Royal commission: Gillard blamed ‘enemies’ for union corruption rumours
|
Version 0 of 1. Julia Gillard told her former boss that rumours alleging corrupt union funds paid for her home renovations were the work of her enemies within the Labor party, an inquiry has heard. Federal court judge Bernard Murphy was called before the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption on Tuesday to answer questions about his time as the former prime minister’s boss at law firm Slater and Gordon in the 1990s. Murphy was an equity partner heading the industrial law section of Slater and Gordon in Melbourne from 1987, when Gillard joined as a junior solicitor and progressed rapidly to become a salaried partner. Murphy told the commission he became aware of rumours swirling around Slater and Gordon’s offices in late 1995 that renovations to Gillard’s Melbourne home had been paid for by funds from the Australian Workers Union (AWU). Gillard was in a relationship with AWU state secretary Bruce Wilson at the time. Partners in the firm were also concerned that Gillard had done the legal work incorporating an entity, the Workplace Reform Association (WRA), used as a slush fund by Wilson, and done conveyancing work for a house that Wilson bought in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. The commission has heard Gillard did not open a file at Slater and Gordon for the WRA work and that the Fitzroy property was bought partly using money from the WRA. Murphy said a partner in the firm, Nick Styant-Browne, was very concerned about Gillard doing the conveyancing work, even though lawyers at the firm commonly did free or discounted conveyancing for union officials and the spouses and partners of other lawyers. “The concern that was voiced was that Julia Gillard had created an association which may have been set up corruptly and may have involved corrupt moneys and it involved the firm in a conveyance of those moneys,” Murphy told the commission. However, Murphy said when he asked Gillard about the rumours she told him she had done nothing wrong “and I believed her”. “She said there was nothing in these rumours – they were being circulated by her enemies within the Labor party,” he said. Gillard and Murphy left Slater and Gordon in late 1995. Murphy said he left because of a “serious partnership dispute” over another case and his departure “had nothing to do with Wilson, the AWU or Julia Gillard”. Gillard is expected before the commission on Wednesday. |