PM Gillard can’t ignore the statement by a former partner at Slater & Gordon, Nick Styant-Browne. Lawyer Styant-Browne says Gillard resigned from Slater & Gordon law firm after an official internal review of her work for allegedly corrupt former Australian Workers Union leader Bruce Wilson – her then boyfriend as well as her client.
Listen here to 2GB’s Ben Fordham speaking with sacked 2UE presenter, Michael Smith, about the Gillard scandal.
From Tim Blair’s blog:
Labor tactics from only a couple of months ago:
A document calls on staffers to find details on their opponents’ “younger days”, articles in student newspapers, and any fundraising, companies or legal cases that they’d been involved in. The Prime Minister says it’s reasonable to scrutinise Opposition frontbenchers.
As the PM puts it, such scrutiny informs the public debate.
Larry Pickering’s Blog is still suspended but his latest “Pickering Post” is reproduced below.
Part VI
IS OUR PRIME MINISTER A CROOK?
... and why she refuses to comment.
The can is now open and cannibalistic worms are sweating over who will devour who first. The five-part story so far, including accusations made on pickeringpost.com, now emerges as facts. Facts Gillard can no longer ignore.
Slater & Gordon’s recent flurry of TV ads does little to restore its already shattered reputation....
If they dump further on Gillard they risk Gillard dumping on them. There is a communal agreement to stonewall but, once that wall is breached, gunk will flow like a lanced boil.
Gillard said, “I resigned voluntarily”. That is a lie.
Gillard said, “I did not know what the accounts were for.” That is also a lie.
Gillard said, “I had receipts for work done on my property.” That is a deception. She had receipts for maybe a new lamp-shade and a fancy soap-holder.
Gillard says she can’t be certain that extorted funds weren’t used on her renovations. Mmmm.
Nick Styant-Brown, of Slater & Gordon, called Gillard in for a taped interview regarding what she had been up to.
Do partners of a major law firm do that to each other for fun? I think not.
Styant-Brown said, “...the company took a very serious view of these and other matters and accepted her resignation”.
“Took a very serious view” of exactly what, Julia?
What exactly were these “other matters”, Julia?
Gillard says, “I was treated very shabbily”. For what reason, Julia, do you believe you were treated “very shabbily”?
Why did Slater & Gordon lend $130,000, in the form of a mortgage on the Kerr Street property, to Wilson? Wilson was an AWU Boss. The union would have been only too happy to supply a mortgage. Why go to the AWU’s law firm, Slater & Gordon? Why did Wilson get his girlfriend, Julia Gillard, to secretly facilitate the laundering of funds and why did Slater & Gordon hide this from their client, the AWU?
Why wasn’t the AWU, informed of anything at all? Why didn’t they know of the fraudulent account Gillard set up in the AWU’s name? Why did it take the renovator’s invoices mistakenly turning up at the AWU before the scam was uncovered? Why was this kept secret if, as Gillard claims, there was nothing untoward.
Why did Gillard disguise the true owner of the Kerr Street property by drawing up a power of attorney for Wilson to act on behalf of Blewitt? Why was Blewitt not told about the mortgage? Why was Blewitt not told where the proceeds of the sale went?
Why did Gillard refuse to even open a file on this case?
Why did Gillard rush into the AWU with receipts for her renovations if she thought there was nothing untoward?
Slater & Gordon arranged, pro bono, the conveyancing on the Kerr Street property. (They say that is normal for valued clients of the firm.) Therefore they must know of the fraudulent funds and the fraudulent accounts?
They must also know where the stolen funds came from and where they went to after the sale of the property? Did they not even ask or make a note of this?
Slater & Gordon spuriously wants Wilson and Blewitt to waive privilege so they can produce these files. Mmmm... are there two people in Australia less likely to waive privilege without immunity?
Where are Paul Howes’ files. Why has the AWU called off the dogs? Why won’t they cooperate with police? A Court ordered certain funds be returned to the AWU. So why does the AWU refuse to pursue those funds? Originally they demanded a Royal Commission! What has changed, Paul?
Slater & Gordon are complicit and will eventually dump on Gillard to save their own skin. The prime Minister has insisted they make a statement supporting her. But they have already begun the process with a call to Styant-Brown.
Gillard’s own Attorney General, Rob Mc Clelland, was the co-author of the damning Cambridge affidavit. Was he talking crap when he said, “...a third party may have benefitted from this.”
When Slater & Gordon taped the interview with Gillard I would think the conversation went more like this:
Gillard:
Why are you treating me this shabbily? We are all partners! Why is it only me who has to resign? I’ve been here eight bloody years and this is what I get? It wasn’t just me, it was Murphy and Rothfield too!
Slater & Gordon:
Murphy is also going. We need to protect the firm.
In seventeen years’ time, Julia, there will be others who will also insist you resign or be sacked.
What will you do then Julia?
[Part VII covers Shorten and the unions’ influence and further damning information from FOI. Also the history of the faceless men and how they run our Parliament without our knowledge and the way in which Slater & Gordon operates. There is so much more to this sordid little tale]
Special thanks to Mr. Larry Pickering for permission to reproduce his cartoon. If you like, you can follow him on facebook or visit him at www.lpickering.net Copyright L Pickering 2012
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