This is extraordinary.

The solicitor who "did nothing wrong" took instructions from her boyfriend Bruce Ralph's boss in the ostensible donation by Ralph of a Power of Attorney to Bruce.

On 20 November 1992 Julia Gillard was advised by the WA Industrial Relations Commission that she'd need to be in Perth on Monday 22 February 1993 for up to 5 days.

So on 13 February at the Kerr Street auction she knew she'd be in Perth with her purported client Ralph Blewitt on 22 February.

She duly appeared in Perth on 22 February.   But did she have at least a chat with her client Ralph about the purported conveyance on his behalf?  Or the power of attorney and the use it was put to?   Or the mortgage he was about to be lumbered with?

Let's hear from Ralph.

Thanks to reader Anna for this very important piece of news about Ms Gillard (of Counsel if you don't mind - and of Counsel in WA as well).

On 13 February 1993 Gillard and Wilson attended the Kerr Street auction where Wilson purchased the property.   Gillard described her role as "fixing up the power of attorney so Bruce could bid', but it was also used beyond its apparent authority to secure the mortgage loan and in every other transaction in the conveyance and financing of the purchase up until the day of settlement, 22 March 1993.

On Monday, 22 February 1993 Ms Gillard was in Perth to appear before the Full Bench of the WA Industrial Relations Commission, instructed by the Secretary of The Australian Workers' Union, West Australian Branch, Industrial Union of Workers, Ralph Blewitt.

The matter commenced in 1992 - in order to arrange for the full bench hearing a date that accommodated the President, Registrar, Chief Commissioner and Senior Commissioner along with 4 major trade unions must have been selected with a reasonable period of notice.  So it's reasonable to infer that Ms Gillard would have known of the WAIRC matter at the time she advised Wilson that he should use a power of attorney she was "fixing up" for the purchase and other transactions.

In order to be at the hearing on the morning of Monday, 22 February, Ms Gillard would have been in Perth on Sunday 21 Febraury.  

How can she claim that the Power of Attorney was needed for all the mortgage and other transactions to complete the conveyance?   Why did she not consult Blewitt about the Kerr Street transactions when she was in Perth?  Was she really acting as the solicitor for the donor of a Power of Attorney (to her boyfriend) - or was she complicit in Wilson's plans to put the purchase into Blewitt's name in order to conceal the true nature of the transaction?

The WA Gazette reporting on the matter is filed here - the hearing took place on Monday 22 February 1993 and the Full Bench handed down its decision in April 1993.

More than 3 years after my formal complaint to Victoria's former Chief Commissioner of Police about what is now clearly a major criminal offence, known suspects have not been brought before the courts to answer for their offending.

Chief Justice of the United States Warren E. Burger noted in an address to the American Bar Association in 1970:

"A sense of confidence in the courts is essential to maintain the fabric of ordered liberty for a free people and three things could destroy that confidence and do incalculable damage to society: that people come to believe that inefficiency and delay will drain even a just judgment of its value; that people who have long been exploited in the smaller transactions of daily life come to believe that courts cannot vindicate their legal rights from fraud and over-reaching; that people come to believe the law – in the larger sense – cannot fulfill its primary function to protect them and their families in their homes, at their work, and on the public streets."

workplace discrimination, sexual harassment, unequal pay, family violence and rape are all part of a continuum of gender inequality

Detective, "Boss, still no suspect for that awful rape."

Commissioner, "Have you gone through the antecedent reports looking for supporters of workplace discrimination, gender inequality and unequal pay?   That's where they come from."

Predatory behaviour in Victoria Police down to gender inequity

You may have read this in The Australian 

So Australia remains a climate villain. Tom Arup, Fairfax, yesterday:

Australia’s record on climate change has again been brought into question with a new report card ranking the country third last among major emitters ahead of only oil-rich Kazakhstan and Saudi Arabia.

And Moet and a meal near the Place Vendome haven’t tempered any attitudes. Arup continues:

The rankings are … in part determined by a survey of non-government organisations about their views.

As for the Moet and a meal near the Place Vendome quote, The Australian was referring to a series of insightful Facebook posts from Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy.

And this

 Here's a party they prepared earlier.

From: Ralph Blewitt
To: Andrew Grech
Subject: Slater & Gordon File No 950042
Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 08:32:14 +0800

For those in search of evidence - there is a God.

Top QC Robert Richter loses big in gold mine linked to underworld figures

Robert Richter is Melbourne's top criminal barrister, a Queen's Counsel, former president of the Victorian Council of Civil Liberties and successful defender of many colourful identities accused of egregious crimes, but a business venture with one of those identities looks to have cost the QC $250,000.

It was Mr Richter who convinced a jury that Mick Gatto's 2004 shooting of underworld hitman Andrew Veniamin in a Carlton restaurant was self-defence, not murder. Back in 1996 he also successfully defended Matt Tomas, an associate and business partner of Gatto, against a murder charge.

Now an attempt by Mr Tomas and Mr Richter to strike it rich in a gold mine venture appears to have left the top silk, and others, sorely out of pocket.

Mr Richter's interest in the Omeo mine began in spring 2011 when Mr Tomas asked him to lend money. At the time, unbeknown to Mr Richter, Mr Tomas was under investigation by the Australian Crime Commission for suspected involvement in money laundering. He was never charged.

Mr Richter agreed to a $250,000 loan, which went into a company called Starlodge Pty Ltd. The company, owned by convicted fraudster Michael Giovinazzo and associated with Mr Tomas, was to operate the mine.

It is believed Mr Richter was promised a 15 per cent return.

I'm sure the CFMEU will fix the dent in Mr Richter's fortunes.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our work.

Michael Smith

National Australia Bank

BSB: 084855 

Acct No: 537650476

UPDATE - an important further comment from Ralph Blewitt just in:

Michael mate you always want honesty...l have just recalled what the laminated legal avice G Droppet was about, there where from memory some new industrial laws around and this was to be used if for instance we where in an industrial dispute say a picket line and police became involved and wanted to arrest us.
from memory all officials had one. 
So Wilson is lying about it in his statement.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to our site - in this case I received several tips about the provenance of the document entitled "Statement to Police" and published by us here.   Thank you to everyone, this site is a powerhouse!

I'll write with a more complete article about what the fact that Slater and Gordon were turning the firm's mind to police enquiries involving their client the AWU in 1994 - and that they were advising officers of their client not to cooperate with police!

Editoral in 3 parts - I tried to be brief!