AUSTRALIA’S PRIME minister, Julia Gillard, gave a 49-minute press conference yesterday, during which she lambasted the Rupert Murdoch-owned Australian newspaper and those she called “misogynist nut jobs on the internet”.
Ms Gillard challenged “the journalistic elite of this country” to ask their toughest questions over reports alleging impropriety when she was a solicitor in the mid-1990s.
The Australian had earlier issued a brief apology over allegations in yesterday’s edition.
“An article in today’s the Australian reported that prime minister Julia Gillard had set up a trust fund for her then boyfriend 17 years ago. This is wrong. The Australian apologises for the error,” the apology says.
Ms Gillard has been under increasing pressure in the past week over allegations concerning her role in helping to set up a so-called union “slush fund” for her then boyfriend, Bruce Wilson.
The prime minister categorically denied she behaved inappropriately. She said while she did provide legal advice to set up the fund, she believed it was created for the legitimate purpose of supporting the re-election of union officials.
“The Australian newspaper republished a false and highly defamatory claim about my conduct in relation to these matters 17 years ago,” she said.
“A claim was first published by News Limited in relation to me and funds during the election campaign in 2007. On that occasion, the claim was retracted and apologised for. The claim was made by Glenn Milne, a then-columnist with the Australian newspaper. Such a dim view was taken of his conduct in relation to that matter, his employment was terminated.
“Despite these events, a similar claim has been recirculated by the Australian newspaper today.”
Ms Gillard said she was holding the press conference to address the “recycled . . . false and defamatory material attacking my character”.
She also attacked online rumours about her past, saying it was being done by “misogynist nut jobs on the internet” and likening them to the so-called “Birther” movement, which claims US president Barack Obama was not born in the US.
“It wouldn’t matter what I said, and it wouldn’t matter what documents were produced, and it wouldn’t matter what anybody else said – they will pursue this claim for motivations of their own, which are malicious and not in any way associated with the facts,” said Ms Gillard.
The prime minister accused former businessman called Larry Pickering of circulating “sexist and vicious” rumours about her on the internet, but said taking legal action for defamation would be pointless.
“It’s dignifying them with a status that they don’t deserve. Certainly Mr Pickering is bankrupt or something, so you would end up on a neverending trail [and] for what purpose?” she said.
Ms Gillard’s Labor party government has recently been rising from very low polling figures, but her personal popularity has remained low.
