Gillard forgetting who her friends used to be

TICKLISH questions remain swirling around Julia Gillard following her appearance at the royal commission into trade union corruption. Not the least of which is the haste with which she sought to distance herself from the two witnesses who preceded her into the witness box on Wednesday and their remarks about her role in suggesting the establishment of a slush fund similar to the one she assisted former boyfriend Bruce Wilson set up in Western Australia — the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association.

Robert Elliott, a former national secretary of the HSU, the union which gave the nation two disgraced former officials, Craig Thomson and Michael Williamson, was quizzed first, followed by his wife, the Victorian MLC Kaye Darveniza. Elliott has known Gillard since they were involved first in university and then union and Labor politics. “I had been a member of a group formed around Ms Gillard and supportive of her political career,” he said in a document he prepared for a possible legal action against the HSU two years ago The document, he told counsel assisting the commission Jeremy Stoljar, had been prepared carefully. Elliott agreed he wasn’t proposing to be deceitful and was satisfied it was true and correct when he supplied it to his solicitors in October, 2012. Yet in September, 2014, his recollection has changed. Two years ago he believed “Gillard was supportive of a ‘reform group’ of which I was involved in the HSU in the late ’80s, including assistance with fundraising and legal advice. Ms Gillard and Slater & Gordon became legal advisers to the HSU Vic No. 2 branch and Ms Gillard continued to give not just strictly legal advice but also offered more general political counsel. It was generally understood that success for Ms Gillard’s allies in union elections was of benefit to Ms Gillard’s political career, and, in turn, Ms Gillard’s advancement would benefit those unions. “Such was the closeness of the political relationship that Ms Gillard felt able, on one occasion, to offer, at a meeting of me, her and another senior HSU official to undertake the legal work to establish a fundraising entity, outside of the union, to raise funds for the re-election in the HSU of the officers of that entity but established for the ostensible purpose of promoting health and safety in the health industry. “This offer was not taken up by me or others on the basis that it seemed an exotic and suspect arrangement particularly since the promotion of workplace health and safety was the proper preserve of the union itself.” The other senior union official present was Elliott’s current wife Kaye, then known as Kaye Williams but who has now reverted to her maiden name, Darveniza. Elliott said his recollection of the meeting with Gillard and his wife has changed. It began to change two weeks ago when he was contacted about giving evidence to the royal commission and he began having discussions with his wife. In fact, Elliot told the royal commission it was a regret to him that what he now believes is a “false memory” has been the subject of inquiry. But it shouldn’t be because Elliott, just two years ago, was so proud of his memory he even referred to it in the statement he was preparing for his proposed legal action. He said then that when he was asked to review the matters relating to Craig Thomson (his successor at the HSU) and his misuse of a union credit card, Michael Williamson (former ALP national president and former HSU general secretary, who pleaded guilty to two fraud charges last year and is currently serving 7½ years), Williamson “told me on several occasions that he particularly wanted me to participate because of what he considered to be my good judgment, my corporate memory, my experience of the national office and my relative sophistication on legal matters”. That corporate memory and relative sophistication on legal matters apparently evaporated after the recent discussion with his wife. While Darveniza recalls Gillard offering advice “informally as a friend and political ally with legal expertise” on setting up a fund or account into which branch officials would pay to provide funding for contesting branch elections (a slush fund), she has her own memory problems. Gillard, however, is in no doubt. She didn’t have any meeting of the type described by Elliott and she never discussed setting up an incorporated association with them. They have vague memories, partially recanted, of discussions of the establishment of a fundraising entity like the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association. She is adamant they are wrong. What is indisputable is that Gillard’s partners at Slater & Gordon were so concerned about her involvement in setting up a slush fund, possibly corruptly, possibly involving corrupt money, that Gillard abruptly left the firm. WHY THE ALP NOW WANTS A PUPPY OF ITS OWN JACQUI Lambie missed out on Labor and Liberal pre-selections before finding a home with the Palmer United Party. Now the NSW branch of the ALP has decided that a former PUP member should be its candidate in the state seat of Gosford. NSW Opposition Leader John Robertson and NSW ALP general secretary Jamie Clements cooked up a deal earlier this month to bypass rank-and-file members to ensure their chosen candidates will run for the seats of Gosford, Lakemba and Shellharbour. Kathy Smith, who joined the ALP in April, and who listed PUP as her former political association on her declaration at the state Labor conference in July, was recommended for nomination in Gosford, Jihad Dib in Lakemba and sitting MP Anna Watson was reindorsed in Shellharbour in a letter Robertson wrote to Clements which went to the national executive. Under Labor’s so-called plenary powers, also known as the politbureau powers, the national executive can take over the pre-selection process from state branches. It is understood Robertson wanted to ensure Dib, principal of Punchbowl Boys High School, was given the nod in Lakemba ahead of popular mayor Khal Asfour. Clements was adamant former federal Labor MP Belinda Neal would not be given an opportunity to stand in Gosford, though she enjoys strong local support, and put former PUP member Smith into the mix for next year’s state election. Given the national executive is likely to ensure Smith a rails run, she will face sitting Liberal MP Chris Holstein, who holds the seat with a 11.9 per cent margin — let’s call it 12 per cent. She won’t have the benefit of the Tasmanian vote boost Lambie enjoyed to become one of the mendicant state’s 12 senators and unless the Baird government slumps will not make it to Macquarie St.