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.
