Energy Minister Angus Taylor's use of an apparent forgery to attack Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has been front page news.

It's consumed considerable time in the Federal Parliament.

And Labor has referred the matter and Taylor to police.

Mark Dreyfus QC says it's "A highly concerning matter".

And it is.

Forgery is a serious offence.

So what was the Taylor/Moore forgery used for?

To embarrass Clover Moore over travel expenses, or to suck Angus Taylor in and make him look like a goose.

Serious, but a long way from the top end of the scale.

Yet the matter has our media and parliament in a frenzy.

I have sworn evidence about another far more serious forgery involving a politician.

It's had zero mainstream media coverage.

It hasn't been mentioned in the Parliament.

And no politician has referred it to police.

It involves Julia Gillard and former WA Corporate Affairs chief Mr RP Neal.

On 30 December 2015 the final report of the Trade Union Royal Commission was tabled in the parliament.

That final report contains a lengthy chapter about the incorporation of the Gillard/Wilson AWU slush fund, the AWU Workplace Reform Association. That chapter includes - and relies on - a letter dated 15 May 1992 and purportedly written by the then WA Commissioner for Corporate Affairs Ray Neal.

That letter is addressed to the person who was responsible for the incorporation of the slush fund, then solicitor for the AWU Julia Gillard.

Ms Gillard adopted the apparent forgery in her sworn evidence to the Royal Commission. 

The Royal Commission relied on Ms Gillard’s testimony about having received the forgery in 1992 - and having acted on its contents.

But Ms Gillard can't have received the letter from the Office of State Corporate Affairs in May 1992.  It was never written by Mr Neal.  Its only purpose was to obscure the true path to incorporation taken by the Gillard Wilson slush fund - and that was an appeal to The Minister responsible for Corporate Affairs who directed Mr Neal to incorporate the Workplace Reform Association.

Ms Gillard also gave evidence about another forgery - a note on plain paper to her client Ralph Blewitt.  She swore that she gave this legal advice to Ralph.

If Blewitt had acted on that memo (not a letter on letterhead - the Slater and Gordon partner names on their letterhead had changed by 1995 when Gillard and Wilson were sprung) he'd have given the game away.  The Office of State Corporate Affairs would have said, "What letter from Ray Neal" and I know Ray Neal would've alerted the police. 

I have a sworn affidavit from Mr RP Neal, the man who’s signature is on the letter used in evidence by Ms Gillard and relied upon by the Trade Union Royal Commission.

Mr Neal states in his sworn affidavit - made subject to the penalties of perjury - quote:

In May 1992 I was responsible for incorporating associations under the Associations Incorporation Act, 1987.

Mr Neal’s sworn affidavit then identifies the letter addressed to Ms Gillard which was used by Ms Gillard in her evidence and which is part of the Trade Union Royal Commission’s final report.

His sworn affidavit continues, quote:

I did not write that letter.

I did not sign that letter.

I did not instruct or authorise any member of my then staff to write the letter.

The letter contains an unlawful offer to incorporate an association.  My office could not have lawfully made that offer.

My office alway acted within the law and I only acted within my lawful powers.

I always signed my name “R.P. Neal” on official correspondence.

END QUOTE

The use of a forgery to deceive a Royal Commission is a very serious matter.

I'd rate it much more highly than bagging Clover Moore over her travel expenses.

But thus far our media's preparedness to accept whatever Ms Gillard says as gospel has protected her from the consequences of her actions.

Not for much longer.

Every touch leaves its trace.

"The Mandarin" (a trade publication for public servants) features this costly gathering of Australia's anti-corruption commissars.

There's one obvious corruption scandal none of them appear game to touch.

John McKechnie's sitting in the front row.

He's the man who, as WA DPP in the 1990s stopped Dave McAlpine pursuing The AWU Scandal.   Dave had interstate search warrants in his hand - including on Slater and Gordon and the real estate agent handling the Kerr St sale, but on orders from Mr McKechnie he was stopped from travelling to the Eastern states to execute them.  I know that Dave and others have recently contacted the WA Corruption and Crime Commission about the AWU Scandal, only to meet with complete indifference.

You can hear from Dave himself and read the search warrants here:

https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2018/02/fmr-det-sgt-dave-mcalpine-breaks-his-silence-on-gillard-and-her-co-offenders-in-the-awu-scandal.html

I'll publish the corruption mobs joint communique in full below, but here are a few particularly galling grabs!

• Public officers hold office and exercise public power or functions for public benefit. Corruption may involve the abuse of public office or the improper use of public power by either elected or appointed officials.
• Corruption flourishes when it is not called out, witnesses look the other way, or it is swept under the carpet.
• When a colleague, supervisor, governance officer, or senior manager speaks up there is nowhere for corruption to hide. When the community remains vigilant and reports wrongdoing, corruption is unmasked. Together, we can fight public sector corruption.

Joint communiqué from Australia's anti-corruption Commissioners

Public officers hold office and exercise public power or functions for public benefit. Corruption may involve the abuse of public office or the improper use of public power by either elected or appointed officials. Maintaining integrity in Government and in public administration demands adherence to standards of conduct. Such standards, for example, are directed to the avoidance or the management of conflicts of interest, in the protection of probity in tendering or procurement or in protecting confidential Government or other information. Governments act, or at all events are constitutionally required to act to ensure integrity in the processes of government. Similarly, public officials are required to act without regard to private interest, but with integrity and in the public interest.

This communiqué addresses practical measures by which corruption may be detected, exposed and prevented.

An organisational culture of integrity that genuinely supports and encourages people to speak up is vitally important in exposing and ultimately preventing public sector corruption.

Corruption flourishes when it is not called out, witnesses look the other way, or it is swept under the carpet. More is at play than individual behaviour. When viewed holistically, corruption is properly seen as not just about individual failure but as a reflection on an institution’s overall integrity. Addressing the organisational setting in which corruption occurs is the key to succeeding in the fight against it.

Across Australia, much has been done to build corruption resistance and expose instances of corruption in the public sector. While these achievements should be celebrated, much still remains to be done. Any advances in addressing the scourge of corruption may be temporary if we do not remain vigilant.

The scale and impact of corruption should not be underestimated. Corruption hurts everyone. It is not victimless. It fuels distrust in government and undermines the standing of the public sector. At the extreme end, across a handful of past cases, hundreds of millions of dollars have been stolen from public sector agencies for the personal enrichment of corrupt officers and their networks. This is money that should have been spent on vital community services and infrastructure. But it is equally important to remain vigilant to the myriad of smaller-scale cases that may not attract public attention, but taken together, can have a significant impact. If you suspect wrongdoing, no matter how small in scale, speak up.

As the heads of Australia's anti-corruption agencies, we have observed a range of behaviours that allow corruption to take hold and flourish in public sector institutions. Together, these behaviours form a powerful incubator that enables corruption:

• an individual officer conceals or fails to disclose wrongdoing
• colleagues who suspect or witness the officer’s conduct are reluctant or unwilling to report it for various reasons, including fear of being punished
• a supervisor fails to apply rigour and sufficient standards within their team to effectively guard against corruption risks. They are apathetic or unwilling to fully explore wrongdoing, or consider the role of other team members
• internal governance or complaints teams who have ineffective systems for identifying and reporting corrupt conduct. They may focus on individual behaviours, hoping that simply removing ‘rotten apples’ will be enough
• senior managers focus on getting the job done at all costs, failing to recognise the need for systemic vigilance against poor standards. Senior management does not see how a culture of cutting corners enables corruption to take hold.

These behaviours are not unique to any industry, institution or state. There are similar patterns in the complaints we receive and the matters we investigate and identifying wrongdoing provides a valuable opportunity to understand its underlying causes and emerging risks.

To disrupt the conditions enabling corruption, two strategies should be relentlessly pursued:

• Public sector leaders need to build organisational cultures that embrace the opportunity to learn and improve. The detection of wrongdoing must be viewed as an opportunity to continuously build corruption resistance. Public sector leaders must rigorously examine the risks and contributing factors leading to wrongdoing in their institutions. By asking the right questions, and seeking robust answers, public sector leaders can create enduring cultural change. We want a world in which corruption risks are identified, managed, and treated with the same importance as the modern day approach to health and safety management across Australia.
• Public sector leaders must do more to raise awareness of the protections for those who speak up. Corruption detection and prevention relies on people reporting wrongdoing. We call on public sector leaders to prioritise promoting how and where to access the protections available to those who report corruption and to take appropriate action against the perpetrators of reprisal against disclosers. The mere knowledge of protections is not enough. To come forward, disclosers must feel safe and genuinely believe they will be supported. Public sector leaders should cultivate environments where their staff genuinely feel safe to speak up.

When a colleague, supervisor, governance officer, or senior manager speaks up there is nowhere for corruption to hide. When the community remains vigilant and reports wrongdoing, corruption is unmasked. Together, we can fight public sector corruption.

This photo's doing the rounds on Twitter - my favourite caption thus far "America's fertility crisis in one picture".

Reckon you can do better?

This from Fox New in New York - much more here.

NEW YORK CITY – Fox News has obtained the summary of the autopsy report of disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead this past August in his Manhattan prison cell while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges. The report contained photos of fractures suffered by Epstein that forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden told Fox News are “rare” in suicidal hangings.

Baden revealed to “Fox & Friends” in an exclusive interview earlier Wednesday that Epstein's body bore signs of homicide despite the New York City Medical Examiner's Office ruling that the money man's death was caused by suicide by hanging.

Baden, whom Epstein’s brother hired and who observed the autopsy, told Fox News the findings were more consistent with homicidal strangulation than a suicide.

He described three fractures that were noted in the autopsy: one each on the left and right sides of his larynx, specifically the thyroid cartilage or Adam’s apple, and one on the left hyoid bone above the Adam’s apple.

A diagram from Jeffrey Epstein's autopsy report summary showing the approximate location of a fracture on his hyoid bone. (New York City Medical Examiner's Office)

According to the autopsy summary, the hyoid bone exhibited a fracture on the left, and the thyroid showed two fractures, one on the right and one on the left -- consistent with what Baden described.

A microscopic view of two fractures (circled) on the let and right sides of Jeffrey Epstein's thyroid. (New York City Medical Examiner's Office)

“Those three fractures are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation,” Baden, also a Fox News contributor, said.

While there’s not enough information to be conclusive yet, the three fractures were “rare,” said Baden, who's probed cases involving O.J. Simpson, President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, record producer Phil Spector, New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez and many others.

“I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case,” the 85-year-old former New York City medical examiner said.

"...at the compound, fighters from two locations in the vicinity of the compound began firing on U.S. aircraft participating in the assault."
- Gen Frank McKenzie CDR USCENTCOM pic.twitter.com/SkrtHNDs7w

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 30, 2019

Here’s the moment the compound was flattened afterwards, so as to be sure it couldn’t become some kind of shrine. https://t.co/mRXHfSxmOF

— Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan) October 30, 2019

The first declassified images and video of the US SOF raid on Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s compound in Idlib this week have been released. pic.twitter.com/WnVAKTmTOI

— Jake Hanrahan (@Jake_Hanrahan) October 30, 2019

Won't be hanging around like a miserable ghost fighting yesterday's battles again hey!

80 years old.

No notes.

He's still got it.