I note some comments relate to how well Thomson spoke and in doing so fail to note that he didn’t answer the questions raised in the FWA findings. Good oratory abilities aren’t restricted to the honest folk alone – obviously!
He went on the attack but did so
sans ammo. No time and date of supposed conspiracies, no collaborating witnesses, no detail. No believable answer for the mobile phone calls to Escort agencies and no explanation of huge sums of HSU money sidelined to the Dobel campaign.
And he has the temerity to say Abbott has damaged democracy….FFS!
Windsor, fighting for his pension, said the parliament should not act as judge and jury against Mr Thomson.
Yes it should. I can’t see how he isn’t in contempt of the House.
“I think due process should take place,” he said.
It has. The body set up by the ALP to vet this type of behaviour has investigated the matter and have found against him.
Mr Wilkie said while the Thomson saga “stinks”, he should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
“So unless the findings against him have been tested in a properly constituted court, where he has the opportunity to defend himself, we must accord him the presumption of innocence no matter how much that grates,” he said.
He hasn’t been charged with breaking any laws yet so the properly constituted court and the presumption of innocence aren’t relevant. He had the opportunity to defend himself during the FWA investigation and his defence was found to be unbelievable. He had the chance to explain his case to the House and he didn’t
The Coalition have no choice but to pursue the matter to the point of satisfactory resolution as while it festers, the country isn’t being governed.
Albanese seeks moral equivalence between Thomson’s seemingly never ending litany of rorting union members funds and sordid dalliances with escorts and MP Craig Kelly’s accountant being tardy in notifying ASIC of Company changes. Kelly says the Accountant was sick and in hospital and I’m sure if the matter was pursued evidence would be forthcoming that that was the case.
No evidence yet on any of Thomson’s claims and I doubt if there will be.
Thomson tried the “It’s not just me” defence with claims Jackson drives a volvo and has been on trips overseas that didn’t tie in with Union business.
And…?
Senator Brandis said Mr Thomson could not be believed, and should be made accountable for misleading the House.
“If Mr Thomson misled the parliament, and it seems an almost irresistible conclusion that he does given the profound implausibility of his claims and the lack of evidence for them, then he committed the breach of privilege yesterday,” he told ABC radio.
“Not by conduct which pre-dated his time as a member of parliament but yesterday, when he lied to the House of Representatives.”
But Mr Fitzgibbon said Mr Thomson’s statement had injected enough doubt into the allegations facing him that he should be allowed to await his day in court.
“I thought Craig Thomson gave a very persuasive case,” Mr Fitzgibbon told ABC Radio.
“I thought he spoke with conviction. He gave plausible explanations as to the allegations and I think he proved these issues are complex.
I guess Joel has to say that but I ask you, how does he say it with a straight face?
Meanwhile Gillard, who has already found him guilty by kicking him out of the Labor Party says she had been presented with a “summary” of Mr Thomson’s hour-long speech to parliament yesterday but declined to comment on the address.
“Mr Thomson put his statement to the parliament and that was a decision for him,” she said.
“It’s not for the parliament to set itself up as a court or jury.”
I simply don’t believe Gillard when she says she was presented with a summary of his speech. Whatever Thomson was about to say in the House was of extreme importance to the ALP and I would say that his words were tested and pulled apart by lawyers and politicians for days to ensure it didn’t say anything that could be proven wrong which is why he failed to give any specific facts that could be checked.
There is no way the government would just let Thomson write his own speech and deliver it without a tick from the ALP heavies.
And the whole sorry saga just goes on and on. .
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