Pressure on a PM under siege
Miranda Devine
The Daily Telegraph
November 28, 2012 12:00AM
A CONSTELLATION of competing emotions flitted across the Prime Minister's face during her extraordinary press conference on Monday.
Was she frightened? Was she angry? Was she nervous? Was she defiant? Was she evasive? Was she irritated? She seemed to be all of the above, all at once, and as she licked her lips and rearranged her face, she was a fascinating study of a woman barely holding it together under tremendous pressure.
In fact, if you turned down the sound on your TV or just let the words wash over you, the non-verbal information told a more interesting story, one that is off and running in the electorate: that our prime minister appears to be a person under siege.
Whatever is the upshot of the 17-year-old fraud allegations involving Gillard and Bruce Wilson, the married AWU official who was her then-boyfriend, and the legal advice she provided to him to incorporate an association, which she later described as a slush fund, the damage is done to Gillard's reputation. No amount of spin doctoring will put it back together.
Whatever is the upshot of the various allegations of wrongdoing which Gillard repeatedly has denied, what this story does, fairly or unfairly, is in the eyes of some cement an adverse impression of Gillard's character.
It is an impression that accords with a view of her character as someone who ousted her boss and took his job as prime minister, who vowed there would be "no carbon tax under the government I lead" before the last election and then signed a deal for one with the Greens and independents afterwards.
It is an impression that accords with a view of a leader who defended with "complete confidence" Dobell MP Craig Thomson last year over allegations of misuse of union money on prostitutes and his election campaign: "I think he is doing a fine job."
It is an impression that accords with the spin emanating from her office, which includes a lie told to incite Aboriginal anger against Opposition Leader Tony Abbott resulting in a riot on Australia Day from which both Gillard and Abbott had to be rescued by police.
And it accords with a view of a character that would accuse others of engaging in the politics of smear while engaging in a most vicious smearing of a private citizen to defend herself.
Gillard opened Monday's press conference with a 500 word statement decrying "smear and sleaze" and then she tipped a bucket of the stuff on Ralph Blewitt, a former AWU official who had once been her friend. Blewitt, described as a one time union bagman, had been a "loyal lieutenant" to Wilson in the AWU, at a time when Wilson was being touted by his bosses as a future prime minister.
"So it's going to come down to Mr Blewitt's word against me," said Gillard. "Let me remind you who Mr Blewitt is. Mr Blewitt is a man who has publicly said he was involved in fraud. Mr Blewitt is a man who has sought immunity from prosecution. Mr Blewitt admits to using the services of prostitutes in Asia. Mr Blewitt has published lewd and degrading comments and accompanying photographs of women on his Facebook page.
"Mr Blewitt, according to people who know him, has been described as a complete imbecile, an idiot, a stooge, a sexist pig, a liar, and his sister has said he's a crook and rotten to the core. His word against mine, make your mind up. "
And minutes later: "You are talking about a contest here between me and Mr Blewitt, and you can work out who you believe: the person who is standing here, prime minister of Australia who has done nothing wrong, or the man who says he's guilty of fraud and is looking for an immunity. Work it out. "
It was a ferocious character assassination and a turnaround from the position she took on the alleged use of prostitutes when defending Thomson.
There are a handful of people in the country who know all the ins and outs of the AWU story, including The Australian's Hedley Thomas and policeman turned broadcaster Michael Smith, who lost his job at radio station 2UE after trying to air the allegations last year.
Smith, a forensic sleuth with a point to prove, has teamed up with Blewitt and a mysterious character named Harry Nowicki, a wealthy former personal injury lawyer and union adviser who is writing a history of the AWU.
Nowicki financed Blewitt's trip from Malaysia to take his allegations to Victorian police about the role Gillard played in providing advice in the setting up in 1995 of the AWU Workplace Relations Association, the so-called slush fund from which Wilson allegedly siphoned hundreds of thousands of dollars. Every day Smith updates his blog with fresh information and he says on Monday there were one million hits on the website.
Yesterday he posted two new interviews, one with Blewitt's Muslim wife Ruby, in Malaysia, dismayed at the PM's characterisation of her husband: "I am burning in my heart". The other was an interview with a former miner, making sensational allegations involving Wilson and 25kg of explosives in the WA mining town of Kambalda.
The Prime Minister is probably right when she says the public is "sick of stories they don't understand about events 17 to 20 years ago". But that is because they formed their impression of her character long ago.
It's not the media's fault she is mired in this. Nor is it particularly the fault of the opposition, which has come late to the party and has contributed little fresh information. It's certainly not the fault of "sexists" who can't stand having a woman in charge, as Greens Christine Milne claimed yesterday.
No. In my view it is entirely the fault of Julia Gillard and colleagues who installed her and now are suffering buyers' remorse. Character is destiny.
