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Gillard to front inquiry over union ‘slush fund’

The royal commission into union corruption has called on former prime minister Julia Gillard to give evidence over a union ‘slush fund’ she helped establish.

report by The Australian alleges both Ms Gillard and her former boss at law firm Slater & Gordon, a serving Federal Court judge, will be questioned under oath in September and give evidence about allegations of union fraud in the 1990s.

• Union man ‘given $5000 cash for Gillard account’
• Gillard’s ex-boyfriend to front inquiry

The hearings will take place over three days as the commission investigates a union slush fund established by allegedly corrupt Australian Workers Union boss Bruce Wilson with legal advice from his then girlfriend, Julia Gillard.

The fund, called the AWU Workplace Reform Association, claimed in registration documents that its role was work safety and training, but the royal commission has heard claims that Mr Wilson used some of the funds to renovate Ms Gillard’s house.

Both Julia Gillard and Federal Court judge Bernard Murphy worked at Slater & Gordon in the industrial unit, but left around the time the fund was discovered.

During an internal probe into the fund, Ms Gillard said in a recorded interview that she knew the association was really a “slush fund” for union elections, but has denied any wrongdoing.

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