Omerta.  Loyalty.  Patronage.

Stick with me and I'll see you right.

She delivered for Shorten, so Shorten delivered for her.

Senator Kimberley Kitching sat Right of Entry Permit tests for Diana Asmar and 6 other members of her HSU branch.

Kitching gave false evidence about the tests to the TURC and Fair Work Commission.

And for that, she's not in the dock, she's in the Senate.

A union official's Right of Entry permit authorises his or her entry into workplaces without the need to seek permission.

It's a very powerful authority, in some respects it carries the power of a search warrant.

It is only granted after the applicant satisfactorily completes a course of study and a test of competence.

The authority funded to provide the course and the test is the ACTU.

In December 2014 Commissioner Heydon delivered an interim report after having heard the evidence surrounding Kimberley Kitching dishonestly sitting the Right of Entry Permit tests purporting to have been taken by others.

A second CommonwealthCommission, this one the standing Fair Work Commission found against her too.

MONDAY, 29 JUNE 2015

Fair Work Commission finds Kimberley Kitching performed ROE tests for Diana Asmar and others and gave false evidence

Thanks to Roger for the tip about the Commission's Judgement, delivered on Friday in Melbourne.

Fair Work Act 2009 
s.512 - Application for a right of entry permit

Health Services Union-Victoria No. 1 Branch
(RE2013/426 and others)

VICE PRESIDENT WATSON

MELBOURNE, 26 JUNE 2015

Application by Health Services Union - Victoria No. 1 Branch for Entry Permits – whether right of entry tests were performed by persons other than the officials – if tests were performed by others, who were they performed by – if tests were performed by others, who authorised or had knowledge of the practice – who undertook the test declared to be conducted by Ms Asmar – who undertook the test declared to be conducted by Mr Katsis – who accessed Mr Mitchell's ACTU account – whether inaccurate declarations were made – whether permits should be revoked - Fair Work Act 2009 ss.480, 507, 512, 513, 582, 603, 625.

Here are some of the relevant findings of fact:

[122] Ms Asmar made strong denials of any knowledge, advice, direction or involvement in the practice of ACTU tests being performed on behalf of the relevant applicants. She appeared eager to assert her innocence in very strong terms. She was not subject to cross-examination. Despite asking for phone records of relevant days very early in the proceedings Ms Asmar, through her counsel, asserted very late in the proceedings that they could not be obtained because she had a pre-paid phone plan at the time. It was not explained why this was not disclosed much earlier. Having regard to her evidence and her demeanour giving evidence I am unsure that her evidence can be regarded as reliable.

[123] A similar position arises with respect to Ms Kitching, the former General Manager of the Branch. Her denials were short and firm. They extended to strong denials of conversations and knowledge that appeared clearly established by other witnesses. She was not subject to cross-examination. Her evidence went into great detail about her movements on 15 February 2013. I found the detail of her memory of the day well after the event and the firmness of her statements somewhat implausible. Despite obvious gaps in her account of her activities she maintained that her evidence should establish that her involvement in the performance of tests was impossible. I am not sure that her evidence can be regarded as reliable.

. Six tests were completed on 15 February 2013 from the Branch office. Some or all of them were completed by persons other than the relevant officials in whose names the tests were performed. Mr Lee was overseas at the time. Ms Asmar was out of the office for much of the day. There appears to be no person who may have performed the tests other than Ms Kitching. On the totality of the evidence I find that Ms Kitching performed these tests. Ms Kitching's denials of knowledge and involvement cannot be accepted.

4. I have found that Ms Kitching and Ms Lee performed ACTU tests for others despite the denials of Ms Kitching. Ms Kitching was the most senior employee of the Branch at the time and had a close working relationship with Ms Asmar. There is a body of evidence of Ms Asmar stating that Ms Kitching would be doing the tests on behalf of officials. Both Ms Asmar and Ms Kitching strongly deny such statements. I prefer the accounts of those who gave evidence of the statements. It is inherently unlikely that Ms Kitching would do the tests without the knowledge and authorisation of Ms Asmar. I do not accept their denials as being truthful or reliable. I find on the evidence that the performance of ACTU tests by Ms Kitching and Ms Lee was with the knowledge and authorisation of Ms Asmar.

5. Only Ms Asmar and Ms Kitching know whether they performed Ms Asmar's test. They both state that Ms Asmar did the test and that Ms Kitching did not. However there is evidence that both Ms Asmar and Ms Kitching told others to the contrary at the time. In Ms Asmar's case it appears to have been in the context of encouraging others to facilitate a similar practice with respect to their own tests, which eventuated with respect to a number of officials. In Ms Kitching's case the statements appear to be in the context of office banter, a sense of achievement and the context of Ms Asmar's busy work schedule. 

6. I accept the evidence that both Ms Asmar and Ms Kitching made comments to others near the time of the test inconsistent with their evidence before me and the Royal Commission. In particular I rely on the evidence of Ms Porter and Mr Leszczynski. In my view it is highly unlikely that the comments would have been made at or around the time of the tests if they were not true. There was no need for Ms Asmar to state that Ms Kitching had performed her test in order to direct Ms Kitching to perform it for others. There was no need for Ms Kitching to boast about the result of performing Ms Asmar's test, or to state that she did it because Ms Asmar was too busy, if Ms Kitching had not in fact done the test. Ms Kitching's and Ms Asmar's evidence has been found to be unreliable and untruthful in other respects. On all of the evidence I find that it is likely that Ms Kitching performed the test on 25 January 2013 on behalf of Ms Asmar.

7. I have found that Ms Kitching performed the ACTU tests for a number of officials on 15 February 2013. It is inherently unlikely that the ACTU records regarding the time taken to complete the test are incorrect. It is inherently unlikely that Mr Katsis, very inexperienced at the time, accessed the training for three minutes and completed the test in 2 minutes. It is inherently unlikely that Mr Katsis did this within 15 minutes of speaking on his mobile phone in Malvern. On the other hand it is conceivable and indeed likely that Ms Kitching could have done the test in that time frame. On all of the evidence I find that Ms Kitching performed Mr Katsis' test.

8. On all of the evidence and in the light of my findings I find that Ms Kitching accessed Mr Mitchell's account on 15 February 2013.

[269] Making false declarations and failing to complete training that is a requirement for a right of entry permit are serious matters that strike at the heart of the integrity of the right of entry permit system. On the basis of these findings I answer the questions posed in this inquiry as follows:

As to Ms. Diana Asmar (RE 2013/426)

Q1. Whether in order to obtain a ROE permit, Ms. Asmar made an inaccurate declaration for a ROE permit dated 29 January 2013 that she had received appropriate training about the rights and responsibilities of a permit holder, namely the ACTU Federal Right of Entry online training course completed on 25 January 2013. 

A1. Yes.

Q2. Whether the right of entry permit issued to Ms. Asmar should be revoked. 

A2. Yes.

ENDS

The Commonwealth DPP at Senate Estimates in October last year.

In December 2014, the matter of Kimberley Kitching's Commonwealth offences was referred to the CDPP directly by the TURC.   While evidence secured using the coercive powers of a royal commission can't be used directly in a criminal trial, it beggars belief that the people who'd given evidence to the TURC and Fair Work weren't contacted for follow up statements.  Likewise the exhibits so easily available to Fair Work and the TURC.

The CDPP can indict anyone who has committed a Commonwealth offence(s).

What really worries me is Graham Richardson's public statement about Senator Elect Kitching, made on Ben Fordham's show a couple of weeks ago.

 

It's the same thing he said to me in a cafe about Julia Gillard.

 

She hasn't been charged and she won't be.

 

Richo spoke about both those matters in a definite manner.  Not opinion.  Not speculation.  He was delivering news of a final decision.

 

Kathy Jackson is in the dock for two reasons.  One is what she did at the time she was Secretary of her union.

 

Things she claimed she did with the approval of the Branch Committee of Management.

 

But there is a legion of Laborites who have done and are doing the same.  Bill Ludwig, Cesar Melhem, Bill Shorten spring to mind.   At present there isn't a snowflake's chance in hell of the Labor/Union movement referring them to police.

 

The second reason Jackson's in the dock is she blew the whistle on others.

 

Prior to that she was protected.  After she went public, she was exposed.

 

The spectacle was necessarily played out in public to deliver the widest possible exemplary message.

 

Don't cross us.

 

Paul Keating put it perfectly when Labor's choice for Governor General during the Whitlam years died.

 

 

 

 

Most people wonder about the alleged justice system in this country.

 

We don't.  We do something about miscarriages like this.

 

And the other one Richo delivered judgement on over coffee.

 

 

While Malcolm Turnbull airs his ignorance on Islam this is the reality in Kuala Lumpur.

Kuala Lumpur - A massive rally in the heart of Kuala Lumpur in support of proposals to allow Islamic courts to impose more severe punishments has raised fears of growing division in Malaysia's multicultural society.

The amendments to Act 355, expected to be discussed in parliament when it sits next month, will allow the Islamic courts, which rule on religious matters and family law for Muslims, to impose a jail sentence of as long as 30 years, as many as 100 strokes of the cane and a fine of more than $22,000.

Currently, the maximum punishments are a three-year jail term, six strokes of the cane and a fine of more than $1,100.

Saturday's rally was mostly attended by supporters of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), which is pushing the amendments, saying the changes will enhance the status of the Islamic courts and deter wrongdoing.

Critics of the amendments say they are unjust, disproportionate and unconstitutional.

'Necessary upgrade' 

Wearing purple T-shirts, people began arriving in Kuala Lumpur in the morning.

While some were brought in by bus from PAS stronghold in the northeastern state of Kelantan, and neighbouring Terengganu, others came from Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding state of Selangor.

Many brought their children. Police estimated the crowd at about 20,000, while the local media put it at 50,000. PAS had said they expected to mobilise 200,000 people.

"[The amendments] are necessary to upgrade the Islamic laws," said Shahrul Biden, a 40-year-old salesman and PAS supporter from Kuala Lumpur, who was among the crowd.

"As Muslims, we are obliged to follow the rule of law as laid down by God, Allah, no matter what."

Critics say the proposed amendments are unjust and unconstitutional [Kate Mayberry/Al Jazeera]

About 40 percent of Malaysia's population is not Muslim, and the country has a dual legal system, with secular courts responsible for all civil and criminal matters.

United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the party of Najib Razak, the Malaysian prime minister, which is giving tacit support to the PAS bill, governs in coalition with a number of race-based non-Muslim parties who have expressed their concern about the amendments.

Jamil Khir Baharom, the government minister responsible for Islamic affairs, spoke at the PAS rally after night fell, clad in purple like the rest of the demonstrators. Abdul Hadi Awang, PAS leader, was due to close the event.

At a rival rally, about 100 people gathered in a nearby suburb to protest against the plans, which they argue are not only incompatible with Malaysia's multiethnic and multireligious society, but in breach of the country's secular constitution.

An ethnic Chinese politician from one of the smaller parties in Najib's coalition told the crowd he would resign if the amendments were passed.

Organisers said members of parliament from the Borneo state of Sarawak, which has a large Christian population, had informed them they would reject the proposals.

The opposition Democratic Action Party, which used to be in coalition with PAS, has reiterated it will reject the amendments; the version of the bill tabled last year led to the collapse of the opposition pact.

Affecting non-Muslims 

While Malaysia's non-Muslims do not have jurisdiction in the Islamic courts, they have increasingly found themselves caught up in proceedings, particularly in cases of divorce - in Malaysia, non-Muslims must convert in order to marry a Muslim - or child conversion.

One case has been dragging on for nearly a decade, with a Hindu woman's former husband, who converted to Islam and changed his children's religion without seeking his wife's consent, ignoring a civil court order to return his youngest child to her mother.

The religious bodies have also been accused of abusing their powers.

A Muslim married couple, who were accused of khalwat [close proximity of non-married people] by the religious police, is suing the Islamic authorities, claiming a breach of their rights under the constitution.

"This process of Islamisation should stop," said Helen Ting, 53, who comes from Sarawak, but works near Kuala Lumpur and attended the rally against the amendments.

"We want to tell the government it's time do a stock-take [and assess] the impact of this on our country - not just for the non-Muslims but the Muslims too."

Source: Al Jazeera News

Congratulations Air New Zealand.

What a classy effort.

The opposite of tokenism.

Real people doing real jobs.

International Women's Day is not my thing.

Then again nor is Chinese New Year.

That doesn't stop me saying Gong Xi Fa Cai and enjoying the food!

So happy women's day to people who care.

And go you good thing Air New Zealand!!!!!!!!

Great work from Daily Caller website. 

EXCLUSIVE: Dem Super-Lobbyist Podesta Got $170K To End US Sanctions On Russian Bank

Richard Pollock on March 6, 2017 

Democrat super-lobbyist Tony Podesta was paid $170,000 over a six-month period last year to represent Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, seeking to end one of the Obama administration’s economic sanctions against that country, The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group has learned.

Podesta, founder and chairman of the Podesta Group, is listed as a key lobbyist on behalf of Sberbank, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms. His firm received more than $24 million in fees in 2016, much of it coming from foreign governments, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

Podesta is the brother of John Podesta, who was the national campaign chairman for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s losing 2016 campaign for the presidency. Former President Barack Obama imposed the sanctions following the Russian seizure of the Crimean region of Ukraine in 2014.

The lobbying campaign targeted Congress and the executive branch, with Podesta and other lobbyists arranging at least two meetings between Sberbank officers and Department of State officials, according to Elena Teplitskaya, Sberbank’s board chairman, who spoke to House aides in August.

The discovery of high-profile Democrats like Podesta being paid lucrative fees for lobbying to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia contrasts with charges from Democrats that President Donald Trump and his key aides are soft on Russia while the Obama administration was tough on Moscow.

Podesta’s efforts were a key part of under-the-radar lobbying during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign led mainly by veteran Democratic strategists to remove sanctions against Sberbank and VTB Capital, Russia’s second largest bank.

The two Russian banks spent more than $700,000 in 2016 on Washington lobbyists as they sought to end the U.S. sanctions, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms and documents filed with the Department of Justice.

The Podesta Group charged Sberbank $20,000 per month, plus expenses, on a contract from March through September 2016.

Podesta is one of the Democrat’s highest profile lobbyists who enjoys close personal and business connections to former Presidents Obama and Bill Clinton. John Podesta was chief of staff in Clinton’s White House and special counselor in the Obama White House.

Both Sberbank and VTB Capital face severe cash shortages due to plunging oil prices, plus the U.S. sanctions. If the economic sanctions were lifted, however, both banks could legally seek funds from American financial institutions.

“The Democrats are sitting there trying to convince us that the Russians are trying to throw the election to Trump,” a congressional aide who requested anonymity and met Teplitskaya told TheDCNF.

“And then they’re with us here in the House and meeting directly with the administration behind closed doors on the issue of the sanctions. The hypocrisy could not be any richer,” he said.

Joining the Podesta lobbying campaign was David Adams, who describes himself on the Podesta Group website as a “trusted adviser” to Hillary Clinton, serving as her as assistant secretary of state for congressional affairs.

Another Podesta lobbyist was Stephen Rademaker, a former Department of State official in the George W. Bush administration, but who also worked for the Democratic lobbying shop of Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.

Manatt, Phelps and Phillips is best known for hiring liberals and highly-connected Democrats. The company’s founder, Chuck Manatt, is a former Democratic National Committee Chairman. While Mickey Kantor, another Manatt executive, served as Bill Clinton’s commerce secretary.

The Podesta Group represented Sberbank and its subsidiaries, Troika Dialog Group in the Cayman Islands, SBGB Cyprus Ltd in Nicosia, Cyprus, and SB International in Luxembourg. Troika Dialog also was related to Klein, Ltd., a Cayman Island organization that once funneled tens of millions of dollars to environmental groups to oppose low-cost fracking in the U.S., which was hurting the Russian oil industry.

The Podesta Group represents dozens of foreign embassies in the nation’s capital, as well as many authoritarian regimes like Vietnam, Myanmar and Somalia. The lobbying firm also represents political parties in Moldova and Albania, according to its Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) filing.

A second lobbying shop, the Madison Group also represented Sberbank and received $330,000 from the bank in 2016, according to Senate lobbying records. Two of the three Madison lobbyists working the account are lifelong Democrats.

A third lobbying firm, Manatos & Manatos represented VTB Capital, Russia’s second largest bank, and received $17,500 per month to seek an end to economic sanctions, according to their FARA filings with the Department of Justice.

Andy Manatos was an advance man for former President Lyndon Johnson and assistant secretary for commerce in the Carter administration.

The Sberbank-Podesta relationship goes back many years. Sberbank was the lead financial institution in the Russian deal to purchase Uranium One, owned by one of Bill Clinton’s closest friends, Frank Giustra.

Giustra and Bill Clinton lead the Clinton-Giustra Enterprise Partnership, an integral part of the Clinton Foundation. Giustra has additionally donated $25 million to the Clinton Foundation.

Giustra sought to sell his stake in uranium reserves that included ore deposits in the Western United States, and Hillary Clinton, who as secretary of state, approved the sale. And in one felled swoop, 20 percent of America’s uranium ore was sold to the Russian state atomic agency.

During the pending sale, the Podesta Group represented Giustra’s company and tried to advance the transaction.

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There is a very big difference between the management and owners of a corporation.

Owners call the shots, managers do what they're told.

The ABC has forgotten that simple truth.

It was created to fill a market gap which was uneconomical for private capital.

Since then weak and afraid shareholder representatives (e.g. Turnbull) have let the ABC staff run riot and do what they want.

Today our employee Michelle Guthrie announced she can do without 200 jobs because she'd rather have the cash for a wealth fund over which she will preside.  Wouldn't we all?

“These initiatives recognise that incremental reform isn’t the answer and that transformational change over the next year is essential if the ABC is to realise its full potential. Change that strengthens the organisation, empowers our people and delivers long-term results for audiences.”

Realise its full potential?  And what pray tell may that be?

The ABC should be about limiting its burden on the taxpayers and discharging its charter.  And no more.

It is monstrous.  It needs restraining.

We should congratulate Michelle Guthrie in part for proving the current budget is in excess of the ABC's needs.

It is now for the shareholders to thank her for the insight and trouser the money.

It is most certainly not for Ms Guthrie to create a wealth fund for the support of favoured dabblers.

The language of most media reporting today's insights into waste and largesse is uncritical and frankly scary.

"The ABC Creates $50M content fund".

Pig's backside.

The ABC created nothing of the sort.

Taxpayers pay for the ABC to discharge its charter and no more.

It ignores us and does what it wants.  That must change.

If this employed manager will not do the job, we should find one who will.

Here's The Australian's report published a short while ago.  Stand by for the ABC press release spin.

ABC axes up to 200 jobs to create $50m content fund, regional jobs

• The Australian
• 12:46PM March 7, 2017

• STEPHEN BROOK

  

  Media Diary

  Sydney

  @ViscountBrooky

  

The public broadcaster will spend $15m per year on regional jobs and digital programs as part of the fund, financed by slashing management by 20 per cent and cutting ABC divisions from the current 14 to eight.

All employees will be free to pitch ideas to the $50 million fund, which ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie said was an unprecedented financial commitment by the Corporation designed to target audiences that don’t watch the ABC.

“The fund enables us to respond with flexibility and speed to shifting audience trends and to extend our reach and engagement, especially with audiences who are infrequent ABC users,” Ms Guthrie said.

The ABC would recruit 80 staff in regional areas within 18 months, Ms Guthrie said. “We’re committing to an injection of funds, ultimately building to $15m a year, to provide more reporters and content makers, better tools and increased video and digital output.”

The deadline for redundancies, which could be up to 200, was the end of June. As part of the process, ABC TV and ABC News will reduce production and support roles as part of internal efficiency targets.

Ms Guthrie said many media companies had made painful decisions to reduce employee numbers. “These changes are essential to the long-term health of the Corporation, but I acknowledge that this is little comfort to those whose roles are impacted.

“We will work with unions and with affected staff. We will be open and move as quickly as possible to end the uncertainty in affected areas.”

ABC veteran David Anderson, previously the director of corporate strategy and planning and of the digital network, was appointed director of ABC Television.

Leisa Bacon, the director of audience and marketing, was appointed to head the new Audiences Division and oversee the use of the Content Fund.

Louise Higgins, formerly at the BBC and at Nova Entertainment, joins the ABC as Chief Financial Officer, while Sam Liston, formerly director of ABC People, becomes Chief Engagement Officer.

David Pendleton, who resigned as chief operating office, will act as interim chief technology officer while the ABC recruits an executive for that position.

Ms Guthrie said the ABC must adapt to sweeping changes in the media landscape.

“These initiatives recognise that incremental reform isn’t the answer and that transformational change over the next year is essential if the ABC is to realise its full potential. Change that strengthens the organisation, empowers our people and delivers long-term results for audiences.”

Under the new structure, the four content divisions of TV, Radio, News and Regional will sit alongside new divisions for Finance, Technology, Engagement and Audiences. Editorial Policies and Government Relations will be specialist functions reporting to Ms Guthrie.

The ABC International division will integrate into the ABC “to better serve audiences in the Asia-Pacific region and deliver on its International Charter remit”, the ABC said.

Labor and the unions never let a chance go by.

There are 69 Labor MPs in the House of Representatives.

They are the opposition.  Paid by taxpayers to represent their constituents - with cars, offices, staff, printing allowances, postage allowances, computers, internet, Twitter, Facebook, email - and perhaps most importantly, the House of Representatives chamber with its televised proceedings and a fawning press gallery on hand to get the message out.

But that's apparently not enough for the Labor machine.

It wants your money to "bring down as wave of pressure" on the Government of Turnbull over penalty rates.

On 20 February we brought you news of TeamABC giving their male members the chop on Wimmin's Day tomorrow.

Here's the front page of Sydney's Daily Telegraph today.

ABC achieves Peak Tokenism - Lorena Bobbitt Memorial Day

Monday, 20 February 2017

Over the weekend Ralph Blewitt submitted this notice to Western Australia Police.

Police will have their own view about what charges should flow from their investigations - but Ralph's position which he makes so clearly in this letter will have to be taken into account.

Put yourself in Ralph's shoes.  He faces an uncertain future.  He is under no compulsion to return to Australia, he's voluntarily making himself available to police.  

Ralph knows full well that his destiny is in the hands of authorities.  It must have been very, very tempting to drop the whole AWU matter and just get on with his very full life.  But he hasn't done that.  And I admire him for his guts and sense of right and wrong.

On 10 February this year Ralph Blewitt wrote to WA Police

A couple of days ago Ralph received this formal notice from Western Australia Police

Mr Ralph BLEWITT,

Thank you for your email. Sorry for taking some time to reply to you but I needed to make the appropriate arrangements.

If you are still travelling to Perth in March, could you please attend the XXXXX office located on XXXXXXX Perth at XXXX on Thursday 16 March 2017 and we will deal with the matter at that time. 

"We will deal with the matter at that time" sounds a bit heroic to me given the sheer volume of criminal matters arising from the scandal and the extent of Ralph's knowledge as to who did what, where and when.

Ralph has responded to the police with a very interesting note that I'll publish separately - for now it's worth a quick recap of the glacial investigation of the scandal.

From November 2012 Ralph Blewitt has been enthusiastically available to police dealing with the AWU Scandal.

He made his first round of statements to Victoria Police almost 5 years ago.

After his initial round of statements, Ralph revisited Victoria Police and attended the TURC voluntarily, returning to Australia from his home in Malaysia at no expense to authorities.

In April 2015 Ralph was advised by Victoria Police that charges against him were "imminent", as Hedley Thomas reported in The Australian at the time.

Charges over AWU slush fund to return focus to Julia Gillard

• The Australian
• 12:00AM April 28, 2015

• HEDLEY THOMAS

  

  National Chief Correspondent

  Brisbane

   

  

A senior Victoria Police detective has told self-confessed AWU bagman and fraudster Ralph ­Blewitt that he will very soon be criminally charged over his role in the union slush fund set up with Ms Gillard’s legal advice.

Mr Blewitt said yesterday he intended to plead not guilty and would instruct his lawyers to subpoena witnesses, including Ms Gillard, to give evidence under oath.

Detective Sergeant Ross Mitchell of the Fraud Squad, who has been leading the two-year investigation, which provided key evidence to the ongoing royal commission into union graft, has told Mr Blewitt that at least two charges will be levelled in Victoria.

Mr Blewitt, who has admitted his involvement in fraud with his friend and former union boss Bruce Wilson, and their slush fund, the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Ass­ociation, yesterday said he understood others would be charged.

“Victoria Police are now recommending that I be charged over the frauds that were committed in Victoria, and the matter is going to the public prosecutor’s office,’’ Mr Blewitt, who is visiting Perth, told The Australian.

“I welcome the charges ­because I have co-operated with the police for over two years and I want to see others who were involved also made accountable.”

Mr Blewitt, who lives in ­Malaysia, said he had been told to brace for additional charges in Western Australia where the slush fund was incorporated in the early 1990s. It received hundreds of thousands of dollars for non-existent work from companies including the building giant Thiess. He said Victoria Police had recently sent a dossier of evidence to WA detectives with the aim of launching a prosecution process in that state, too.

Sergeant Mitchell, who ­attended the royal commission’s public hearings into the AWU slush fund last year, declined to comment yesterday.

Mr Blewitt said he had no ­regrets about incriminating himself and alleging fraud against others such as Mr Wilson, the former client and boyfriend of Ms Gillard.

The royal commission’s head, former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, delivered findings in late December that Ms Gillard was duped by her corrupt boyfriend and client in helping him set up a fraudulent union slush fund that had one purpose, “swindling”, but she did not commit any crimes as it raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

He found that her “casual and haphazard work” as a solicitor at Slater & Gordon in the early 1990s permitted the swindling to flourish and she became the unknowing beneficiary of thousands of dollars, the proceeds of crime, funnelled her way by Mr Wilson.

Mr Heydon, who recommended that Mr Wilson and Mr Blewitt face prosecution for multiple fraud-related offences, criticised Ms Gillard’s determination to deny under oath that thousands of dollars — “wads of notes” — were handed to her by Mr Wilson during the renovation of her Melbourne home, as witnessed by a builder, Athol James.

Another witness, Wayne Hem, was also found to be truthful about $5000 being deposited in her bank account.

Ms Gillard has repeatedly ­denied any wrongdoing, and she has categorically rejected “any suggestion that anyone other than I paid Mr Athol James for the work he performed at (my property).”

ENDS

Quite a few significant events happened around that time in Victoria.

On 29 November 2014 the Andrews Labor/CFMEU government was elected.

ON 29 December 2014 Ken Lay resigned as Chief Commissioner of Police.

On 10 April 2015 the Victoria Police Association re-affiliated with the Trades Hall Council after breaking ties in June 2012 a few months into Ken Lay's tenure.

On 22 April 2015 John Cain Jr was appointed Victoria's Solicitor for Public Prosecutions.

ON 25 May 2015 the Andrews Government hand-picked Graham Ashton as Chief Commissioner of Police.   Andrews later installed his former chief advisor into the office of the Chief Commissioner, appointing him as Ashton's chief of staff.  This from The Australian at the time:

Victoria Police chief Graham Ashton has effectively destroyed his relationship with the state ­Coalition by hiring the former right-hand man to Labor Premier Daniel Andrews as his permanent chief of staff.

Brett Curran was Mr Andrews’ most senior adviser in opposition and ran the office of a senior minister in the previous Labor government. But Mr Ashton has ignored a backlash from Liberals and ­Nationals and hired Mr Curran as his chief of staff, despite a key part of his job being to act as an intermediary between political figures and the Chief Commissioner.

It is the first time in recent memory that a former political ­operative of Mr Curran’s standing has been handed the role, making it problematic for the ­Coalition to deal with Mr Ashton’s office.

Coalition police spokesman Edward O’Donohue yesterday blasted the appointment, declaring that it “beggars belief’’ that the force could not find a politically ­independent person.

As the original complainant to police in the matter I made many approaches to Ashton's office last year asking about the progress of the investigation.  As a result of Ashton's sustained intransigence I lodged a complaint with Victoria Police internal affairs - it was only after that complaint that I received any formal reply from Ashton's office.  And the reply?  I'd have to lodge an FOI application and try my luck to get any info at all.

I think it's significant that Wade Noonan the former Police Minister in the Andrews Government took stress leave in February 2016 after just one year in the job.  The Noonans are a very well known policing family and while Wade Noonan took a different path as a trade unionist, he'd have been copping it from both sides over politically charged decisions, particularly with the CFMEU so militant and active.  Here's part of John Silvester's report about Noonan published  5 December 2015 in The Age.

Talk to senior police and they say Noonan understands. He will support them when it matters but is no yes man. He demands all the details on any proposal so that if he agrees he can mount a persuasive argument inside Cabinet.

While his background is as a union organiser his family has been close to policing for nearly 30 years.

After the 1986 murder of Constable Angela Taylor in the Russell Street Bombing, Wade's father Bill established a memorial run and walk in her name and later became a key figure in the Blue Ribbon Foundation.

Noonan's background in unions is handy as virtually all cops are members of the Police Association. He says the government; police command and the association all want the same outcome – a safe and productive workforce equipped to serve the community.

A few weeks after that interview Noonan took stress leave never to return to the police portfolio. 

In August 2016 Bill Thompson caught up with Chief Commissioner Ashton and recorded this brief interview in which Ashton denied any knowledge of the status of the AWU investigation.

It's been clear for about a year that Victoria Police have ceased working on the file.  The Office of Public Prosecutions in Victoria was apparently instrumental in handballing the files to Western Australian authorities.

And now - after all these years - Ralph Blewitt tells us WA Police are ready to "deal with the matter".

I'll publish Ralph's response to WA Police shortly - it will definitely catch your attention.

But we should all be alarmed a the pace of this matter.

I have no doubt that if Gillard wasn't involved the investigation and prosecutions would have been concluded years ago.

The thought that one law applies to some while a different set of rules applies to Gillard et al is horrifying and unacceptable.  And yet that is the irresistible conclusion most reasonable people will come to.

Even worse is the prospect that Blewitt will be loaded up in precisely the way Wilson and Gillard planned - as the fall guy, the man whose name is on the forms set up to take the blame from the outset.

For those of us who care - now is the time to re-energise the interest and passion!

I promised you I'd see the matter through to the prosecutions and you can count on us keeping that promise.

More soon!