Updated
Deputy Liberal leader Julie Bishop has not denied she spoke with a self-confessed union bagman by phone, but says the call dropped out before the person could identify himself.
Yesterday Ms Bishop told journalists she had spoken to Ralph Blewitt once as part of her search for documents relating to Julia Gillard's work history, and that the meeting took place in Melbourne on Friday.
But Fairfax newspapers have today reported there was also a phone conversation between the pair earlier last week, prompting Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese to launch a fresh attack.
"This says a lot about her judgment and a lot about her honesty," he told ABC News 24.
"If that is true - and Julie Bishop's got to clarify exactly what the situation is - she's yet to say exactly who was at the meeting in full."
In a statement released this morning, Ms Bishop moved to clarify her contact with Mr Blewitt, saying she has never phoned him and he has not phoned her.
"Earlier last week Michael Smith called me while I was driving in Perth and said he was at dinner with someone who wanted to speak to me," Ms Bishop said in the statement.
"That person did not identify themselves and said he was pleased that the AWU fraud was being raised in Parliament.
"I said that would continue to be the case and my mobile phone dropped out at that point.
"Michael Smith did not call back and I do not know to whom I spoke."
Mr Smith was sacked from a Sydney radio station last year, but has continued to pursue claims relating to Ms Gillard's work as a lawyer with Slater & Gordon in the early 1990s.
Tensions within Federal Parliament for the last sitting week of the year are high, amid the Coalition's dogged pursuit of the matter.
While working for Slater & Gordon, Ms Gillard provided legal advice for the establishment of the Australian Workers' Union (AWU) Workplace Reform Association, saying she believed it would be used for legitimate purposes.
Instead, it was used as a slush fund by her then boyfriend, former AWU official Bruce Wilson, although he last night denied receiving any financial benefit from it.
Ms Gillard has consistently denied suggestions of wrongdoing, arguing that she was acting on the instructions of her clients and did not knowingly benefit from any alleged fraud.
But Ms Bishop, who has been running the Coalition's attack, insists Ms Gillard still has questions to answer, and has vowed to continue to pursue the matter in Parliament.
Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, unions, judges-and-legal-profession, australia
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