Will Craig Thomson finally give us some relief?

[dutchie]

Will the saga of Craig Thomsons' credit card abuse bring down the government?

Irrespective of whether Craig Thomson is lying or not I just cannot understand why the members of the Health Services Union are not complaining about the misuse of their money!

The leadership of this union should resign in shame.

(is it no wonder that many workers do not want to pay dues to a Union).

 

[drsmith]

Andrew Bolt sums it up as follows,

Extraordinarily, his union credit card was used to withdraw $100,000 over five years from ATMs. It was also used to pay for prostitutes, and the vouchers for at least two of those payments were endorsed with his driver’s licence number and a signature that looks like his.

His mobile phone was also used to ring those escort agencies, in between calls to Labor and union powerbrokers.

One of the five payments to an escort agency was for $2475 - around five or six times more than all the other payments - suggesting more than one man was entertained. But who?

Thomson’s sketchy reply to these facts is that someone else, he won’t say who, used his card, and presumably forged his signature, presented his driver’s licence and used his phone.

and, most importantly,

If Thomson is telling the truth, a forgery was committed and union funds stolen. If he’s lying, a fraud was committed.

This is a point the government and union are not too keen to address. Perhaps they know the truth.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

 

[Calliope]

This is a point the government and union are not too keen to address. Perhaps they know the truth.

Craig Emerson , who is Craig Thompson's flat-mate, was quite annoyed when questioned on this scandal by Madonna King on ABC radio this morning. He kept rabbiting on about "presumption of innocence." At no time did he say that he was sure Thompson was innocent. He obviously knows the truth.

 

[Happy]

Heard that should he go Labor will resign from Speaker of the House position forcing Liberals to pick up the tab and nubers will add up again.

Sneaky but don't expect anything else from politicians, just too concerned about the trough, nothing else matters.

 

[awg]

Heard that should he go Labor will resign from Speaker of the House position forcing Liberals to pick up the tab and nubers will add up again.

Sneaky but don't expect anything else from politicians, just too concerned about the trough, nothing else matters.

Would that work?

If Libs didnt, then a non-functional parliament may lead to an election?

I can only presume that Labor is just trying to hang on as long as possible, could take 12 months or more for him to be charged and convicted, if thats what happens.

The "truth" would be ugly as sin anyways I reckon.

You would presume those size prostitute bills would be catering for not just one guy?
Surely not?

You can imagine Labor hard men have told him that if he walks or talks, then they would recall the $100k loan he apparently needed to avoid bankruptcy.

It makes me feel a bit ill to think that there appears to be enough damning evidence, with more to come, in all probability, the guy is lying thru his teeth, those in the know are aware.

Good job. Well Done. Outstanding work from our leaders.

Well I suppose it could be classified as a Health Service

 

[Happy]

You would presume those size prostitute bills would be catering for not just one guy?
Surely not?

Interesting that reporters did not find prostitutes yet to say one way or the other.

Well I suppose it could be classified as a Health Service

Come to think about it, all he needs to do now is get doctors certificate that suffers depression and it will be not crime but medical condition and will be different matter as in case of stealing Liberal Member

 

[noco]

With reluctance, the HSU have done the right thing in handing over all details to the police. If Labor and Thomson are telling the truth, they have nothing to fear.

If they won't make statements, then they have plenty hide.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...son-to-go-public/story-e6freonf-1226121445804

 

[noco]

It would appear from this link, this whole affair will be dragged out for a long time by The Green/Labor socialist left government just to hold on to government.



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...finished-hes-not/story-e6frgd0x-1226120770104

 

[builder2818]

It would appear from this link, this whole affair will be dragged out for a long time by The Green/Labor socialist left government just to hold on to government.



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...finished-hes-not/story-e6frgd0x-1226120770104

That's right.....by the time something happens in relation to this matter, we'll be heading back to the polls anyway and have this carbon tax already in place and that ranga will have ruined this country even further before the Libs get to take over.

 

[drsmith]

Would that work?

If Libs didnt, then a non-functional parliament may lead to an election?

Labor would need to convince a Coalition or non-Labor alligned independent to be speaker.

I can't imagine a Coalition member doing it (tantamount to treason against the party). The other two options are Bob Katter and Tony Crook (WA Nationals).

 

[Julia]

Whilst it's encouraging to know the Union is doing what it should, isn't the government justified in asserting that it has remained pretty well silent about the charges on Mary Jo Fisher?

Obviously, the opposition are going to grab at the chance via Mr Thomson, to bring down the government, but isn't it fair to say they are being pretty hypocritical in their professed outrage here?

And before someone brands me as a Labor supporter, no of course I'm not, but I'm just trying to apply a little objectivity to this soap opera.

I also have to feel for Mr Thomson's wife. It must be quite hideous for her.

 

[DB008]

Muppets


http://www.2gb.com/index2.php?option=com_newsmanager&task=view&id=9868#.TlTinvTduO0.email

 

[moXJO]

but isn't it fair to say they are being pretty hypocritical in their professed outrage here?
.

Yes it is, but at this stage I don't care. I would rather an election then to suffer any more damage to business from this current crop of idiots. While I doubt it will come to an election just yet, it's still nice to dream.
Nice to see Libs giving it their all to throw this lot out.

 

[noco]

Whilst it's encouraging to know the Union is doing what it should, isn't the government justified in asserting that it has remained pretty well silent about the charges on Mary Jo Fisher?

Obviously, the opposition are going to grab at the chance via Mr Thomson, to bring down the government, but isn't it fair to say they are being pretty hypocritical in their professed outrage here?

And before someone brands me as a Labor supporter, no of course I'm not, but I'm just trying to apply a little objectivity to this soap opera.

I also have to feel for Mr Thomson's wife. It must be quite hideous for her.

Julia, one can hardly compare the two cases as similar. Far from it. Mary Jo Fisher is up for shop lifting less than $100 and I believe an assualt charge, whereas Thompson may have misused over $100,000 of HSU funds and used the HSU credit card for prostitution which is a moral disorder to say the least.

It is also possible Mary Jo Fisher may have been suffering from some mental disorder in which case she should not really hold public office.

I just can't see how you can connect one with the other.

 

[Julia]

Of course they're different.

But the principle cannot be concerned with degrees of wrongdoing.
Further, the claim that Ms Fisher may have had a mental health problem at the time could quite possibly also be claimed by Mr Thomson for all we know.
Maybe he (if charged) may claim a mental illness of addiction to sex which was beyond his control.
He wouldn't be the first to do so.

If anything, at this stage, when no charges have actually been laid against Mr Thomson, and charges have been laid against Ms Fisher, and if the opposition are morally entitled to be acting with such outrage as they are against Mr Thomson, can't you see the point that the government is quite correctly claiming that they have not made any such song and dance about Ms Fisher, and therefore it's 100% obvious that the opposition's outrage is based on pure political opportunism in the face of the numbers in the house of Reps.

I don't at all blame them for doing what they're doing, and I hope it bears fruit.
But I simply think the government has a rational point when they say they have refrained from comment about Ms Fisher.

I also have some doubts about Mr Abbott's new stand about not granting a pair.
This could come back to bite him and signals a new political low imo.

 

[sails]

Whilst it's encouraging to know the Union is doing what it should, isn't the government justified in asserting that it has remained pretty well silent about the charges on Mary Jo Fisher?

Obviously, the opposition are going to grab at the chance via Mr Thomson, to bring down the government, but isn't it fair to say they are being pretty hypocritical in their professed outrage here?

And before someone brands me as a Labor supporter, no of course I'm not, but I'm just trying to apply a little objectivity to this soap opera.

I also have to feel for Mr Thomson's wife. It must be quite hideous for her.

I do feel for Mr Thomson's wife - it must be terrible for her. I understand she is seven months pregnant with their second child.

I think the difference between Mary Jo Fisher and Thomson is that there doesn't appear to be any cover-up with Mary Jo, she has apparently already been charged and plans to contest the charges in court. It appears the allegations are for a one off offence rather than the allegations that may have spanned a few years with Mr Thomson.

Here is an article from a few weeks ago on Mary Jo Fisher:
http://www.news.com.au/national/lib...plifting-assault/story-e6frfkvr-1226100027412

 

[DB008]

I think the difference between Mary Jo Fisher and Thomson is that there doesn't appear to be any cover-up with Mary Jo, she has apparently already been charged and plans to contest the charges in court. It appears the allegations are for a one off offence rather than the allegations that may have spanned a few years with Mr Thomson.

I agree Sails. Old mate Thomson has been doing this for a number of years, whereas Fisher was a 1 off act. Doesn't make it right, but there is a difference in my eyes.

 

[banco]

Apparently their fall back plan is that he resigns from the party but stays on as an independent supporting labor. Even if he's charged they should be able to string it out until the next election.

As for his poor pregnant wife I don't feel sorry for her. The HSU is a notoriously dysfunctional union (sociopath would not be too strong a word for many of the people that have held high level positions in that union). If anyone cares to look there has been quite a few Federal Court cases relating to the shenanigans in that union.

Being that the wife is a labor insider I find it hard to believe she didn't know she was marrying a union thug.

 

[todster]

Why not call the thread RELIEF we might be able to replace one set of clowns with our own

 

[sails]

Interesting article from the SMH by Paul Sheehan who has been speaking with a former chief of detectives:

"Crimes have been committed that can bring down the Gillard government, and they are dumb crimes. As a former NSW chief of detectives told me: ''We are ultimately dealing with the crimes of a fool, whomever that fool may be, who has left a documented trail like a bleeding elephant in a snowfield.''"

Read more: Crimes of a fool set to finish off Gillard