Craig Thomson

The knock shops will be putting out the welcome mat to have a bit of Craig Thomson’s donated money. You would think with all that disappearing union millions he would have held some back.

A fund has been established to allow supporters to chip in to help pay Craig Thomson’s mounting legal fees.

Earlier this month Fairfax Media reported the independent MP had only $60 in his bank account, with $23,000 owing on credit cards, and a legal bill of hundreds of thousands of dollars looming.

MPs are ineligible to sit in parliament if declared bankrupt.

In a letter headed ‘‘Craig Thomson Legal Defence Fund’’ the embattled former Labor MP has now urged friends to contribute to an account established by two of his supporters.

Read more »

Craig Thomson is facing more problems with Fair Work Australia wanting a civil case to proceed despite the existing criminal case proceeding.

These union and ALP ratbags are really being held to account. A real pity is our own union ratbags aren’t being held to account here.

Fair Work Australia wants part of the civil case against federal MP Craig Thomson to proceed despite a pending criminal case.

But lawyers for Mr Thomson applied to stay a civil penalty case against him until criminal charges have been heard, the Federal Court was told on Friday.

Fair Work Australia barrister Stephen Donaghue, SC, told the court a comparison of the cases showed matters, including election expenditure, were not included in the criminal charges.

But matters such as the alleged use of a credit card to hire escorts were included in the criminal charges, the court heard.

Read more »

Thieving ALP ratbag Craig Thomson is having a big sook about being treated like every other charged criminal. Not for these union and ALP ratbags it seems…they want to be treated special:

More and more information is coming out about Thomson, the man who props up Julia Gillard’s government.  Read more »

NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell hands out a serious sledge against dodgy Labor ratbag Craig Thomson after his arrest and the subsequent whinging from Thomson’s lawyer:

Craig Thomson’s lawyer has threatened to sue Barry O’Farrell if the NSW Premier does not withdraw comments he made about allegations against the federal MP.

On Friday, Mr O’Farrell dismissed claims by Mr Thomson’s lawyer, Chris McArdle, that his client was stripped naked and searched by court officers after his arrest on the NSW Central Coast in an attempt to intimidate him.

Mr Thomson faces 150 charges of fraud related to the alleged misuse of entitlements when he was national secretary of the Health Services Union.

Mr O’Farrell told reporters that standard procedure was followed by the corrective services officers during Mr Thomson’s arrest.

“I’d only be concerned if there was special treatment meted out to any member of parliament,” he said.  Read more »

Dodgy former union boss Craig Thomson was arrested, charged with 150 counts of fraud and released on bail. Earlier in the day Julia Gillard announced the election date 8 months out….connected? Possibly but I think that Gillard won’t be able to last until September, she is too closely wedded to Thomson.

Federal MP Craig Thomson declined an offer to surrender himself before he was was arrested at his electorate office and charged with 150 fraud offences, police say.

Members of the NSW fraud squad on Thursday executed an arrest warrant on behalf of the Victorian Fraud and Extortion Squad.

Victorian detectives flew to Sydney this morning where they accompanied NSW police to Mr Thomson’s Central Coast electorate office. He was arrested about 1pm.  Read more »

It can’t be far off that we start to see the some of the same problems with the union movement involvement in Labour as those being experienced by the ALP:

The Australian Labor Party has survived two World Wars, three splits and the Great Depression. Over its 121 years the influence of unions on the ALP has ebbed and flowed. In recent times, the influence of union officials and faction leaders has been asserted as never before. This has occurred because of a collapse in rank-and-file membership, a dearth of strong parliamentary leadership after the departure of Bob Carr from the state scene, the removal of Kevin Rudd as prime minister and the promotion of union officials and former staffers into Parliament. The public gaze has turned to the influence of people such as Eddie Obeid, Craig Thomson and Michael Williamson, with a resultant collapse in the ALP’s support and image problems for the bulk of the union movement.

Consider this: in 1971, 24 per cent of federal MPs listed their previous employer as a union, or as an ALP political staffer. After the 2005 election the number jumped to 67 per cent. The result is a much narrower collective world view than is healthy and a disillusioned rank-and-file membership as they realise their real influence on the party is, at best, marginal.

My concern is these factors are undermining the appeal, talent pool and credibility of Labor. It creates overdependence on unions for political, intellectual and financial support.

It is an unholy alliance…and one that Queensland is seeking to destroy:  Read more »

There are going to be a lot of nervous politicians in Australia and the Health Services Union corruption scandal widens. Fair Work Australia has now issued subpoenas to brothels:

BROTHELS and escort agencies are among nine companies served with subpoenas seeking evidence against federal independent MP Craig Thomson.

Fair Work Australia issued the subpoenas to businesses this week, with all but two of them companies involved in the sex industry. The subpoenas demand receipts, notes, phone logs or CCTV footage dating back as far as 2003.

The industrial agency has accused Mr Thomson (below) of using his Health Services Union credit cards while he was its national secretary to pay for brothels, travel for him and his partner, and hotels.

A subpoena was sent to Qantas Holidays seeking details of a hotel booking. Another went to Yellow Pages publisher Sensis, asking for requests for phone numbers for brothels and escorts such as Sydney Escorts and Young Blondes.

Julia Gillard’s position just got a bit more tenuous. Dodgy former union boss Craig Thomson is throwing his toys.

This is unimportant legislation though and so he can afford to be petulant. He won;t bring down the government but it does show instability.

THE former Labor MP, Craig Thomson, has labelled his old party hypocritical and will vote against its legislation to excise the Australian mainland from the nation’s migration zone.

The controversial bill was introduced into Parliament on Wednesday and is set to pass the lower house before the end of this month with the support of the Coalition.

However, Mr Thomson, for the second time in two days, will vote against Labor on legislation, saying the party’s about-face from its position on the bill six years ago was too much to stomach.

“One of the main reasons I decided to enter Parliament was because I was appalled at the way Australia was treating asylum seekers,” he said. ”But now we are seeing a Labor government going back to the Howard years by excising mainland Australia from the offshore processing centres in an appeal to the worst elements of human nature.

“The Labor Party was right in 2006 to oppose this and the reasons then apply just as much now.”

On Tuesday night, Mr Thomson voted to amend a bill to free Australian research from unintended consequences of a defence treaty with the US.

Mr Thomson represents the seat of Dobell on the central coast. He was suspended from the ALP in April pending civil and criminal investigations into his use of a union credit card before entering Parliament.

Should he be cleared following a criminal investigation, it is understood he has not ruled out running as an independent.

Things are getting very dire for Craig Thomson and Julia Gillard as Thomson’s house is raided by the Police:

Police have raided the Bateau Bay home of embattled Federal MP Craig Thomson.

Just after 7am the NSW police executed a search warrant at the central coast home of Mr Thomson and his wife, Zoe.

Mr Thomson later emerged to tell reporters he had fully co-operated with police and was “very confident that at the end of this investigation I will be vindicated”.

Mr Thomson’s lawyer criticised the police for tipping off the media and described the raid as “something out of a Kafka novel”.

NSW police obtained the warrant on behalf of the Victorian police, who are investigating allegations that Mr Thomson improperly used Health Services Union funds to spend on prostitutes, air travel, entertainment and cash withdrawals in excess of $100,000.

Shortly after 10am about eight officers walked out of Mr Thomson’s house with a five large sealed boxes of material.

Watching a dodgy union official and Labor MP profess innocence is all a bit deja vu for Kiwi voters.

Craig Thomson has been charged:

FAIR Work Australia has laid charges against independent MP Craig Thomson, alleging he broke industrial laws and union rules in splurging hundreds of thousands dollars of union funds on prostitutes, spousal travel, and high living.

FWA spokeswoman Diana Lloyd confirmed to The Australian that civil charges were filed in the Federal Court this morning, and are due to be served on Mr Thomson.

Ms Lloyd said FWA would be seeking “pecuniary penalties, as well as compensation” from Mr Thomson.

The move follows FWA’s three year investigation into allegations Mr Thomson, when he was Health Services Union national secretary between 2002 and 2007, misused his union credit cards for cash advances without receipts, the services of escort agencies, and air tickets for his then wife Krista…

Victorian police are examining whether the alleged misspending of union funds by Mr Thomson constitutes fraud.

NSW police Strike Force Carnarvon is examining allegations raised by Ms Jackson and other union officials claiming Mr Thomson, and Mr Williamson, received secret commissions in the form of credit cards on the account of a graphic designer who had a $680,000 a year contract with the union, John Gilleland.