Divorce, Kerr Street-Style

MICHAEL SMITH has a new swag of documents relating to Julia Gillard, Bruce Wilson, the purchase of 1/85 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, and the beard Ralph Blewitt. They make for interesting reading and further the impression that the nation's leader is either very dim or very bent. With Mark Baker's latest article on the matter published today in The Age -- yes, The Age, so you know this is getting serious -- we can all assume the Prime Minister will need to summon a few sympathetic, ill-informed hacks and clarify her former youth and naivety all over again. That performance will be very interesting, no doubt, but not entirely so satisfying as might be if one of the quality journalists neglects to put the following question.

"Prime Minister, at the time you were handed Ralph Blewitt's pre-signed power of attorney, your lover Wilson was a married man with children and in the process of leaving his family in order to take up residence in Melbourne, where for several years he shared his life with you. Would it be fair to say that one obvious advantage of listing Blewitt as Kerr Street's buyer of record was that it shielded Wilson's wealth from his soon-to-be ex-wife and her divorce lawyers?"

Given Gillard's high-decibel assault this week on the patriarchy and her stridency in demanding that women be given a fair shake, a follow-up question would be in order:

"Does your sympathy for women extend to humble housewives cheated of their marital assets by the legal deceptions of philandering husbands' and their new girlfriends?"

Many of the hackettes are giving Gillard rave reviews for her Question Time harangue. Come the election (and may it come soon!), it will be interesting to see if that enthusiasm is shared by the wider female electorate, especially those who have been robbed blind by ex-husbands.
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