Lawyer claims discrepancy in PM's slush fund explanation

Updated

A lawyer who worked with Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the 1990s says he has a document that proves there is a discrepancy in her story about when she knew about a home loan involving her former partner.

While working for the law firm Slater and Gordon in 1992, Ms Gillard helped set up a fund for her then-partner, Australian Workers Union (AWU) official Bruce Wilson.

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The fund allegedly paid for part of a property in Kerr Street, Fitzroy.

Nick Styant-Browne was a partner in Slater and Gordon and became involved in a bitter dispute within the firm, which then acted for the AWU.

At the centre of it were two men - union official Ralph Blewitt and branch secretary Mr Wilson - who were accused of being behind a fraud in which hundreds of thousands of dollars from developers were paid into a slush fund and then siphoned off.

Ms Gillard helped set up the fund but has categorically denied any wrongdoing, saying she thought it was to be used for legitimate purposes, namely the re-election of union officials.

The saga was revived on Wednesday by the self-confessed fraudster Blewitt, who has returned to Australia after eight years abroad and announced plans to tell all to the Victoria Police fraud squad.

Prompted by the renewed coverage of the issue, Nick Styant-Browne decided to give his first television interview to reveal what he knows about the saga.

He has provided 7.30 with documents that he says shed new light on Ms Gillard's involvement in the purchase of the house in Fitzroy.

Mr Styant-Browne claims Ms Gillard said she did not know about a Slater and Gordon mortgage for the house until August 1995, even though a fax from the Commonwealth Bank regarding the property was sent to her in 1993.

"There is absolutely no doubt that Ms Gillard knew of the Slater and Gordon mortgage in March of 1993, but was specifically involved in taking steps to facilitate that mortgage," he said.

"And just to give you some examples, she personally arranged for the mortgage insurance for the Kerr Street property through the Commonwealth Bank and the letter was faxed to her on March 22, 1993 from the Commonwealth Bank marked for her attention noting that the insurance had been renewed, and further advising that the Slater and Gordon mortgage interest was noted on the policy of insurance."

'No recollection'

But in a statement, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said Ms Gillard has no recollection of seeing the document in question from the bank.

The statement from the PM's office said the conveyancing for the property was handled by a paralegal within the firm and Ms Gillard did not personally arrange for the mortgage insurance for the Kerr Street property.

"The conveyancing for the Kerr Street property was handled by Olive Brosnahan, a paralegal, under the oversight of Nick Styant-Browne, the relevant partner," the statement said.

"A note in Ms Brosnahan's handwriting appears on the publicly available file dated 22 March 1993. It states that Ralph (Blewitt) was chasing up the Commonwealth Bank in relation to the certificate of currency.

"It also records the making of a phone call to Ms Gillard which resulted in a message being left for Ms Gillard. The file contains no evidence of Ms Gillard returning this call.

Ms Gillard has no recollection of seeing the correspondence from the Commonwealth Bank dated 23 March 1993. Spokesperson for the Prime Minister

"What this entry on the file shows is that Mr Blewitt was personally attending to dealing with the Commonwealth Bank about the certificate of currency.

"Ms Gillard has no recollection of seeing the correspondence from the Commonwealth Bank dated 22 March 1993."

Mr Styant-Browne says he was concerned by the fact Ms Gillard did not open a file when helping create the slush fund, and he says her personal relationship with Mr Wilson was not disclosed to him.

"Ms Gillard stated in the interview she didn't open a file. This was not passing advice to a rank-and-file union member. This matter involved the incorporation of a legal entity and it was most unusual that a file was not opened," he said.

"Fees were waived in relation to the work that was done on the file. Then there was the question of her involvement in the purchase of the Kerr Street property and the fact that she had understood that a tenant of the property was to be her then boyfriend Mr Wilson, and that was a relationship which had never been disclosed to me.

"I didn't find out about it until August 1995. And so they were the two principal matters that concerned me about her conduct."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story quoted Ms Gillard's spokesman as issuing a statement saying: "Ms Gillard has no recollection of seeing the correspondence from the Commonwealth Bank dated 23 March 1993." The spokesman now says that was a typo, and the statement should have read "22 March 1993." Our copy has been amended accordingly.

Topics: federal-government, government-and-politics, unions, australia, fitzroy-3065, vic

First posted