Meanwhile, Julia Gillard was campaigning for the Senate. Or working at Slater and Gordon. Or doing the weeding. Or helping Bruce sell Kerr Street or something. - @mpsmithnews

Do other countries have this drama with their Prime Minister?

Slater and Gordon is on the record - "In September 1995 Ms Gillard took a leave of absence from Slater & Gordon in order to campaign for the Senate".

Remember Slater and Gordon made that statement on Sunday, 19 August, 2012.  Julia Gillard needed a cover story and Slater and Gordon delivered one.  

Peter Gordon and Nick Styant Browne are in accord that Gillard elected to resign after her disciplinary hearing on 11 September, 1995 - and not "in order to campaign for the Senate".

On 15 October, 1995 Ebru Yaman's article about Gillard appeared in The Australian newspaper.  Gillard said, "I'm still a partner with Slater and Gordon and I have no intention of leaving".

Right, so the version for the archives says she started with Brumby in 1995 (while she was campaigning for the Senate).   And according to The Australian she was still with Slater and Gordon as a partner and had no intention of leaving.

This bio is similar from the APH handbook

And this one is from the APH website

Right.   Not campaigning for the Senate.   Working for Brumby in 1995.   Except that's bulltish too, she started in May, 1996.   

So maybe she'd tell the Young Lawyer magazine the truth - as an example to say aspiring women who might be looking for a role model.

Nope - that's full of bulltish too.   This photo predates botox.

For sheer lying chutzpah, how's this exposition of the pain of making that decision to leave Slater and Gordon to campaign for the Senate, or to run Brumby's office or to watch Oprah.

CEOs who lie like this in their CVs generally get picked up.   Surely to God someone in the Labor Party checked and saw that she had something to hide!

Meanwhile, Julia Gillard was campaigning for the Senate. Or working at Slater and Gordon. Or doing the weeding. Or helping Bruce sell Kerr Street or something'

How did Ms Gillard get away with it for so long! How come no one called her out, it's so obvious.@mpsmithnews

Last week we spoke about the weekend of 18/19 August 2012 when Hedley Thomas published the Slater and Gordon/Gillard record of interview, Paul Kelly and Peter Van Onselen hosted Ms Gillard on Australian Agenda on Sky - and then Slater and Gordon staff concocted a manifestly dubious media statement to advance Ms Gillard's personal interests.

With her background of bulltish that weekend should have been it and it may well have been if Slater and Gordon's current management had not been so helpful with the media statement.

Here are the links to last week's posts:

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/what-slater-and-gordon-says-is-a-matter-for-slater-and-gordon-and-julia-gillards-former-flatmate-jul.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/gillards-co-ordinated-activity-with-slater-and-gordon-to-concoct-a-false-statement-made-to-her-benef.html

http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2013/03/slater-and-gordon-response-regarding-its-media-statement-of-20-august-2012.html

So our last public correspondence with Slater and Gordon last week ended like this:

And finally, is the Slater and Gordon statement that Julia Gillard "took a leave of absence in order to campaign for the Senate" in 1995 a true statement?

Yes.

Regards 

Hamish

             Hamish Heard

Senior Media Advisor SLATER & GORDON LAWYERS485 La Trobe St, Melbourne VIC 3000T: slatergordon.com.au facebook.com/SlaterGordonAU twitter.com/SlaterGordon

ENDS

I followed that email with this note to Slater and Gordon

Hamish,

Thank you for your speedy response.

May I try to clear up Slater and Gordon's official position on the substantive reason for Ms Gillard leaving the firm?

In late 1995, had Ms Gillard's "relationship with the equity partnership group become fractured, and trust and confidence evaporated" making it untenable that she continue in her employment?

Was the firm "concerned as to whether (Ms Gillard) had acted consistently with (her) obligations of utmost good faith with regard to her partners" and was her resignation accepted in those circumstances?

Did the partnership "consider terminating Ms Gillard" and in those circumstances did "Ms Gillard elect to resign"  and did the partnership "accept her resignation without discussion"?

Was it "clear that  the  relationships had broken down irretrievably" between Ms Gillard and the remaining partners in the partnership?

Slater and Gordon's public statement of 20 August, 2012 gives the impression that the substantive underlying reason for Ms Gillard's absence from the firm from September 1995 was "in order (for her) to campaign for the Senate".   Is that the major contributing reason for Julia Gillard's absence from the firm from September, 1995?

Finally, is Slater and Gordon aware of any reason, order or agreement of any nature that would restrict Ms Gillard from practicing as a lawyer at any time in Victoria?

ENDS

Now here is some news!   As you know I was crook late last week, during that time Slater and Gordon have responded to our questions.

Here is the response from Slater and Gordon:

We stand by the previous public statements we have made regarding this issue".

So we have the law firm's current management coming in to work on a Sunday when Julia Gillard needs a positive media statement.    Together with Ms Gillard they concoct a statement that protects Ms Gillard.   Don't you wish they'd just told the truth?   

Next we'll look closely at those 6 months that Slater and Gordon says Ms Gillard was campaigning for the Senate.

How did Ms Gillard get away with it for so long! How come no one called her out, it's so obvious

What Slater and Gordon says is a matter for Slater and Gordon (and Julia Gillard's former flatmate Julie Ligeti) - @mpsmithnews

Exhibit One - Sky News Australian Agenda, Sunday, 19 August, 2012

Julia Gillard (coached Peter van Onselen) is interviewed by Paul Kelly.  Kelly puts The AWU Scandal to Gillard, in particular the assertion reported in The Australian that her employers considered sacking her over her conduct - the exchange starts at 12.50 into the interview.

Kelly, "is it correct that in 1995 you had to resign as a partner from Slater and Gordon as a result of their investigation into misappropriation of funds around the legal entity that you had established?"

Gillard, "I am not going to dignify all of this scurrilous campaigning etc etc etc:"

The core question - did you resign as a partner in the law firm Slater and Gordon as a result of the AWU Scandal?

Exhibit Two - Slater and Gordon media statement, 20 August, 2012

Out of the blue, the publicly listed company Slater and Gordon releases this media statement the following morning.  The statement is dated in the Slater and Gordon website as 20 August, 2012, however the contents of the statement were available to media on Sunday, 19 August, 2012 in time for Monday morning editions of newspapers - as the Financial Review put it, "Slater and Gordon promptly issued a statement...." after the Paul Kelly Australian Agenda interview.

The Slater and Gordon statement said this:

Upon the Slater & Gordon partnership learning of what has been described as the AWU/Bruce Wilson allegations in August 1995, it conducted an internal legal review as it would do, and has done, whenever any such allegations might be made.

Ms Gillard co-operated fully with the internal review and denied any wrong doing.

The review found nothing which contradicted the information provided by Ms Gillard at the time in relation to the AWU/Bruce Wilson allegations and which she has stated consistently since the allegations were first raised.

In September 1995 Ms Gillard took a leave of absence from Slater & Gordon in order to campaign for the Senate.

Exhibit three - former partner Nick Styant Browne says Slater & Gordon statement "stunningly incomplete"

Former Slater and Gordon partner Nick Styant-Browne appeared on the ABC's 7.30 program on 22 November, 2012.

In August of this year it became clear to me that after all these years this story was finally going to come out and Slater & Gordon made a public statement that Ms Gillard had been cleared of any wrongdoing, had taken a very long sabbatical, had resigned from the firm and a meeting room had been named after her. And that was on any view a stunningly incomplete account of the circumstances of her departure. And it was following that that I resolved it was in the public interest to release both non-privileged parts of the transcript of the interview of September 1995 together with Pete Gordon's statement concerning the circumstances of her departure.

(there are further questions and Styant Browne describes the "spectrum" of views about Gillard's acts and omissions.  He says Peter Gordon was prepared to give her the benefit of any doubt...)

I was towards the other end of the spectrum in that I was not readily prepared to give Ms Gillard the benefit of the doubt and I made that clear. There was never any real resolution of that debate in the partnership because as events transpired, Ms Gillard agreed to resign, and so it was never necessary for the partnership to resolve itself what actions should be taken.

Exhibit Four - what Slater and Gordon says is a matter for Slater and Gordon - and possibly Julia Gillard's flatmate Julie Ligeti

Slater and Gordon has duties to many stakeholders to be honest and complete in its disclosures.  In particular, the directors of Slater and Gordon have a duty to ensure the company makes continuous disclosure to the Australian Stock Exchange of matters that are material to its operations.   The public media statement issued on Monday, 20 August was a statement of the company.   In order for the company to satisfy its obligations that statement has to be a true and correct statement.   Because it was issued by Slater and Gordon using Slater and Gordon shareholder assets the statement should be a statement that is necessary to meet an obligation of - or to advance the interests of - Slater and Gordon.

The person who is responsible for Slater and Gordon's relations with Governments is Julie Ligeti.

Here is her page on LinkedIn

Ligeti's responsibilities include the firm's relationship and interactions with the Federal Government.

Her personal relationship with Gillard goes back to university days.

The following quotes are from The Age in a story dated May 18, 2007 and titled  "Our Julia". 

When she was elected education vice-president of the Australian Union of Students (AUS) in 1982 she deferred her studies and moved to Melbourne, into a share house in Brunswick. Old friend Julie Ligeti was struck even then by how serious Gillard was about politics. "We were all trying to work out how we were going to buy our first car or which share house we were going to live in. Julia had this other level happening.

She was beginning her career in politics." Personal ambition and agitation for change appeared to dovetail. "She had a clear view at a very young age that she wanted to make a mark in Labor politics. But it wasn't just about identifying her own opportunities, she was also trying to push society along," says Ligeti.

Ligetti and another female Gillard housemate Robyn McLeod appear in this grab elsewhere in the story, talking about Tim Mathieson.

Friends say that Gillard is content. "He seems to have given her a bit of a stronger grounding," says Julie Ligeti, a mate from student politics days who is now chief of staff to Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls (2007). Robyn McLeod, who has been close to Gillard for 15 years, says, "They're a very grounded, sensible couple, dealing with an extraordinary time in her career." She compares the situation to a couple of years ago: "Julia wasn't in a relationship and my marriage was ending and we'd sit around talking about blokes.

She said, 'Men, they're just net energy takers.' And we'd talk about whether we had time for them or not." She's glad Gillard has made time for Tim Mathieson. "I love seeing her so happy."

At the time that Gillard was planning to knife Kevin Rudd in 2010, she'd go home to Julie Ligetti at night in the flat they shared in Canberra.   This article by Michelle Grattan describes Gillard's pre-Lodge domestic circumstances with a notably absent Tim Mathieson, it's dated July 2010, just weeks before she rolled Rudd.

While Gillard's work life is a hotbed of change, at least at a personal level she's keeping some continuity until the election, staying in her Canberra flat which she shares with her friend Julie Ligeti, chief of staff to a minister, Brendan O'Connor. 

Questions for the PM and Slater & Gordon

What discussions took place between the ASX listed company Slater and Gordon, its Government relations advisor Julie Ligeti and her former flatmate and now Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Sunday, 19 August 2012?

Did Slater and Gordon have a notifiable conflict of interest which it should have disclosed upon the issuance of its public statement of 20 August, 2012?

Did Julia Gillard have an obligation to declare her relationship with her "old friend" Julie Ligeti when Slater and Gordon issued its statement, particularly given Gillard's public position that "what Slater and Gordon says is a matter for Slater and Gordon."

And finally, is the Slater and Gordon statement that Julia Gillard "took a leave of absence in order to campaign for the Senate" in 1995 a true statement?

What Slater and Gordon says is a matter for Slater and Gordon (and Julia Gillard's former flatmate Julie Ligeti) - Michael Smith News

AWU SCANDAL EVENT LOG ..... WHO, WHAT, WHERE AND WHEN !

DATE	EVENT/DOCUMENT
1990	Julia Gillard becomes a Partner at Slater and Gordon and is in the Industrial Relations Department of law firm
20-08-91	Letter to Bruce Wilson from Julia Gillard concerning a vacancy at the AWU
1-05-91	Julia Gillard brought her property at 36 Phillip Street, Abbotsford Vic property settled in July and she borrowed $40,000 from Slater & Gordon for the deposit and the rest from Westpac bank
6-03-92	Advertisement appeared in the paper for Incorporating the Workplace Reform Association - Theiss may of used it for reference

17-03-92	Locals concerned the Accident and Death Fund was being used to buy property and office equipment with the funds they paid into the fund.
18-03-92	Boulder fund suspended
15-05-92	Bruce Wilson and Julia Gillard go to a meeting with the miners in Kalgoorlie
18-05-92	AWU announce it is taking over the fund at Boulder paper article
13-02-93	Contract of sale signed by Bruce Wilson
13-02-93	Purchase of 85 Kerr Street Fitzroy by Julia Gillard and B Wilson who attended the Auction
13-02-93	blewitt-getting-his-addres.html Purchase of 85 Kerr Street Fitzroy by Julia Gillard and Bruce Wilson who attended the Auction
15-02-93	Letter to Slater & Gordon about the 1/85 Kerr Street sale
15-02-93	Ralph Blewitt is appointed Western Australian Branch Secretary in the week 15 to 19 February
16-02-93	Olive Brosnan and Heidi chasing up the Power of Attorney - notes
17-02-93	Olive Brosnan makes this further note regarding Heidi, a sales person with the Real Estate firm GA Thomson. Note that Heidi returns the call and says that she will let Olive Brosnan have the original Power of Attorney (when she gets it?) and will need a certified copy in return
22-02-93	Slater and Gordon acknowledges that it has received the Contract of Sale, Section 32 Statement and the Power of Attorney from GA Thomson.
23-02-93	Olive Brosnan certifies Power of Attorney
3-03-93	A memo from Sylvia to Olive Brosnan about the application for the loan for Ralph Blewitt and the Kerr Street property
4-03-93	Letter/fax from Hewitt & Company stating Ralph Blewitt Wages Ref VB/CS
9-03-93	Memo to Olive Brosnan from Sylvia about the loan approval and the return of the chq for $500 from Ralph Blewitt’s personal account
10-03-93	Letter from Slater & Gordon addressed to Ralph Blewitt explaining mortgage details Page 1, Page 2, Page 3
10-03-93	Memo Julia Gillard wants details of penalty interest rates
12-03-93	Memo to Julia Gillard from Olive Brosnan about penalty interest rates
17-03-93	Memo of fees for house - Bill of costs
18-03-93	Letter to Ralph Blewitt requesting Cheque for $67,772.30
18-03-93	The cheque for $67,772.30
22-03-93	Settlement date for Kerr Street purchase
23-03-93	Land Transfer document
31-03-94	Dawesville project costs
Aug-Sept 94	Julia Gillard went on holidays while Bruce Wilson organised house renovations
Aug-Sept 94	Interview with Slater & Gordon about the Renovations
6-02-95	New bank accounts for Construction Fund
17-02-95	AWU-FIME amalgamate (2 Victorian Branches)
12-04-95	Cheque from AWU WRAI account $46,550
27-04-95	Cheque for $15000 - $10 000 for K Spyridis and $5000 cash
30-06-95	AWU went back to central funding arrangements
25-07-95	Letter from Robert Smith (AWU) to Ian Cambridge and Steve Harrison about the unknown AWU bank accounts
27-07-95	Letter to the National Executives about the freezing of the accounts
2-08-95	Union National Finance committee meet to discuss what was going on start of investigations into the frozen accounts
4-08-95	Bob Smith wrote to Ian Cambridge to say the AWU was going to charge Bruce Wilson
10-08-95	Ian Cambridge visits QC Richard Kenzie from Maurice Blackburn for discussions to fix it (get union money back)
14-08-95	Internal Review into Julia Gillard’s involvement of the AWU -WRA and she is put on restricted duties
14/15 Aug 95	Other Joint secretaries of the Unions paid out the signatories of the accounts - hand writing on the cheques Link 1 Link 2
16-08-95	Bruce Wilson redundancy cheque $55,204
17-08-95	Letter to stop the cheques Ian Cambridge
17/18 Aug 95	All accounts were closed bar 2 general and grants accounts and redundancies given out
18-08-95	Affidavit - Bill Ludwig - Bruce Wilson get sprung
11-09-95	Julia Gillard interviewed by Geoff Shaw, Peter Gordon and Nick Styant-Browne at Slater and Gordon - It’s recorded and she goes on leave of Absence until May 96 (WA AWU-WRA not yet discovered by AWU yet)
31-01-96	Ian Cambridge addresses AWU Qld Branch meeting
3-04-96	Ian Cambridge talked with Commonwealth Bank - Diary entry - Discovery of Workplace Reform Association INC. WA branch
6-05-96	Discovery of Accounts in AWU name by Ian Cambridge letter from Commonwealth Bank
7-05-96	Fax from Com bank listing the accounts in the AWU name - for Ian Cambridge
1-06-96	Newspaper article about Joe Trio and the AWU fraud article from sometime in 1996
3-06-96	Ian Cambridge received bank records after the discussions with the bank back in April Ian Cambridge spoke to AWU Officials in Perth and they never heard of the Workplace Reform Association Inc.
5-07-96	Diary entry Ian Cambridge - spoke to Branch Official Russell Frearson about the $400,000 going through the account
31-07-96	Geoff Shaw Slater & Gordon General Manager gets Subpoena to supply all documents relating to purchase of 1/85 Kerr Street
13-08-96	Court proceeding where Geoff Shaw is to produce the documents from the Subpeona Link 1, Link 2
6-01-97	Memo from Investigating Detective Dave McAlpine about the AWU fraud
6-02-97	Memo to fraud squad from Theiss stating they hadn’t been defraudedLink 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4
17-02-98	Memo fraud squad about Theiss - Ralph Blewitt said Theiss auditors required that the WRA needed to be Inc.

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The 18 broken promises of Rooty Hill

Ten days before the last Federal Election, Julia Gillard visited Rooty Hill and spoke to the people of Western Sydney about the promises she said were “at the heart of this election campaign”.

Two and a half years later, Julia Gillard is back in Western Sydney and she needs to explain how she got it so wrong!

As the people of Western Sydney already know, Julia Gillard says one thing before an election and then does another thing after it. Julia Gillard needs to apologise to the people of Western Sydney for the 18 promises she made in Rooty Hill and then broke.

	Julia Gillard promised to consult on climate change and instead delivered a carbon tax.
	Julia Gillard guaranteed a budget surplus and instead delivered more huge deficits.
	Julia Gillard promised less debt and now we have a record $160 billion in net debt.
	Julia Gillard promised jobs and national unemployment is now 60,000 higher than when she made the speech.
	Julia Gillard promised to cut company tax. After the election, she scrapped the tax cut.
	Julia Gillard promised to give an early company tax cut to small business and she scrapped that tax cut too.
	Julia Gillard promised to give $2.1 billion for a transport link in Western Sydney (the Epping to Parramatta rail link) and now won’t provide the money for transport in Sydney.
	Julia Gillard promised to build an NBN – over two years later, hardly anyone in Western Sydney has it and no one knows when it will be finished or what it will cost.
	Julia Gillard promised to build 2650 Trades Training Centres in Schools – and 2409 of them have not been built.
	Julia Gillard promised cash rewards for schools that improve and has not yet paid a cent.
	Julia Gillard promised to keep giving children in schools computers and has since walked away from the computers in schools program.
	Julia Gillard promised to introduce a mining tax to help pay for a company tax cut. The mining tax and the company tax cut are now in tatters.
	Julia Gillard promised to pay bonuses to good school teachers. Not a cent has yet been paid to teachers.
	Julia Gillard promised an automatic tax deduction of $1000. Another broken promise.
	Julia Gillard promised to ease cost of living pressures on Western Sydney households and instead introduced a carbon tax and cut the private health insurance rebate.
	Julia Gillard promised more money in your superannuation and instead has taken out $8 billion in Labor super taxes.
	Julia Gillard promised to build more GP super clinics. She’s delivered only one of the 28 promised.
	Julia Gillard said she was cutting waiting list times, but instead they have increased.

Click here to download an A4 copy of the 18 broken promises of Rooty Hill.

Click here to download an A5 copy of the 18 broken promises of Rooty Hill.

The 18 broken promises of Rooty Hill 

AFP suspend investigation into Brough political conspiracy @mpsmithnews

You may recall that school-teacher-turned-pornographic-fiction-writer Graham Perrett MP sent a lengthy letter to the world's highest paid police commissioner Tony Negus last year.

You can read the whole letter here.   And if you live in Moreton and you've got a few parcels to pick up, Graham's delivering for the community, his phone numbers are conveniently on the bottom of the letter.   Stick it on the fridge.

Since then, Her Majesty's former Speaker of the House has been charged by one of Her Majesty's Constables of Police under the command of Her Majesty's Highest Paid Police Commissioner.

You can read each parlicularised information for an offence here.

Now the world's highest paid police commissioner has decided to take a break from looking at the Brough/Ashby conspiracy theory, as postulated by the pornographic fiction writer.

Police suspend Brough-Slipper conspiracy probe

From the taxpayer funded newsgathering apparatus of the ABC published here

Federal MP Peter Slipper has questioned why police have suspended their investigation into whether former Howard government minister Mal Brough was involved in a conspiracy to bring him down.

Labor MP Graham Perrett wrote to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in December, asking them to investigate allegations Mr Brough was part of a campaign to harm Mr Slipper and the Federal Government. 

He made the request after a Federal Court judge threw out a sexual harassment case against Mr Slipper, declaring it to be an abuse of process and designed to further the political interests of Mr Brough and the Liberal National Party (LNP). 

It emerged during the court proceedings that Mr Brough had requested extracts of Mr Slipper's diary from the staff member who ultimately filed the sexual harassment case, James Ashby. 

Mr Ashby has sought leave to appeal against the ruling. 

In a letter sent to Mr Perrett, AFP Commander Errol Raiser says the investigation into Mr Brough's actions has been suspended because of the ongoing legal action. 

"The AFP is aware that an appeal has been lodged with the Federal Court to be heard on May 30, 2013," the letter states. 

"As the facts surrounding the appeal are consistent with your referral, the AFP has suspended its evaluation of the matter until the outcome of the appeal has been finalised."

Mr Perrett says he is disappointed by the decision, given that the September 14 election is now less than 200 days away. 

"It's really drifting on, and obviously in terms of investigating any trails, they will get colder and colder and staler and staler," he told ABC News Online. 

"I'm comforted by the fact that they obviously see this as serious, but I'm troubled by the fact that they've suspended their investigation. 

"A three-month delay is quite significant. 

"We've got an election on September 14 where Mr Slipper's credibility and good name with his voters is significant." 

Mr Perrett says he will be writing back to the AFP, arguing that parts of the investigation could continue despite the appeal because Mr Brough is not party to the ongoing legal action.

Concern

In a statement to the ABC, Mr Slipper says it is clear that the AFP are taking Mr Perrett's complaint very seriously, which must be a concern for those members of the LNP who support Mr Brough.

But he has questioned why the police investigation has been suspended, given Mr Brough is not involved in the application to appeal.

"To my knowledge, (Mr) Brough and (former staffer Karen) Doane... are not seeking to contest the judge's adverse findings against them and thus have not sought leave of the court to challenge His Honour's findings," he said.

"In these circumstances it is difficult to understand why the AFP has suspended/postponed (though not cancelled) its investigation of the matters raised in Mr Perrett's letter to the AFP Commissioner.

"It will be interesting to see how long the LNP is prepared to tolerate unresolved matters concerning Mr Brough.

"I would be very surprised if Mr Brough is still the LNP candidate at the election to be held on September 14."

AFP suspend investigation into Brough political conspiracy