An organisation called Emily’s List was set up in 1996 by Julia Gillard and an Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) search says it is still in her name. At the time she set it up various police forces had or were investigating the “AWU slush fund” she had set up for her then boyfriend Bruce Wilson.
We all know that the AWU slush fund was not a slush fund as Julia Gillard had claimed but used to funnel fraudulently gained money though by Mr Wilson.
Emily’s List website is very clear in that its major function is to raise money to help female politicians to get elected and I do not have a problem with that.
But I find it disturbing that the Prime Minister is still showing up on ASIC as the one who controls it, at least in name. I spoke to one of Julia Gillard’s media spokespeople this afternoon and they did not have an issue with it. I suppose there is nothing wrong with it legally or ethically but to me it leaves open the perception that she might use her position as Prime Minister to raise money for an organisation she can deregister at any time. I would have thought once she became a politician it would have been transferred into someone else’s name if only for perception sake.
If you click on the below pictures it will enlarge them and make it easier to read.
(Click here to see on the ASIC website)
(Click here to see on the ASIC website) You need to click on Julia Gillard’s name on the ASIC site.
Julia Gillard says she helped draft the constitution and it was Joan Kirner, former Victorian Premier, who was “pivotal” in setting up Emily’s List. She says Joan Kirner asked her to become involved and use her “legal skills” when she was working at Slater and Gordon and help write the constitution and rules for Emily’s List. From the ASIC records it shows that Emily’s List was first registered in June 1996. This seems odd as Julia Gillard was no longer working at Slater and Gordon by then, but a quick online check says the decision to set up Emily’s List was made in 1995 so that might explain it. (Click here to read more on Wikipedia)
Click on the arrow below to listen to Julia Gillard talk about Emily’s List. At the 2.15 minute mark she starts talking about setting up Emily’s List when she was at Slater & Gordon.
Emily’s list was set up in 1996 and Julia Gillard was elected in 1998 to federal parliament, so her incentive to help set it up was obvious. I wonder how much Emily’s list money was used to help her get elected.
There is a lot of criticism of Emily’s List online but it is only a small part of the Labor Party and I believe that most of that criticism is misplaced and/or wrong and should be more accurately directed at the Labor Party as a whole.
A regular reader brought the above to my attention. They also pointed out that the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association that Julia Gillard set up in the early 1990’s and was used by her then boyfriend Bruce Wilson to rip off the AWU was only deregistered in 2006. This seems strange as police investigations were conducted in 1996 and the AWU knew it was a dodgy association then as well. It would have been up to Bruce Wilson and/or Ralph Blewitt to deregister it as it was in their names. But one would assume there would have been nothing to stop the AWU from deregistering it given that it was a sham association. Maybe that is something for Bill Ludwig and the AWU to explain.
(Click here to see on the ASIC website) Click on the top one where it says deregistered on the ASIC site.
As well as the questions that I have already raised, the bottom line to the above is that I have heard no criticism of the constitution and rules of Emily’s List so how can Julia Gillard say she got it so badly wrong with the Australian Workers Union Workplace Reform Association.
Update 19/10/12: Julia Gillard’s Register of Members’ Interests document. It says she is a member of Emily’s List on page 9. It makes no mention that Emily’s List is registered in her name. (Click here to read her members interest document) Thanks to one of the regular readers for bring this to my attention.
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