Bruce Wilson gave Julia Gillard wads of notes: builder Athol James

JULIA Gillard was handed “a large amount of cash” to pay for renovations on her Melbourne home, a builder told the royal commission yesterday.

Former builder Athol James, who carried out renovations on Julia Gillard’s home in the 1990s, outside the royal commission in Sydney yesterday. Picture: Cameron Richardson

JULIA Gillard was handed “a large amount of cash” to pay for renovations on her Melbourne home by her then boyfriend, union official Bruce Wilson, a builder who did the work told the royal commission yesterday.

Athol James said during evidence to the royal commission into union corruption that the ­future prime minister told him during renovations on her house in 1993 that payments were coming from Mr Wilson.

He also saw the Australian Workers Union official give Ms Gillard “wads of notes” on two ­occasions to cover cheque payments she made to him, he said.

The evidence from Mr James — during the commission’s investigation into a union slush fund set up by Mr Wilson with legal assistance from Ms Gillard that amassed hundreds of thousands of dollars — is potentially very damaging to the former Labor prime minister.

It directly contradicts her claims over the years that she paid for the renovations herself.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten was also dragged into the slush fund scandal yesterday when former AWU official and whistleblower Bob Kernohan claimed Mr Shorten was part of an attempted cover-up when he was an up-and-coming official with the AWU in Melbourne in 1996.

Mr Kernohan said he was “horrified” at how Mr Shorten reacted to what he regarded as Mr Wilson’s “fraud”.

“Bill Shorten looked at me, and he said, ‘Look Bob, a lot of people are going to get hurt if this is pursued. No one wants to go any further with this. You know, Bruce Wilson and the others have gone’.

“I said, ‘Gone? Gone with a payout. With their record, they should be bloody well being investigated and locked up for this sort of conduct’.

“And Bill — this is what shocked me more than anything — Bill said, ‘Well, Bob, think of your ­future, you’re going into parliament shortly’. And by all reasonable chances I would have entered parliament.”

Mr Kernohan said he had been “lined up” by ALP faction leaders including Stephen Conroy and Kim Carr to win Labor preselection for the safe Victorian state Labor seat of Melton at the time — a future he said “I would have loved”. But he “walked away” because he could not be part of an AWU cover-up.

Mr Shorten took Mr Kernohan’s place, winning preselection for Melton, although he ultimately pulled out.

The Labor leader, who rose to be the AWU’s national and Victorian secretary before entering parliament in 2007, denied through a spokesman in February the claim by Mr Kernohan that he told Mr Kernohan to “move on” from the slush fund issue in 1996. He issued an earlier denial in 2012.

The royal commission is investigating allegations related to the AWU Workplace Reform Association, an entity set up in 1992 by Mr Wilson and self-confessed union bagman Ralph Blewitt, and with legal assistance from Ms Gillard, who was a salaried partner with the legal firm Slater & Gordon at the time. The AWU was one of her clients.

Ms Gillard has insisted she did nothing wrong, and knew nothing about the fund’s operations when it subsequently received hundreds of thousands of dollars from Thiess construction after allegedly “sham” invoices created by Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt.

Ms Gillard and Mr Wilson have both denied that money for the future Labor PM’s renovations came from Mr Wilson, or Mr Wilson’s slush fund.

Both have insisted Ms Gillard paid for the work, although previously Ms Gillard did not categorically rule out that some money for renovations could have come from the slush fund.

Under questioning from commission’s counsel assisting, Jeremy Stoljar SC, Mr James said yesterday that Ms Gillard told him early in their contact that Mr Wilson was paying for her ­Abbotsford home renovations.

Mr Stoljar: Can you tell the commissioner whether you had discussions, or who you had discussions with, when you handed over the invoices?

Mr James: With Ms Gillard.

Mr Stoljar: Did she say anything to you when you handed her the invoice?

Mr James: Well, she said that Bruce Wilson was paying for the work on site, but she would get the money from him and give me her cheque.

Mr Stoljar: Did you ever see Mr Wilson give Ms Gillard anything?

Mr James: Yes, he handed over, on two occasions, I saw him hand over a wad of notes.

Accompanying a written statement from Mr James to the commission are his detailed records of invoices and bank records.

Earlier, another builder who worked on the Gillard house, Kon Spyridis, told the commission that Ms Gillard paid him with two cheques — not Mr Wilson — although he went to Slater & Gordon and the AWU to chase up funds owed.

Wayne Hem, a former AWU official, told the commission yesterday that he paid $5000 into Ms Gillard’s bank account on the orders of Mr Wilson in late 1995.

Mr Hem said Mr Wilson handed him a “wad of notes” after a late night spent at the casino in which he had lost money. Mr Wilson allegedly wrote the account number and then Ms Gillard’s name on a slip of paper, and Mr Hem then went to the bank with the money. Ms Gillard has said she had no recollection of this deposit.