It was the longest and most impressive-sounding list of credentials rolled off to date by a witness fronting the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance and Corruption.

Julia Eileen Gillard, resident of South Australia, took the witness stand in the hearing room and was asked by counsel assisting to tell the commission her current occupation.

"Ah, I'm ... there's a list," the new witness said.

"I am of course a former prime minister and do a number of things associated with that.

"I am an author. I am the chair of the Global Partnership for Education.

"I'm a non-resident distinguished senior fellow with the Brookings Institution in Washington.

"I'm an honorary professor at the University of Adelaide."

And so began the latest interrogation of Australia's first female prime minister, this time under oath, about the complex, two-decades old web of events commonly known as the "slush fund" affair.

Those expecting any dramatic change were dissatisfied by early proceedings, however, with Ms Gillard repeating her often-stated position that the dodgy dealings of an ex-boyfriend 20 years ago were unknown to her and she had not benefited from them.