In his long-awaited statement to federal parliament, Craig Thomson has attacked Fair Work Australia’s findings against him as grossly incomplete and influenced by a vendetta against him by his enemies within the union.
In particular, he singled out Health Services Union national secretary Kathy Jackson and its national president Michael Williamson for leading a campaign against him and providing the basis for the allegations contained in the FWA report, and named union deputy general secretary Marco Bolano as having threatened to link him to escorts several years ago.
Thomson opened by declaring that he had wanted to make a statement for some time, but had held off thinking FWA’s process would be faster. He then spent some time covering his personal history at the union and his claimed achievements as an MP, before devoting himself to addressing the findings made by FWA.
According to Thomson, he became the subject of a vendetta within the union after imposing accountability on the union and insisting on more stringent control of expenditure. He accused FWA of being biased by the relationship between Jackson and her partner, FWA vice-president Michael Lawler, and of only speaking to Jackson and Williamson to investigate the findings and not investigating exculpatory matters raised by Thomson himself.
Thomson argued that the union had no policies in relation to his expenditure and that FWA had erred in its assessment of his accommodation and travel costs. He also claimed, under parliamentary privilege, that HSU deputy general secretary Marco Bolano had once threatened to “set him up with escorts”.
He also spoke of the materials required to do so, including a copy of his driver’s licence — which Thomson says was easily available — and cloned phones.
Thomson rejected claims he had used union funds for his campaign for the seat of Dobell, relying on the Australian Electoral Commission’s own report finding no issues about Thomson’s behaviour.
Thomson concluded first with an attack on the media, crying as he recounted Channel 7 invading his pregnant wife’s privacy and attacking Fairfax’s coverage of the affair, claiming he now regrets settling his defamation lawsuit against the media outlet. He then rounded on the Opposition, accusing it of populism, usurping the rule of law and, ultimately, of “damaging democracy”.
Comment Craig Thomson has raised a series of questions about Fair Work Australia’s conduct of its investigation and provided a little more detail about some allegations about his HSU enemies but ultimately added little to our knowledge of what went on during his time as National Secretary. His basic contention that he has, in effect, been framed by his former union enemies can only be fully tested in court (or via a royal commission or judicial inquiry, which the Opposition will surely at some point call for). In a way, that is Thomson’s point: this sordid matter can only ever be fully resolved through legal processes – if it ever can be.
That is an exceedingly odd, brief and incomplete coverage of quite an event, Bernard. You would have been better off waiting a day to consider the speech and its circumstances in full, then add something of value.
This certainly is a curious case. I am not saying he is innocent but you have to ask why FWA claimed he “misused” money on his election wnd the AEC cleared him within weeks, why the HSU haven’t asked for the money back, why no one has ever thought to review the escort agency tapes, why Kathy Jackson’s husband didn’t excuse himself from the FWA investigation, why Thomsons claims he was in different cities when some of the escorts were used haven’t been tested.
I do also think it is very worrying that the presumption of innocence has been cast aside so quickly in this case, it is a very slippery slope.
I’m surprised Thompson didn’t go further and highlight the connection between Lawlor and Abbott. He was certainly right in pointing out the damage done to the govt. by the protracted FWA investigation despite that being at the behest of the govt. according to the opposition.
” Abbott is not only unfit to be PM but also unfit to be an MP.” Quite agree.
If Kathy Jackson’s partner was in any way involved in the report that was recently brought berfore the Parliament then the whole report is of quentionable integrity.
If even some of the charges can be proven to be false, as Craig Thompson claims, and it should not be up to him to prove them to be false, then the whole case against him becomes very flimsy indeed.
I’m inclined, at this point, to believe most of what he says… in terms of a set up… How ‘innocent’ he is of other things? I think a court case might be the answer here. Certainly, why didn’t they nail him to the wall? It’s all been innuendo and documents with little to no provenance. I like too, how the AEC (one of the very best agencies of its kind in the world) has been ignored… there’s a lot of fishiness here: I suspect there’ll be a lot of political corpses at the end of this… and perhaps a new Health Union….