Tuesday 22 May 2012

A Post for the Australians among us who are interested in union funded prostitution.


Yesterday Craig Thompson, member for Dobell stood up in parliament and answered his critics. His guts, anger and anguish as he explained his version of events were so convincing, I was forced to offer him the benefit of doubt, for now.
Every claim he made, as incredible as each was, could be the truth. And as we know, ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.

 But if he was lying, he has now sealed his fate because, although a civil action, (as Peter Slipper faces on sexual harassment charges) is not grounds for immediate dismissal from Parliament by the Parliament. Misleading Parliament’ certainly is.

 As he rightly claimed, he has not been charged with any criminal offence and police have already declared he has no case to answer. However there are questions unanswered that, although not of a legal nature, leave him in moral limbo. Unfortunately, those questions, particularly his alleged use of ‘escort services’ paid for using his (union account) credit card, will probably remain unanswered unless certain ‘escort’ girls are called to give evidence. That would be an event not to be missed!

 I thought his assertion that, on three of the times his credit card was used to pay for ‘escort services’, he was either not in the state, or was attending a function, proves his credit card was used without him being there. If it was true for those occasions, it is not just possible, but very likely true for the others. Another curious assertion, that when the credit card was used, including times he could not have been there, his ‘identity’ was verified by his driver’s licence number, not by presentation of the actual licence. As he said, when one presents a photo licence for identification, no record is kept of its number. A record of the number is kept only when a licence cannot be viewed.

 As for the claims he misused Union money for personal gain, his re-election campaign and donations to a charity, the Electoral Commission has now declared his actions perfectly proper. So what is left to do? In my opinion, his claims must be thoroughly investigated by the Federal Police then on the evidence, he is either dismissed from Parliament, with all appropriate penalties applied, or reinstated with full rights and respect.

With that done, we do need a Code of Parliamentary Conduct to prevent ‘trial by media’ being used to undermine the duly elected government of the day. We are seeing respect for Parliament being destroyed, as individuals are personally attacked with allegations presented as fact. Before demands for resignations are made, allegations must be investigated and tested in court. With that code in place, presumption of innocence will be applied inside Parliament as it is outside. That is not to desert the principal of Parliamentary Privilege. There is no reason questions should not be asked so matters can be opened for scrutiny. But that is where it must end. If there are allegations against an individual, there can be no calls for resignation or further comment until a court, or the Senate sitting as a court with powers to call witnesses, decides.

 PS: On a lighter note, with the Government so desperate not to lose its excruciatingly thin majority should Craig Thompson be dismissed, it would be hilarious if (independent) Bob Katter, Member for Kennedy and perennial eccentric was offered the post of Speaker.
I did post that possibility as a joke a while ago, so for a laugh go back for a look. It just might happen! Unfortunately, Iron Bar Tuckey, who was given a leading role in that post, is no longer in Parliament.



11 comments:

  1. i dont keep up with the news but i noticed this story caused some extreme man bashing from kathy lette on Q & A. disappointing, that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I stay away from politics.

    Politicians have a lot to answer for, even when they do not have to. And more so when they have to.It must be crucifying.

    Why do they do it? Unless it is Obama. Still, at times it looks as if politics has taken something out of him...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Who cares if he shags hookers on the union tab, eh Staff, its got nothing to do with parliament. If we had to throw out all the sleazy ones thered be bo one left ? Its a court matter, just another attack on democracy by the neo fascists on behalf of their mining and finance masters. What about the time the conservative malcolm frazer was found wandering the streets somewhere in america naked and totally inebriated , cracker.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A long reply prepared for here was too long to fit, so I intend to post it next.

      Delete
  4. Nice post. I agree we must wait for some conclusive outcome from a court. But how come I'd not heard before about his antagonist's boyfriend being a key figure in FairWork Australia? Isn't it reasonable to presume a conflict of interest there? My god, there a tiny pool those Canberra suits, aren't they! And I'd forgotten about the Malcolm Frazer event. Was any explanation ever offered?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No explanation was offered and no witch hunt ensued, see above. It would have been interesting to know what Tammie had to say about it!

      Delete
  5. The stakes are high when the Government is teetering on a knife's edge - a conspiracy is not as far fetched as might normally be the case, but I find it hard to believe anyone at the moment. What I would find very entertaining is a complete and full investigation into Aussie politicians and prostitutes ;)and then see how many pollies balk at the notion of trial by media (taxi drivers etc.,) and conjecture.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I take it your politics is pretty much the same as politics anywhere else. Unfortunately the media is too concerned with getting the story first to verify the facts, making the problem worse.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It isn't just that. An adversarial system as we have, particularly when numbers are tight, encourages oppositions to destroy the government. In our case, at this time, a reformist government that successfully avoided the worst of the GFC, made a start on reducing carbon emissions through a carbon price, embarked on several huge infrastructure programs that are too big for private enterprise here, education reform, health reform and so on. All this was achieved with unemployment now under 5%!
    This is success in anyone's language, but the government is on the brink because that story is kept off 'front pages' by the continual pandering to voyeurism by the media fuelled by an opposition that is prepared to wreck even the parliament and even the economy itself to get back into power to stop those reforms. An indication of the success of the opposition's scare mongerin, is that Australians feel less hope for the future than even Greeks and Spaniards!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Added later: It seems a prostitute has been willing, for $60,000 to identify Thompson as a client of hers from seven years ago when these events are alleged to have occurred.

    ReplyDelete

(leave a message)