This is a link to the story in The Australian newspaper by Andrew Burrell on 22 December, 2012.

Because it was published 3 days before Christmas, it may be the case that there are many of our readers who have not paid it much attention.   Perhaps you might spend a little time thinking about it today as the Victoria Police continue their investigations into Ms Gillard et al.

The claims made in this story by Joe Trio (formerly the WA General Manager for Thiess, and Bruce Wilson's brother in law) and his boss Nick Jukes (formerly the national operations manager for Thiess) are likely to prove troublesome for these two executives.

The invoices issued by the Gillard/Wilson/Blewitt slush fund are here.   This invoice detail is typical, it's for a representative working a set number of hours on the Dawesville Cut.

I wrote a little about Mr Jukes and Mr Trio and their competence here.

Read the invoices issued to Thiess by the Gillard/Wilson/Blewitt slush fund.

No such services were provided, there was no workplace reform adviser, no AWU or Association figure ever provided those services.

So what were Mr Jukes and Mr Trio talking about that led the Australian on 22 December, 2012 to report:

Mr Trio and Mr Jukes, who is now the chief executive of ASX-listed  mining services company Sedgman in Brisbane, told police that they did  not wish to press charges because the union had, in fact, provided all  the training services that Thiess had paid for.

Joe TRIO

Former AWU state secretary Tim Daly, who blew the whistle on the  fraud, claims the Thiess payments were designed to "buy industrial  peace" on a project at a time that construction companies in WA were  experiencing difficulties in dealings with unions.

He says the AWU provided nothing at the Dawesville Cut that the union would not have provided on a major construction project.

Mr Trio denies the deal was done to buy industrial peace. "This was  money paid to the AWU to have their co-operation in training," he says.  "In those days, unless you had the union behind everything that you did,  it was very, very difficult - strikes, intimidation, all of the  nonsense that went on in those days.

"I guess the guys over east thought 'Maybe if we get these (union) guys on side, our training program will run a lot smoother'." (MPS emphasis)

Nick JUKES

In an interview with The Weekend Australian, Mr Jukes says Thiess had  believed its payments were going directly to the AWU and the company  co-operated with the WA fraud squad investigation, handing over all  paperwork related to the 1992 agreement. "They said to us, 'You guys  need to press charges'," he says.

"We said that we hadn't been defrauded; we were given the service by  the AWU, and if this money has gone off to an account that isn't a  legitimate AWU account, this is an issue between the AWU and its  management, not an issue with Thiess.

"They intimated that if Thiess didn't press charges, it would be very hard for them to prosecute.

"We said we didn't understand the logic of pressing charges if we got the service we paid for."

TRIO SAYS HE HAD LITTLE TO DO WITH WILSON, PLENTY OF DEALINGS WITH BLEWITT

Mr Trio says he married Mr Wilson's sister while Mr Wilson was still  in high school. When Mr Trio returned to Perth from the US to work for  Thiess in the early 90s, he says he "discovered" that Mr Wilson had  become an official with the AWU.

He had "very little involvement" with Mr Wilson during the Dawesville  Cut project because the union boss was transferred to Melbourne with  the AWU.

But Mr Trio did have plenty of dealings with Mr Blewitt, Mr Wilson's key ally, who has since admitted his part in the fraud.

He believes Mr Blewitt and other "union thugs" are behind many of the allegations that have circulated against him.

This article quoting Mr Trio from the mid 1990s may be useful in better understanding the different versions of events Mr Trio has given publicly.