Former PM Julia Gillard flew to Perth to sort out slush fund issues for Bruce Wilson Royal Commission told

JULIA Gillard flew from Melbourne to Perth to help her ex-boyfriend Bruce Wilson sort out problems with a union slush, Commission hears.

Bruce Wilson former boyfriend of Julia Gillard arrives at the Royal Commission into Trade Unions.

FORMER Prime Minister Julia Gillard flew from Melbourne to Perth to help her ex-boyfriend sort out problems with a union slush fund she had helped him set up, The Royal Commission into Trade Unions heard today.

Bruce Wilson faced a barrage of hostile questions from Senior Counsel Assisting the Commission Jeremy Stoljar who said: “You are just guessing as you go along.”

The Commission is investigating a slush fund called the AWU Workplace Reform Association and allegations that Mr Wilson used cash from it to pay for a property in Melbourne and renovations to Ms Gillard’s house in the early 1990s.

Today Mr Wilson confirmed Ms Gillard’s handwriting was on the documents incorporating the slush fund — at one point writing in the name Workplace Reform Association.

When the Office of Corporate Affairs in Western Australia raised questions about the association Ms Gillard flew in to Perth to help her then boyfriend sort it out.

The Association did not have enough members. “So you knew the certificate of association was false?” said Mr Stoljar.

“Well I didn’t think of it in those terms, I just know that we didn’t have five members,” said Mr Wilson. He brought in four union officials to make up the numbers.

They included Melbourne based union official Bill “The Greek” Telikostoglou, who it was alleged yesterday paid painters working in Gillard’s kitchen.

Among the other members was West Australian branch official Glen Ivory, who has since died.

But yesterday Mr Ivory spoke from beyond the grave in a 1997 police statement. “At no stage was that association ever discussed and no authority was given by Blewitt or Wilson to form the association on behalf of the AWU or open and operate accounts in that name,” he said in the statement.

The royal commission will examine whether money was used to pay for renovations to Julia Gillard’s Abbotsford property.

The Association was invoicing for training work performed on a major project in Western Australia.

Yesterday Mr Wilson said there was an understanding with major contractor Thiess that the money would be paid from the start to the finish of the project despite little or no training actually taking place.

At the start of the week Mr Wilson’s statement was released to ABC radio and part of it, claiming he had been offered $200,000 to change his evidence, was read on air.

Commissioner Dyson Heydon ruled that evidence as irrelevant yesterday and had it removed.

Thiess was invoiced from April 1992 by the AWU so-called Workplace Reform Association but it wasn’t until the beginning of 1993 that any workplace training began.

“The training work that you say was done began in the beginning of 1993,” Mr Stoljar said, addressing Mr Wilson.

“So no training (of) the workers was done by the association for the calendar year 1992?”

Mr Wilson replied that was correct.

“I had some access to some paper work and I had looked at some things but in terms of on the site, that’s correct,” he told the commission, adding that self-confessed union bagman and associate Ralph Blewitt knew this as well.

Mr Wilson denied the invoices were fraudulent.

“The agreement between Thiess and ourselves (was) that we would invoice them from the beginning of the contract to the nominated end of the contract,” he said.

He added Thiess had not prepared proper training facilities either.

The agreement was like a legal retainer between a law firm and a client, the commission heard.

“If for whatever reason you don’t do legal work you still send the bill, I bet,” Mr Wilson said.

During his opening address on Tuesday, Mr Stoljar said the money paid by Thiess was in part used to pay for Mr Wilson’s home at Fitzroy in Melbourne.

The royal commission into trade union governance and corruption is examining whether money was used to pay for renovations at Ms Gillard’s Abbotsford property as well.

The hearing in Sydney continues.

Additional reporting AAP