Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come out swinging against allegations that she was party to a union slush fund scandal in an attempt to put the claims of what she labelled a “very sexist smear campaign” to rest.
Gillard has been mute on the 17-year-old issue since it was uncovered in 2007, but spoke out in her defence yesterday in a marathon press conference telling media she would answer questions on the issue and that would be “the end of it”.
Julia Gillard haunted by Wilson scandal
Addressing the scandal that has dogged her political career, in which she has been accused of setting up a dodgy union fund for her then-boyfriend and alleged conman, former Australia’s Workers Union state secretary Bruce Wilson, the Prime Minister denied wrongdoing but claimed she had been deceived.
Gillard admitted she did not follow protocol by failing to open a file for the account at law firm Slater & Gordon — where she was working as a partner and representing Mr Wilson — which would have given other partners an insight into the funds’ use.
But while she admitted regrets, the former industrial lawyer denied wrongdoing, saying she had no knowledge of the operation or the misuse of its funds.
“I provided advice, as the association has established. I then knew absolutely nothing about its workings until allegations about its workings became the subject of the discussion within the AWU and then more broadly,” she said.
She said she dumped her boyfriend over the issue.
Acknowledging the misjudgement, Gillard assured media she had matured since then and learned from this mistake.
“I am standing in front of you now as a 50-year-old woman. Have I learned a few things across my lifetime? Yes, I have.”
She urged the public not to take notice of the allegations, claiming they had been promoted by “misogynists and nut jobs on the internet”.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott has so far chosen not to comment on the Prime Minister’s statement, but wants to bring it to Parliament, putting pressure on Gillard to make a formal statement.
Cabinet minister Stephen Conroy has defended the Prime Minister, saying she as victim of “a dirty, filthy, smear by the Liberals.”
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Video: Gillard in heated exchange about her past
