WHERE HAVE ALL THE FILES GONE?
By Kevin Glancy
4 GILLARD/AWU FILES HELD IN DIFFERENT LOCATIONS NOW MISSING!
It’s a serious issue worthy of headlines around the country and you can bet that if it had anything to do with Tony Abbott and the Opposition it would be on the front pages everywhere.
Files and evidence related to Julia Gillard’s role in the AWU fraud have gone missing and such is the deceit practiced in general by the Australian media in its efforts to protect Julia Gillard and Labor that you are unlikely to hear much about what is an extremely serious matter.
Put aside Gillard’s guilt or innocence for the moment because this particular mystery is a matter beyond dispute. Relevant documents and evidence relating to Gillard’s conduct while a lawyer/partner with Slater & Gordon have disappeared, so who stole them and why?
According to Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, the missing files include Federal Court evidence held in a secure registry in Queensland; documents relating to the Corporate Affairs Commission held within Western Australian archives and the files held by Gillard’s former employer, Slater & Gordon in Victoria,.
A fourth file has also gone missing. Former industrial lawyer Harry Nowicki has told The Age a box of records is also missing from the New South Wales Federal Court registry. These include a crucial affidavit and supporting documents assembled by AWU whistleblower and now Fair Work Australia Commissioner Ian Cambridge.
The affidavit written by Ian Cambridge following his own investigations as an AWU union official into the Gillard/Wilson/Blewitt actions was signed on September 19th 1996.
In that same year Cambridge wrote to the then Labor Federal Minister for Industrial relations, Laurie Brereton requesting a Royal Commission into the activities of the AWU and the involvement of the above trio. For a copy of that letter click on the long link below; a copy of the affidavit is also available on this following site www.michaelsmithnews.com
In 1996 the request for this investigation was ignored by that Labor Government. However, the Howard Government came to power a few months later but Ian Cambridge did not pursue the matter with the Liberal Government. One can only wonder why? Given that the Libs would have grabbed such an opportunity with both hands.
Instead the issue went quiet. Ian Cambridge was then appointed to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission by the then NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr. In 2009 he was appointed by Julia Gillard to Fair Work Australia as a Commissioner.
Mr. Nowicki also stated that the court staff could not locate the documents when he requested them in September and were also believed to include the original copy of a Slater & Gordon conveyancing file for the 1993 purchase of a Fitzroy unit. The purchase included more than $100,000 stolen from the AWU Workplace Reform Association.
Although Gillard denies any wrongdoing, the property was purchased by her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson on behalf of Ralph Blewitt.
Gillard’s then employer, Slater & Gordon has stated that Gillard conducted the conveyancing and therefore it can be assumed that as such, Gillard would have had to have known the make-up of the purchase money, including the fraudulent funds used.
The removal of all documents held in those files in different locations clearly indicates that there is a cover –up. Combine that with Julia Gillard’s refusal to answer any questions about her role in the fraud and there is no doubt that the theft of those documents should be investigated by the Australian Federal Police and state authorities in Queensland and Western Australia.
This is regardless of Gillard’s guilt or innocence because someone is clearly protecting her from scrutiny and you can’t blame Tony Abbott for this one.
It gets murkier when you consider that The Federal Court evidence held in Queensland was sighted about a year ago by Michael Smith during his research into the AWU fraud so for the police there is a place to start. According to Michael;
“I know that these files existed, were located, brought to the Queensland Registry and were inspected by a person I authorised to inspect them just over one year ago.
This was part of the research I put in to The AWU Scandal during the time I was suspended by 2UE and just prior to me parting company with Fairfax – the files were complete when inspected.” (www.michaelsmithnews.com.au)
Federal Court officials have confirmed that key documents filed with the Queensland Industrial Court registry in 1995 by former AWU national president Bill Ludwig could not be found. The documents were believed to have been requested by Mr. Ludwig, a member of Labor’s National Executive as part of an intended court case in an effort to obtain the return of the AWU money secured by Julia Gillard’s former boyfriend Bruce Wilson and his colleague, Ralph Blewitt.
Strangely, it doesn’t appear that the intended court action taken by Bill Ludwig went beyond securing those documents although there is no suggestion that he played any part in the removal of the documents.
Bruce Wilson and Ralph Blewitt are the people Julia Gillard assisted to set up the bogus association to scam money from unsuspecting companies under the guise of union-run training programmes.
This aspect relates to the documents that were held in Western Australia. The now missing documents include the written response made by Julia Gillard in which she allegedly deceived the Western Australian Corporate Affairs Commissioner about the true nature of the entity that she set-up on behalf of her boyfriend.
The allegation seems sustainable given that Gillard had referred to the entity as the – AWU Workplace Reform Association for the purpose of safety and training when in fact as Gillard later admitted – it was indeed a slush fund. She did not admit that fact in her response to the Corporate Affairs Commissioner at the time, no doubt because such an incorporation would have been illegal.
Someone has taken these documents and it can be fairly assumed that they were removed in order to cover up the activities of Gillard, Wilson and Blewitt.
It as an absolute disgrace that the general media, including the ABC continue to insist that the story isn’t worth a mention and that Gillard has no questions to answer. At the very least questions about the missing files should be asked.
It is no wonder that people are disenchanted with politics when this kind of corruption is swept under the carpet while lies perpetrated by Gillard and her Ministers about Tony Abbott and now Julie Bishop are given extraordinary attention by those same media folk.
Compare media coverage of this matter with the general media’s extensive and favourable coverage of Julia Gillard’s 15 minute, irrational rant in parliament, when she blatantly lied about Tony Abbott’s character – referring to him as a misogynist, woman- hater and a sexist in order to cover up her defence of Peter Slipper.
Compare the amount of space given by the media including the ABC more recently, with regard to Tony Abbott’s perfectly innocent description of his colleague, Liberal MP Ken Wyatt. See if you can spot the crime as declared by the Left-wing media about what Tony Abbott said in the following. Bear in mind that the words ‘Central Australia’ were deliberatley omitted by the media. Perhaps Media Watch might care to expose this fraud.
“I am very proud that the first indigenous member of the House of Representatives is Ken Wyatt who entered the parliament for the Liberal National Party for our Coalition… I think it would be terrific if, as well as having an urban Aboriginal in our parliament, we had an Aboriginal person from central Australia, an authentic representative of the ancient cultures of Central Australia in the parliament.
UPDATE:
The Federal Court has now confirmed that the Queensland files mentioned in this article which date back to the mid-1990s have now been found in its Melbourne registry.
The documents are understood to outline how the AWU national executive first responded when confronted with allegations over the fraud, in late 1995.
“Following an exhaustive search of relevant Federal Court registries, the missing Queensland files listed above were today found in the Victorian Registry in Melbourne,” a court spokesman said.
Footnote; William (Bill) Patrick Ludwig OAM is National President and Queensland State Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union and is the father of Joe Ludwig who is a Labor Senator and Federal Minister.