Braver than a Frenchman

WHEN Voltaire was dying he is famously said to have rejected a priest's invitation to renounce Satan on the quite reasonable grounds that, given his circumstances, he did not need additional enemies. At the corner of Collins and Spencer streets, where Fairfax Media's Melbourne outpost's pallor remains no less an indicator of terminal health than a French writer's soiled sheets, Mark Baker is making his employer's peace with truth. Through a succession of its recent editors The Age has found it expedient to look the other way when stories that jarred its sympathies arose. Now, in almost the hour of its death, Baker is redeeming Fairfax with journalism of the sort that, had it been pursued earlier and in many other areas, might have done much to preserve the southern franchise's reputation and, perhaps, even its bottom line.

What makes this renunciation of past form so brave is that, as The Age reports and advances what the blogosphere has been covering for years, there are many quiet mutterings in Canberra that Age-style journalism needs to be supported by the public purse. Pointing out that our PM is a liar, a crook's mole moll and the happy beneficiary of a vital file's inexplicable disappearance is unlikely to impress the corruptocrats who now hold the purse strings.

As Baker has now peered into Gillard's wormy can, let us hope Fairfax survives long enough to see these further leads pursued:

1/ The S&G files on the Kerr Street property  and other AWU-related matters were transferred to Maurice Blackburn, where Nicola Roxon took charge of them, when the union yanked its business in disgust from Gillard's old firm.

Does Roxon have the missing files? Does Blackburn's have them? What light can be shed by Bill Shorten, also at Blackburn's and Roxon's then-lover, on the scandal at the AWU, where he went on to become the hero of the Beaconsfield Mine drama.

2/ Are the property-transfer records for 36 St Philip Street, Abbotsford, up to snuff? This was Gillard's address and is now owned by her former housemate. Was any attempt made to avoid stamp duty when the property was transferred to its current owner?

3/ Was Kerr Street purchased in Ralph Blewitt's name in order to hide property from Wilson's soon-to-be ex wife, who might have claimed it in a division of property. She should be relatively easy to find and her views might make for interesting reading.

5/ Was Town Mode, recipient of $17,500 in "slush fund" cheques, owned by a union associate of Bruce Wilson, whose mates allegedly kept doing unauthorised renovations to Gillard's digs.

And there is a final scandal, one which may represent the greatest and most damning example of cynical Gillardian ambition:

4/ How did Gillard come to barrack for the Western Bulldogs?

Consider, a Welsh girl raised in Adelaide moves as a 21-year-old to Melbourne, where her passion is endorsing Socialist Forum motions denouncing marriage as no better than prostitution and scheming with former CPA members, who represented almost half of Socialist Forum's members, to bring on the revolution.

Then she starts at Slater & Gordon, where Peter Gordon is a Bulldog supporter, as are numerous other of the firm's execs, including her supervisor there, Brendan Murphy, recently elevated by his former protege. Suddenly, Gillard becomes a Bulldog supporter.

Oh, and one other peculiarity of timing: Peter Gordon left his law firm not long after Gillard was shown the door. So did Murphy (to Blackburn's). Shortly after that, Gordon's marriage came publicly to pieces. Make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, Gillard remains the Bulldogs' Number 1 ticketholder. The Dogs had a terrible year. A fresh start to the 2013 season would be to revoke the Prime Minister's membership and send her to St Kilda, where it is well known that criminals are valued and appreciated.