If you are reading this, thank a Teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a Soldier
The staff member who has made accusations against House of Representatives Speaker Peter Slipper has filed a formal statement of claim in the Federal Court.
A directions hearing for the case, launched by former adviser James Ashby, is due to be held on Friday.
ABC article and Notice of Filing (all the gory details) here
(thanks to reader Robert Spivey)
Every voter in Australia needs to listen to this 2GB broadcast. Former Fairfax radio host Michael Smith joins Ben Fordhamto talk about the ongoing HSU saga.
Gillard’s protestations of presumption of innocence are just delaying tactics. Thomson is not facing a court of law, he has been found to have misused members monies by the ALP established FWA inquiry. He has abused his privileges as a Union leader and he has stolen the members money for nefarious and illegal uses, thus I am of the opinion that he lacks the moral tone and ethics to sit in parliament and represent his electorate.
The interview with Laurie Oakes was painful to watch as it leaves more questions than answers. If he believes he has been set up how is that he has only mentioned this years after allegations surfaced. If I believe I had been set up then I would be bashing down police doors to get them to pursue the matter. If he has a name of whoever set him up, why is it that we haven’t heard it yet and will he drop the name in Parliament next week?
If it was a set up then one would expect the villain to also approve the expenditure when the credit card bills come in. Not so, according to the above linked 2GB broadcast. Thomson admits signing off on the expenditure.
And through all of this he refuses to cooperate with the police. I would say he is about to lose the right to refuse and the police will be reading him his rights in an interview room. Can’t come quick enough
Windsor’s delaying tactics include calling for a possible referendum on rule changes that would allow MPs to be banned from parliament for civil offences while Gillard’s welcomes any debate on a clearer code of conduct for MPs.
Codes of conduct are very clear to the electorate and they are saying ‘get rid of him’ The stench is damaging the ALP.
Reading comments at other sites I note turkeys never, ever, ever, ever, ever vote for Christmas to arrive, never. And that simple fact belongs to both Windsor and Oakeshott, who are making noises about parliament expulsion on civil cases that are found condemning, are just that, noise.
When will we be done with this man….when will the government acknowledge the damage he is doing to the ALP and the country and take remedial steps?
How long can Gillard ignore the issue?
I can only imagine the timing of the release of the FWA report on Thomson’s litany of abuse of trust and power and simple theft of members funds was deliberate. I can just see Gillard thinking…. release it on Budget eve and everyone will be talking about the budget and forget about Thompson.
Ain’t going to happen sweetheart!
Tomorrow, everyone will be thinking – typical budget of a government in trouble and get back to the troubles.
Gillard and the ALP have a hell of a problem with Slipper and Thomson. If Thomson resigns, as he should, then she will be vulnerable with the subsequent by election unlikely to favour the ALP. If he stays then she will be subject to questions all day, every day up to the election and the Independents will be under constant pressure to back a no-confidence motion. How long can they maintain support of the ALP while Thomson is in the House?
If the ALP change leaders and reinstall Rudd then they will have their opinions of Rudd thrown at them all day every day up to the election so I can’t see that happening.
Makes you wonder how Gillard can front up every morning and spend the day ignoring the herd of elephants she has in the room.
Oh, and the budget…
Defence down $5.4b; boat people up $1b; debt ceiling to hit $300b; tax the rich and give to the poor; attack wealth creators…
ALP in a nutshell…nothing to see here – move along.
OPPOSITION Leader Tony Abbott’s parliamentary numbers have won a boost, with Nationals MP Tony Crook formally joining the coalition.
The West Australian MP, who has been on the crossbenches, will sit with his party’s colleagues in parliament from Tuesday, The Nationals say.
The move by Mr Crook, who has voted with Labor more than 30 times in the lower house since the last election, puts the coalition’s numbers at 72 members to Labor’s 71.
While Prime Minister Julia Gillard still controls the house through her deals with the independents and Greens, Tony Abbott now has bragging rights for which major party has more members, and more discipline over Mr Crook’s vote.
Throws a different light on next week budget session – just that little bit closer to a LNP government.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith flippantly mentioned on radio today that no-one is lining up to invade us.
With such deep thought and careful consideration the government look to rationalizing cutting the defence budget by $4 billion.
Defer the F35 contract, cancel the long range artillery and invent $240m worth of procrastination over what we want in the way of submarines to replace the Collins class boats. That takes all that boring defence stuff out of the budget so Wayne can talk about his blessed surplus.
Peter Costello muses on the problem of deficits
I suggest a new tactic for the government when it comes to selling this year’s budget: to level with the public and tell the facts rather than weave the spin.
This would involve admitting it was costly and unnecessary to ramp up spending by 36 per cent in the last four budgets. It would mean admitting that if a budget surplus takes pressure off interest rates now (as the government is claiming), then more careful budget policy would have helped over the last four years when we returned budget deficits of $27 billion, $55 billion, $48 billion and $37 billion – in total $167 billion. And, further, it would mean admitting the 2012-13 budget would not be a surplus at all if the government included its spending on the national broadband network (up to $43 billion), which it has taken off the budget.
So Wayne argues that a few billion surplus this year will balance the last four year’s deficits and let’s ignore the $43b NBN. Are we supposed to believe that the ALP are good economic managers.
I don’t think so.
To help defray any debate Defence Media have been flat out issuing emails telling us what a great job the ALP are doing. I’ve received four seven just today.
And another defence matter; Watch for the Royal Australian Regiment to be gutted once Afghanistan is finished.
Pyne once asked Ashby for his contact details. Oh my God!
Worse; Mal Brough once met Ashby!
This amazing series of events is put forward by the ALP as a means of trying to distract everyone’s attention away from the Slipper/Thomson allegations of sexual harassment, misuse of public monies, misuse of unionists fees for whores and outright theft.
The Pyne/Brough defence is just another reason this current mob needs a break from the onerous duties of government whereby they can stand easy and spend some time working out exactly where they went wrong and how they can fix the shattered reputation of the ALP.
That’s the kindest way I can put it.
THE Australian Federal Police have begun a formal criminal investigation into allegations the federal parliament’s Speaker, Peter Slipper, misused taxi dockets.
Maybe they knew of this incident;
THE Finance Department accepted a $285 Cabcharge voucher for Peter Slipper that was processed using a card he had reported lost, had the wrong origin and destination and was initially thought to involve a trip undertaken in Queensland while the MP was overseas.
Meanwhile, in downtown Sydney, Police are currently raiding HSU Headquarters and removing car loads of evidence.
Minutes ago, (at 9:18) police swooped on the Pitt Street offices of HSU East, the allegedly crooked branch run by Mr Williamson where he and Mr Thomson, when he was an HSU official, are claimed to have taken secret commissions from graphic designer John Gilleland.
Maybe, just maybe, the public will finally know what happens in the seamy world of union gravy trains.
Should do wonders for union membership.
UPDATE:
A report in The Age raises some questions;
Police raiding the Sydney offices of the Health Services Union (HSU) say they have major concerns that efforts have been made to interfere with their investigation.
Detective Superintendent Col Dyson, Commander of the NSW Fraud and Cybercrime Squad, said that any interference may result in criminal charges.
Police intercepted bags of documents that HSU personnel were attempting to take out of the HSU East branch building in Pitt Street, Sydney, this morning.
Who tipped them off?
UPDATE II
THE union boss Michael Williamson has allegedly been caught attempting to take a bag of documents out of the HSU while a police raid occurs on the premises.
The head of the fraud squad, Detective Superintendent Colin Dyson, confirmed police were considering charging someone with attempting to hinder the investigation by removing information.
The Daily Telegraph reported that the person is Mr Williamson. The documents he attempted to remove were seized by police. Mr Williamson is also a former National President of the Australian Labor Party.
I wonder how Gillard’s feeling right now?
UPDATE III
Julia Gillard:
I think that there is a line which has been crossed here.
The line is now conveniently marked with police tape.
(From Catallaxy)
LABOR MP Craig Thomson is set to quit the party and sit on the crossbenches of Parliament as an Independent, Sky News has reported.
Mr Thomson is set to announce his move at a press conference outside his electorate office at noon, AEST.
Not good enough. Gillard will still be dependent on an alleged thief and a whore monger as I can’t imagine him not voting ALP.
I’d say he has been told to go to stop the ALP bleeding but I can’t imagine voters are going to suddenly think – Oh well, he’s and independent now so his behavior doesn’t reflect on the ALP.
Cartoon: Mike Knight
Parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper says he has proof the criminal allegations against him are false.
He has issued a statement along with photocopies of 13 Cabcharge dockets.
“These documents have all been completed by me and are clearly in my handwriting as I said they were,” Mr Slipper said.
“The so-called criminal allegation is a complete fabrication, just as the other claims are not accurate.”
How does he prove that the documents he is referring to are the same ones that Ashby was referring to? The text of the article doesn’t make that clear.
In any case, I doubt any thinking Australian would be happy with Slipper going back to the Speaker’s chair whilst the sexual abuse case is still alive. It matters not whether the claims are civil or criminal, they are disgusting, smack of abuse of power and need answering.