Talkback radio host Michael Smith returns to AWU slush fund scandal TALKBACK radio host Michael Smith is set to interview Bob Kernohan on air about the Australian Workers Union slush fund saga, two years after an attempt to run a prerecorded interview with the former senior union official led to him being pulled off air. Smith will tomorrow interview the former president of the AWU Victoria branch about the alleged misallocation of union funds in the 1990s by former AWU official Bruce Wilson. Julia Gillard, who was in a relationship with Mr Wilson at the time, helped provide legal advice to establish the AWU Workplace Reform Association, which Victoria Police allege was later used to siphon money from construction giant Thiess and to buy a house in inner Melbourne. Mr Wilson has not been charged with any offence and denies wrongdoing. The former prime minister has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said she had no knowledge of the fund's operations. In an exit interview from her then employer Slater & Gordon, Ms Gillard described it as a "slush fund" for the re-election of union officials. The interview with Mr Kernohan will air live on Sydney radio station 2GB, where Smith has been filling in for Ben Fordham in the afternoon drive slot. Smith, a former army officer and policeman, was suspended from Fairfax Media's 2UE in September 2011 over his attempts to air a prerecorded interview with Mr Kernohan. He later reached an out-of-court settlement with Fairfax. Smith said he believed there were still aspects of the saga that had not been ventilated publicly. "When Bob Kernohan spoke to me last time, everything he said was truthful," Smith said. He knows a hell of a lot about this complex cover-up. Mr Kernohan said he had provided a statement of more than 200 paragraphs to Victoria Police. The interview is also likely to touch on what, if anything, Bill Shorten knew of the alleged slush fund. Mr Kernohan describes the Opposition Leader as his "former protege." Smith said he had the support of 2GB management to conduct the on-air interview.