AWU Scandal - ABC is interested - good on you Glen

Well done Glen Milne ... just for the record ... this is the story that the PM bullied the Australian into sacking, diluting, removing ...

How scam worked

GLENN MILNE   November 10, 2007 11:30PM

THE con used by Julia Gillard's former lover to cream off possibly more than $1 million was simple and backed by standover tactics.

As union secretary, Bruce Morton Wilson would go on to construction sites and tell bosses they "needed" an industrial agreement which he would negotiate.
But there was a price – they would have to purchase hundreds of AWU membership tickets in exchange for the industrial peace guaranteed by the "agreement".
However, when the employers made out the cheques – sometimes for more than $50,000 at a time – the money for memberships that never existed would go into phony AWU accounts that actually belonged to Wilson.
When the union discovered the fraud they went after Wilson through the courts.
In an affidavit the AWU's then joint national secretary, Ian Cambridge, raised specific questions about the role of Ms Gillard's law firm, Slater & Gordon, in the purchase of a Melbourne property by Wilson. 
"I am unable to understand how Slater & Gordon, who were then acting for the Victorian branch of the union, could have permitted the use of funds which where obviously taken from the union, in the purchase of private property of this nature, without seeking and obtaining proper authority from the union for such use of its funds," Mr Cambridge said.

"To my knowledge, none of the $388,564.92 which passed through this account was used for authorised union purposes."
Mr Cambridge is now a NSW industrial relations commissioner. 
He did not return the Sunday Mail's calls.
Current AWU boss, "Big Bill" Ludwig, a major Labor powerbroker on the Right, also provided an affidavit to the court outlining corruption involving Ms Gillard's former lover.
"I am of the view," Mr Ludwig wrote, "that there have been a large number of invalid transactions in which officials, employees and former officials and employees of the AWU have intercepted funds which I consider should have been paid to the AWU and banked in proper bank accounts and diverted those funds into bank accounts which are neither operated by, nor authorised by, the AWU or any of its branches."
A series of court orders against Wilson and others between 1995 and 1996 nominated missing money totalling more than $1.25 million. Court orders were made in 1995 against Wilson for the recovery of almost $42,000. The 1996 proceedings claimed there were invalidities with 13 union accounts totalling $1,066,124.50 which required investigation.
But, according to leaked union correspondence seen by the Sunday Mail, the AWU's pursuit of Wilson and the money petered out amid acrimonious factional disputes involving Mr Ludwig and others.
According to union sources Ms Gillard's involvement with Wilson posed a potential danger to her in the event Kevin Rudd becomes prime minister, even though she says she committed no wrongdoing.
As well as being deputy prime minister, Ms Gillard would also be workplace relations minister in a Labor government, responsible for developing Australia's new industrial relations system after the scrapping of WorkChoices.
Fears have been raised within the union movement that Ms Gillard could have been subjected to improper pressure from some union officials who knew the full extent of her former lover's fraud.
Ms Gillard told the Sunday Mail she had never heard any such suggestions and would regard it as grossly improper. She said she would in no way be influenced by such a suggestion other than contemplating notifying the police immediately that it had been made.

ends

I admire the effort of so many determined people to work for integrity in government. We have government to serve the people with honesty and passion. There is no time for all the games that get played by political parties to advance their own interests. Michael Smith,  http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/ is one of the heroes and his blog site - operated via laptop and phone is an inspiring example of the difference that can be made. One of his contributors wrote this summary.

The Gillard AWU-WRA corruption scandal is rapidly unravelling. Simultaneously, the Greens seem to be horrified by the ALP government’s latest iteration of an absurd and hap-hazard asylum seeker “policy”.
The Independents are silent despite solemn declarations in 2010 that they would cease to support Gillard if allegations of corruption came to pass. Panic is the order of the day. Bowen looked foolish while announcing the policy. We have seen the hysterics of Conroy and Shorten, and the self-trashing by Jon Faine and Barrie Cassidy of their integrity as journalists in their defence of Gillard. They might ask themselves: Is Julia Gillard worth it? They are in a lonely minority if they answer in the affirmative.

Every statement Julia Gillard has made since the fateful 23 August press conference has deepened the hole she has fallen in. Attempts to deflect blame for the Kerr Street conveyance to Nick Styante-Brown has dragged the ASX listed Slater & Gordon deeper into the mire. They are ethically conflicted and cannot rely on discontinuity between its pre- listing and post-listing state. That argument is specious. Andrew Grech and Maria McGarvie were there during the Gillard days. Slater & Gordon must not be allowed to destroy all files over 7 years old in December. Maria McGarvie’s husband, Michael, the Victorian Legal Services Commissioner must direct them not to. The rush to the incinerator is suspicious in itself.

The missing AWU related files fiasco across Australia is not a good look. The chance that this is due to happenstance is negligible. Mark Latham’s ranting is unhelpful to Gillard, as is the silence of the Canberra Press Gallery. It all adds to a perception of cover-up in the public mind.

In spite of months of silence the story of the scandal has grown in content, documentation and evidence in the internet to the point that it cannot be ignored any more. The case is far stronger than the mere words of Ralph Blewitt and Bob Kernohan. Attempts to discredit them have made Gillard’s plight far worse.

The AWU scam has now expanded to include allegations against Christopher Hayes MP (chairman of powerful law enforcement over- sight committees of parliament) and a former Senator Michael Forshaw (1994- 2011). Both were of the AWU. As each day passes more people will be drawn into the net of suspicion. The progression will be exponential, as witness the re-opening of investigations by the Victoria and WA Police. They can seize further evidence under warrant from banks, Thiess, the other named entities and from public registries. They will be looking at Melbourne Water, Robyn McLeod, the Goldfields Miners’ Death Fund and the Kalbarri properties. The police will have no trouble following the “money trail” within the AWU’s accounts and to all the other “deceptive” accounts; including the source and destination of monies. The full extent of these will become known, as will other investments made, e.g. blocks of flats, home renovations and others yet to be revealed.

The role of Joe Trio formerly of Thiess will unravel too, as Leighton Holdings (Thiess) is ASX listed and must co-operate with the police.
Caucus cannot be blind to the fact that the police investigations will open the possibility that a significant number of high profile public figures within the ALP will face serious criminal charges as principals, accessories and accomplices in the commission of and concealment of indictable offences. Penalties are severe and due to their high office, if convicted, some will be subject to condign punishment. The courts will send out a strong message about community intolerance of political and union corruption. That is certain.

The ALP Caucus only has a few days to act. Failure to do so will be catastrophic.

Posted by: Winston | Friday, 23 November 2012 at 07:45 AM