Australia are being met by a private citizen who has wanted to see the slush fund issues properly investigated by police and the royal commission.

In his most recent interview with The Australian, Mr Blewitt said: “I was a criminal when I was in the AWU and I’ve put my hand up for it. I’ve confessed to being a partner in the AWU slush fund. I’ve said it was a fraud and I don’t step away from any of it. Of course I’m guilty.”

Police led by Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell have used a search warrant to seize more than 350 documents from Slater & Gordon, and travelled across Australia to take statements from numerous witnesses.

Police have told Victoria’s chief magistrate, Peter Lauritsen, they are investigating four types of offence in relation to “Wilson, Blewitt and others”: obtaining property by deception; receiving secret commissions; making and using false documents; and conspiracy to cheat and defraud.

In 2012, Ms Gillard attacked Mr Blewitt, who was once her client, as a complete idiot, a stooge, imbecile and sexist pig. The former salaried partner of Slater & Gordon has insisted that she did not know that the AWU Workplace Reform Association, which she told her legal partners in a confidential intervew was really a “slush fund” for union elections, would be used as a vehicle for a fraud._


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## drsmith (12 May 2014)

Live video feed from the Royal Commission.

http://203.174.157.189/webcast/

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2014/05/click-here-to-watch-the-royal-commission-streamed-live.html


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## noco (12 May 2014)

drsmith said:


> Live video feed from the Royal Commission.
> 
> http://203.174.157.189/webcast/
> 
> http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2014/05/click-here-to-watch-the-royal-commission-streamed-live.html




And here is more to add about how the renovations on Gillards house was paid in cash.



http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/...-blogs:mini-blogs|1|heading|homepage|homepage


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