As pressure on Julia Gillard mounts with fresh allegations over the extent of her knowledge of a union slush fund when working for law firm Slater & Gordon, News Ltd spoke last week to “Bill the Greek” – the builder and AWU rep whose name, and reputation, surfaced in comments she made in a 1995 interview with Peter Gordon. And Bill Telikostoglou, who now calls Athens home, isn’t too happy about what the PM said more than seventeen years ago.
Telikostoglou was a union organiser and enforcer for Gillard’s former partner, AWU branch secretary Bruce Wilson. During the 1995 interview – which has become a central piece of evidence in the story for those suggesting Gillard is being economical with the truth – she referred to Telikostoglou as “a big Greek bullshit artist.” Mr Telikostoglou, who told The Australian that he is semi-retired in Greece and sells life insurance, said: “I lived with Bruce and Julia was my best friend then. “I’m not very happy with her. She did not say nice things about me. I would cook for her – and she cooked for me. “In what way was I ‘a big Greek bullshit artist’ to her? She should not speak of her friends like that. “I changed my bloody political party to support her. “I’m a capitalist and I changed, I joined the Labor Party. She never replies to my emails. I don’t think she is a nice person now. I was amazed when I saw what she said.”
The Australian described Telikostoglou as a figure of notoriety for his AWU escapades in Western Australia and Victoria, and that he had hurriedly quit the union in 1995 – leaving a trail of bounced cheques. But it was his work on the renovation of Julia Gillard’s house in Abbotsford, Melbourne that led to her to describe Telikostoglou so colourfully. Slater & Gordon’s management asked in an interview with her in September 1995: “What are Bill’s obvious difficulties with the truth?” Julia Gillard replied: “He’s just a big Greek bullshit artist.” Telikostoglou denied involvement in scamming building companies and union fraud, or that he had used union money in the renovation of Gillard’s Abbotsford property.
Telikostoglou said it was likely that Gillard was unaware of Bruce Wilson’s involvement in AWU fraud. ? The Prime Minister has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The Australian reported that other union officials claim that Mr Telikostoglou was a prolific liar who was knowingly and deeply involved in the union fraud. Former employee Wayne Hem told The Australian that soon after Telikostoglou left Australia, criminals came to the union offices looking for him and asked Mr Hem to pass on a message: “Death is long.”
Asked about the renovations at Ms Gillard’s house, Telikostoglou told The Australian he would have been unaware if Mr Wilson had arranged anything untoward. This week, after a new wave of claims of impropriety, the Prime Minister is standing by her previous statements, denying any wrongdoing or knowledge of the workings of a union slush fund prior to the allegations being raised about the issue in 1995. A spokesperson for the PM rounded on Fairfax Media this week, accusing The Age in particular of having a “history of publishing unsupportable claims on this matter”.