Does this mean that Ashby will , now, get a full hearing, and the defence will also need to put their case before the Court?

I agree with both Michaels. It should be tested in court. But it can only be tested if either the police lay charges, the Union presses charges or the Prime Minister sues one or more of the people making the allegations.

There is perhaps another way, it hasn't been used for a long time, but it is summonsing a person (and the PM is a person) to appear before the bar of the Senate. Perhaps Mr Brandis QC might like to clarify the last point.

Happy New Election Year.

WELL MICHAEL THE BLOGGER, I DO NOT NEED A COURT OF LAW TO TELL ME THAT LABOR IS BEHAVING UNFAIRLY TO SOME YOUNG DECEASED WORKERS. THE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH. SOMETIMES MICHAEL THE BLOGGER, YOU HAVE TO FACE REALITY. SOME PEOPLE ARE UNTRUSTWORTHY. END.

Mr Smith. somefolks defend others for various reasons.
I know this much, IF they had the true courage to see how the other side were really affected, then they may just understand.
Plainly there are real victims, real losses, many lives affected still to this day .Not just one .
When it really does affect them, then there will be a full reversal .
A TOTAL switch and full thorough understanding .It is that simple.
While ever corruption goes on neglected, ignored it exacerbates grows and inflates.When fraud affects them or legal wrongdoing , etc etc..They will totally understand, when they lose `their job, their opportunity`.
It does not exempt select families No no no.. their turn shall come due to total lack of respect.
Their children are indeed next, their parents, their grandchildren, friends. neighbours.
People do change jobs, health can play a role, people move.Power roles change ,trust shifts.
There is no real way some are immune or untouchable.
Real is real.Truth does and will triumph.

Keep up what you're doing Michael because as you saw from Emmo's article you posted y'day, no matter the whitewashing attempts, if there's truth in the issue then it's always going to grate. Why else would someone who is as shrewd in political strategy as Emmo would even bother spending much time of AWU scandal and Craig Thomson?
Emmo seriously should break himself clear from Gillard/Swan politics.
No manner of bluff or attempted beat-down of a stoic messenger like yourself will succeed because too many of us who are onto it can vote. I got called 'wanker' on twitter. Well, it only takes one hand to hold that pencil over the ballot paper ;)

@ Michael.
We are in the unique position of knowing much of what took place in the Wilson/Gillard/Blewitt/S & G/AWU Fraud scandal 16-21 years ago, and having the results of two investigations, one detailed in a recorded and transcribed interview in which specific allegations were put and one detailed in affidavit form. Both were carried out at the time and in addition further information is given in a Statutory Declaration and parts of statements from others involved . These were made when events were still fresh in their minds, but some only became publicly available in redacted form two months ago.

On the other hand, Gillard has never offered a defence in any form or in any place in which she could be held accountable. Instead, she has constantly repeated three excuses.
1. I was young and naive. Absolute rubbish and provably so!
2. I did no wrong. Absolute rubbish and provably so.
3. I acted as a solicitor

As a solicitor, she had a cast iron obligation to act in accordance with Rules of Practice as laid down in the Legal Profession Practice Act 1958.

That did not include creating a conflict of interest by:
(a) entering a long-term intimate relationship with an employee of her main client:
(b) failing to inform her main client of that fact;
(c) as a salaried partner, failing to inform her employers, the equity partnership of S & G:
(d) failing to act with utmost good faith and make timely disclosure to them. The conflict of interest made them vulnerable in regard to Professional Indemnity.

Any wilful and and reckless contravention of the Act under which her Practising Certificate was granted constituted grounds for a finding of professional misconduct! Even without all her subsequent transgressions, one does not need to be a lawyer to know she did do wrong!

Julia Gillard playeed a pivotal role in all matters related to the unlawful entity she personally named the Australian Worker's Union Workplace Reform Association , and it is fair to say that the subsequent fraudulent use of AWU monies could not have taken place in the same form without the unauthorised bank accounts her actions enabled her lover to open. There certainly would not have been a purchase of the 85 Kerr St., property through S & G.

I believe the aim of most posters here is to get her into court where all allegations could be tested. One would think that if she really believes she "did nothing wrong" she would be just as anxious to have the chance to clear her name!

Maybe 'Michael' and Julia have some history....?

Michael what about my posts? arent they worthy in the comment arena? Maybe they have been posted but I cant find them, as much as everyone else I like to see them there.

Bob Kernohan has a great comment on PICKERING FACEBOOK but what I find really really disturbing is that at least three people are claiming that something has happened, and their ability to 'share' has possibly been disabled or something?

This is the thing. Those that advocate for the PM seem to spend an inordinate amount if time trying to avoid having these allegations even aired let alone tested in court. My understanding of our society is that if I think one of our laws has been broken I go and see the police, it is investigated and if my suspicions have foundation it is tested in court and I am cross examined on my allegations. If I made them up or lied then I am for the high jump. The frustrating thing for those of us who believe our PM has been complicit in a major crime is that no one appears to want to test the allegations. When allegations this serious are made even her supporters should be keen to see them tested.

I have hope the Victorian Police investigation may bring some light but I am not as confident of their integrity as our host. They've had 17 years so far and produced nada.

Sent this email to Bill Shorten today,

"I just need to know whether you say Bob Kernoghan is a liar. I would appreciate your advice on this. My name, address and telephone number are included and I would expect your reply. (I bet I don't get one!!!)"

Maggie1954 writes: "BTW Michael is a terrible commenter, he seems to deliberately twists facts to suit his particular agenda."

I suspect 'Michael' is a Labor operative, sent here to sow seeds of doubt. My advice is to take anything he says with a truckload of salt.

Michael, you're on the red - I'm on the bubbles - it's New Year's Eve - I wish you (and yours) well for 2013 - WE NEED YOU. God bless you.

Michael the blogger is a sh#t stirrer. He wants to take the Mickey out of serious debate on government in Australia under Gillard, but we can accommodate him.

Me thinks his other nom de plume is Julian Goebbels.

You're sprung.

Don't hold your breath that Gillard's part in those frauds will ever be tested in court. She is far too cunning for that and so many in her pocket - including the judiciary.

Thanks, everyone and sorry about the bad spelling. Working from iPad somewhere in Asia wherever I can find a wifi hot spot, so things are often rushed. I think my criticism was not of Bob but the reaction of most people here - if it's anti Gillard anti labor or anti unions it must be true. I used to think like hat, it was how my family naturally thought, so it was easy and natural.

Michael, Whatever it is that you are drinking...I want some!

Surely your cup of goodwill runneth over and you gave Michael2 a huge benefit of the doubt on his sarcastic comments.

Here's Looking forward to a very interesting year and the good news is now we can finally say this is the year that Gillard will go. (Kicking an Screaming I suspect)

As to the Affidavit from Bob K, there is no reason in the world why his affidavit should not be tested in court...I can hear him saying now..."Bring it On", after all the facts are not really in dispute..the dispute really concerns what Gillard knew, not what she did.

Michael and Katarina, Happy 2013, The Year.

Searching for how to subscribe(unsuccessfully) I came across your interview with Crikey, great reading.

"Do I feel "tainted", Smith wants to know, by venturing into "misogynist grubby nut-job headquarters"

PAY PAL details please,

What a slogan, I would like to renew my membership for 2013 to the tainted, grubby nut-job club.

Bob Kernohan's affidavit – in fact the three that he has claimed to have made – should be released to the media and therefore the public.

Not willy nilly but at a presser held in from of the Australian Parliament in February on the first sitting day for 2013 (11th.).

AND all the bloggers like Bolt, Smith, Pickering, Dowling, Ackerman etc should have a plan for that day to unleash a triade as they see fit!

Swan on ABC radio's PM, March 5:

"I WAS really disturbed, and it made my stomach churn, when I read Mr Palmer saying that his only responsibility was to his shareholders and to his workers and he had no public responsibility whatsoever. What I say about people like Mr Palmer is they don't get rich on their own."

This goes to the core of what I despise about Wayne Swan, the ALP and the union movement. There is this assumption that as a worker you have a right to profit share whilst having put up none of your own capital & risked nothing other than your hourly fee. I philosophically object to an employee taking a secure weekly wage but still expecting to get something for nothing. That extends to the guaranteed job for life mentality the unions are currently spruiking. I am no fan of Titanic Clive, but I reckon he does bucket loads more for Australia than Waynie Poo.

Australians have become soft. This does not serve the greater good.

ANATOMY OF CORRUPTION

I came across a useful analysis of corruption emanating from Transparency International that enables us to crystallise the modus operandi of the ALP-AWU alliance they seem to tick all the boxes. It is perfectly obvious that the nation is being “stolen.”

This extract sets the scene, however the rest of the short chapter makes for the most disturbing reading. I simply do not see how our politicians can now even remotely pretend that the integrity of government in Australia is not under unheard of threat. Look to the AWU-WRA and all the other scandals at all levels of government from the national and the NBN, Pink Batts, Securency, the Obeids in NSW, down to the local councils such as Brimbank in Victoria. The common thread is the ALP Right.

“A very different survey of the experience of Transparency International chapters, in 1995, suggested that corruption in the public sector takes much the same form and affects the same areas whether one is dealing with a developed country or a developing one. The areas of government activity most vulnerable to corruption were –

• public procurement;
• rezoning of land;
• revenue collection;
• government appointments; and
• local government.

The methodologies, too, were remarkably similar, including -

• cronyism, connections, family members and relatives;
• political corruption through donations to political campaigns, etc.;
• kickbacks on government contracts (and subcontracting consultancies); and
• fraud of all kinds.”

Paste to address bar:

resources.transparency.bg/download.html?id=502
or

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:bICPxsBKgLUJ:resources.transparency.bg/download.html%3Fid%3D502+&hl=fr&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESiRjgDUAlni9zg_2_149_0HRTNCMogWwr8FVjVz5SPg0qik9gnS1tM4I6L6fwRETbLhb8ucf351FTyDygVcANTC7kv_xtal-AAgoBhJlKb_zjXNYntJanChUZb7b-s06B8h1DiC&sig=AHIEtbS8FWP20PqrtBy8LAoP2fWM79U1FQ

For emphasis I would add to the above:

• control and manipulate the mainstream media;
• establish alliances with capital providers (union super funds, equity capital) and contractors to develop public-private partnerships where the taxpayer assumes the risk;
• control and manipulate regulatory agencies through appointments.

What I am getting at is not rocket science to explain. It is how the seriousness of the situation is explained to the community in a form that will provoke alarm and change, particularly through the ballot box.

As other posters have hinted at (often in despair) the Coalition needs to re-affirm its unshakeable will to have a far-reaching Commission of Inquiry and press upon the electorate that corruption is crippling the economy. There is an abundance of examples. Throw into the mix the low level of administrative skills within Cabinet and Caucus, their amateurism, bungling and plain stupidity, then the election can be fought on the holy trinity of the economy, corruption and incompetence.

What a heaven sent opportunity for the Opposition to show real leadership!

As an aside I would have a large poster of Bill Ludwig with smaller inserts of Shorten and Howes (sunglasses aloft) to graphically highlight Alan RM Jones’ statement that: “Who controls the AWU controls the Labor government and The Lodge.”

Very neat and tidy?

And isn't a court case exactly what we are crying out for here ? What's your problem Michael?

Posted by: BBPD | Tuesday, 01 January 2013 at 09:03 AM | Swan on ABC radio's PM, March 5:

"[ ... ] What I say about people like Mr Palmer is they don't get rich on their own."

Sounds like Swannie is lifting the famous Obama quote: "If you’re successful, you didn’t get there on your own,” Obama said. “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that."

... and the response here is equally applicable to Swannie: http://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/you-didnt-build-that/

Surely an affidavit is really a sworn declaration which means just this

TO THE BEST OF MY BELIEFS THIS IS MY SWORN STATEMENT.

this is then contested in law, and decisions made on more than a whimsical accusation...

Its a tool of the law, not a decision!

I read this 'Michael's opinion as more Labor Spin and excuses for Julia's behavior which is quite consistent in her performance of her private and professional careers.