Julia Gillard claims that she took instructions from two clients, Bruce Wilson and Ralph Blewitt, who instructed her to set up an Association called the AWU Workplace Reform Association.

When asked in her departure interview whether she had help drafting the Rules of the Association from within Slater and Gordon, Ms Gillard said, "No I obtained, I had just in my own personal precedent file a set of rules for Socialist Forum which is an incorporated association in which I'm personally involved."

Look at the words, "I obtained".

"No....I obtained..... I had just in my own personal precedent file a set"

You don't obtain something you created.  But if you were aware in 1990 of a Workplace Reform Association that allowed a union official to receive and spend money independent of his union, that might have seemed a useful base to draft one up for your boyfriend, for free.  

The similarity in name, and the style of the rules between Max Ogden's 1990 Workplace Reform Association and Bruce Wilson's association of 1992 give rise to a reasonable belief that Ms Gillard's role in the creation of the Bruce Wilson entity went beyond simply acting on his instructions.

I was a solicitor at Slater & Gordon. I assisted with the provision of advice regarding the setting up of an association, the workplace reform association that you refer to.

My understanding is that the purpose of the association was to support the re-election of a team of union officials and their pursuit of the policies that they would stand for re-election on.

My role in relation to this was I provided advice as a solicitor. I am not the signatory to the documents that incorporated this association. I was not an office bearer of the association. I had no involvement in the working of the association. I provided advice in relation to its establishment and that was it.

I acted on clients' instructions, my understanding on the instructions provided by my clients was that this was an association which would support the re-election of union officials running on a particular platform of change, hence its name.

My client in creating the Workplace Reform Association was Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt acting as representatives as a team of officials who were going to run together for election in the trade union.

(taken from Julia Gillard's press conferences on 23 August and 26 November, 2013.

On Thursday, 29 August 2013 we posted a comprehensive  article about Ms Gillard's close association over 6 years with a union official Max Ogden.

On 26 March, 1990, Victoria's Consumer Affairs Department incorporated Max Ogden's Workplace Reform Association.

Mr Ogden had been a part of the Socialist Forum since 1984 and had worked with Ms Gillard on many committees over the years.   They were jointly involved in developing the objectives of the Socialist Forum and served on its management committees over the years.

When questioned by Peter Gordon about her role in drafting the objects and rules of Bruce Wilson's AWU Workplace Reform Association, Ms Gillard said that she did not contact the experts at Slater and Gordon, rather she based the rules/objects on the work she did in drafting the Socialist Forum's rules.

Here is the front page of the Rules of the Wilson workplace reform association that Ms Gillard claims she worked on solely at Wilson's instructions.

And here is the Max Ogden rules, first page.

The similarities extend way beyond the typeface.

First lines Max Ogden's Workplace Reform Association

First lines Bruce Wilson's Workplace Reform Association

Max

Bruce

Max

Bruce
B


Ms Gillard presents as the innocent provider of legal advice, so minute an involvement that she didn't even charge for it.

What are the chances of Mr Wilson bringing to Ms Gillard a proposal for a Workplace Reform Association, designed to support the re-election of union officials but with objects that are nothing like a description of raising finances for elections.

This ad was placed after Wilson and Blewitt met with Ms Gillard and apparently gave her instructions that they wanted to set up an Association for the purpose of raising and holding funds for the election of union officials.  Who was advising whom?