Victoria Police say under oath that the creation of the AWU Workplace Reform Association was for the purpose of legitimizing false invoicing.   The Chief Magistrate of Victoria found in favour of police, he ruled that "in each instance.....documents were prepared in the furtherance of the commission of a fraud...."   Julia Gillard is being investigated by police for that fraud.   She says she was deceived into taking part by her partner of 4 years.   The established fact is that she was a party to the frauds, the question is does her claim that she was deceived and did not know what she was doing stack up?  Regardless, she is a suspect and is a target of a Victoria Police Major Fraud Squad criminal investigation. 

On 19 December 2012 Western Australia's former Corruption Commissioner Terry O'Connor QC delivered this QC's opinion stating the Ms Gillard has a prima facie criminal case to answer.   That is for a criminal offence of dishonesty.

I cannot imagine how the Australian Government would ratify Ms Gillard's appointment in those circumstances.

Former Australian Prime Minister takes on new role leading fundraising efforts to provide education to 57 million out-of-school children worldwide

Washington, D.C. – February 10, 2014. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the only multilateral partnership devoted to getting all children in the world's poorest countries into school for a quality education, has appointed former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard to be the new Chair of its Board of Directors.

As Australia’s Prime Minister from 2010 to 2013 and throughout her career in public office, including as Minister of Education, Gillard distinguished herself as a passionate and effective champion for education. In October 2013, she was named Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Center for Universal Education by the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

In her new role with the Global Partnership for Education, she will advocate to get out-of-school children in some of the world’s poorest countries in school for a quality education.

“I am delighted to take on this new role with the Global Partnership for Education,” Gillard said. “I believe that with 57 million of the world’s children still lacking access to a basic education and 250 million children unable to read, write or master simple math, there can be no higher priority. I am also alarmed about the recent sharp decline in donor support to education that threatens the progress achieved over the past decade, particularly for girls’ education. The global community must respond generously to the upcoming call for a renewal of multilateral, bilateral and national financing for basic education.”

“GPE has a proven track record of support and has delivered results in the world’s poorest and most fragile countries,” she added, “and I believe it is uniquely positioned to address the main challenges in global basic education.”

“The international community has an historic opportunity right now to build on the momentum we’ve seen in global education over the last decade, and to tackle obstacles that impede countries’ ability to deliver a quality basic education to all of their young people,” Gillard said. “It is an honor to accept the role of Board Chair for the Global Partnership for Education. There is much to do and little time.”

The Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education, Alice Albright, welcomed Ms. Gillard’s appointment, calling her “one of the world’s most articulate and effective advocates for improving access and quality of education for children in the poorest countries. She joins the Global Partnership for Education at a pivotal moment as we call on donor nations to increase their contributions at our June replenishment conference. Prime Minister Gillard will help us make the case that a strong commitment to replenishment this year will build on the momentum we’ve seen in global education over the last few years.”

“Prime Minister Gillard follows in the impressive footsteps of our former Board Chair Carol Bellamy and Interim Chair Geeta Rao Gupta,” Albright said. “All of us at the Global Partnership for Education are enormously grateful to them for the hard work, wisdom and powerful contributions to our success thus far.”

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Julia Gillard comes to the Global Partnership for Education after a distinguished career of public service in Australia. She served as Prime Minister of Australia between 2010 and 2013 and successfully managed Australia’s economy during the global economic crises and reformed Australia’s education at every level.

The Global Partnership for Education is made up of nearly 60 developing country governments, as well as donor governments, civil society/non-governmental organizations, teacher organizations, international organizations, and the private sector and foundations, whose joint mission is to galvanize and coordinate a global effort to provide a good quality education to children, prioritizing the poorest and most vulnerable.

Ms Gillard's first blog entry including her funding priority statement is here.

Funding is crucial

My first and most important priority as GPE Board Chair over the next several months will be to reach out to all of the donor countries urging them to make a strong commitment to this year’s replenishment.

• An innovative new funding model. Though we will have more details to offer about it in a few weeks, the Global Partnership’s new funding model represents a major breakthrough not just for the education sector but for many other aspects of global development. At its heart, the funding model provides incentives to countries to create more efficient and effective education systems, to prioritize learning outcomes, to increase domestic investment in education and to collect and use more and better data, which promotes accountability and efficacy. Stay in touch for more details on this exciting new development.