Craig Thomson

08/09/11

The Coalition welcomes Craig Thomson’s long overdue commitment to provide a comprehensive statement on the nature and extend of his use of HSU funds.

Despite repeated requests from the Coalition and many media commentators, Mr. Thomson refused to take the opportunity to address Parliament in the last sitting fortnight.

In Mr. Thomson’s detailed statement he must:

1. Refute Fairfax’s claims against him and detail precisely where they are wrong.

2. Give a detailed explanation as to why he withdrew his defamation proceedings against Fairfax.

3. Refute all of the allegations made against him in relation to the personal expenditure of union funds.

4. Explain how a union credit card, with his name on it was used to pay for escort services and other expenditure, as detailed by Fairfax.

5. Explain how his driver’s licence number and what appears to be his signature were on a credit card slip that was used to pay for escorts.

6. Explain whether he was permitted to use his union-issued credit card for personal expenditure.

7. Clarify if he still claims that his signature was forged and, if so, if he now intends to report the matter to police.

We invite close inspection of the press release from NSW Police and, in particular, caution Wayne Swan against any conclusion that there has been no impropriety. We remind Mr Swan that NSW Police decided not to pursue the matter on the basis that they could not find any breach of HSU credit card rules and that there were jurisdictional issues. NSW Police did not make any findings in relation to the Fairfax allegations against Mr Thomson. Victoria Police are yet to examine the material.

Mr Thomson’s future statement must be fully scrutinised for its completeness against the above criteria and the allegations made by Fairfax.