Craig Thomson lied to parliament in the first minute of the speech he gave to defend himself of the fraud and theft he committed while employed at the Health Services Union. How do I know he lied in the first minute? Because of an interview he gave with Mike Smith at 2ue in August last year. This is important as there is currently a parliamentary inquiry afoot to determine whether or not Mr Thomson lied to parliament in his speech.
In an interesting developement Michael Smith has been interviewed by the Victorian police and has signed a statutory declaration in relation to the Craig Thomson interview.
But first lets look at what Craig Thomson told parliament in his speech.
The mainstream media nor any other media have reported this to my knowledge. Maybe it is because Michael Smith also started asking some serious questions directly to the PM Julia Gillard about her involvement in a fraud at the AWU in the mid 1990’s. (Click here to read one of my previous posts on the matter)
Mr Thomson at the start of his speech clearly implied that he was advised not to make a statement 4 years ago and that he could not a make a statement until FWA had finished their investigation and finalised a report. Slight problem with that is he did an interview with the radio host Mike Smith at 2ue in August last year. The interview blew up in Mr Thomson’s face as Mike Smith was able to get Mr Thomson to make some damming admissions.
Given Mr Thomson did an interview with Mike Smith he should have been prepared to respond in full to parliament a long time ago in relation to his crimes. And how does he explain the Mike Smith interview in August last year given he said in parliament last Monday words to the effect that he had decided 4 years ago not to make a statement until the FWA report was finalised.
Mr Thomson’s speech starts off:
“‘Go cut your wrists or, better still, hang yourself.’ ‘Go out the back, cut your throat—that’s the only way.’ ‘Have you slashed your wrists yet?’ ‘You are dead. A bullet between the eyes will save taxpayers’ money.’ ‘You have unleashed the lynch mob and you have fanned it and for that you’re, ultimately, responsible.'”
“These are the types of emails, letters and phone calls that my family, myself and my staff have received. Since these allegations were first raised I have consistently and on many occasions made it clear that I have done nothing wrong. I have, in fact, wanted to make a statement for some time but sought counsel, sought advice, from a variety of people—including legal advice—and took that advice not to make a statement. Can I say that is something that I probably regret in hindsight. I did not realise that this was going to go four years, but once that decision had been taken, of course, then the next opportunity to speak really is when a report is concluded—and Fair Work have done that.”
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Above is the video with the exact moment that he lies which is only a minute into his speech. (The above video goes for 1 minute and 38 seconds)
Mr Thomson goes on to say in his speech:
“What you do not expect from journalists is the 12 stories that have been written about me in the Fairfax media without coming to me for a comment, without seeking my side at all.” This is stupid and contradicts his statement above that he would not respond until Fair Work Australia finalised their report. What would have been the point of the journalists contacting him if as he said he had decided to say nothing until the FWA report.
He also says:
“We should never be in this situation again where the rule of law is trashed completely by a parliament. What do you think you are doing here? Are we going to have parliament ruled by the mob?”
I agree with Mr Thomson on this, although I am taking him out of context. We should never allow a government like the current one to openly abuse the law. And I am sure a lot of people would agree that the current labor party could be classified as the mob. (To read Mr Thomson’s full speech to the Australian Parliament click here)
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Above is the Mike Smith interview that he did with Ben Fordham on radio station 2GB a couple of weeks ago where he talks about his interview with the Victorian police, Craig Thomson and other interesting issues relevant to Craig Thomson. (It goes for 15 minutes and is well worth a listen) Why have the other media not reported this? I think they do not want to upset the PM.
The channel 9 A Current Affair program say they have interviewed one of the escorts that Mr Thomson paid and have a statutory declaration signed by her. But is also well-known that they will pay her if the story goes to air which will undermine her credibility. Meanwhile Mike Smith has signed a statutory declaration and has been interviewed by the Victorian police so there is no credibility problem with Mike Smith but A Current Affair have not interviewed him . Makes me wonder who does the thinking at A Current Affair.
Craig Thomson was caught out lying about other things in his speech but the above lie has not been reported. Other lies included still getting support from Ella Skinner (click here to read). In fact a lot of the people he named in parliament refuted their support and/or story he told about them.
As a federal politician Craig Thomson is a law-maker and other law-makers including the Prime Minister have committed crimes in an attempt to protect him. So why should we expect anything better elsewhere like the judiciary for example.
Obviously it is a big effort to be caught lying in the first minute of the speech that went for about 58 minutes. But Craig Thomson is the type of professional who is up to that sort of challenge. When it comes to lying they do not come much better than Mr Thomson. Apparently he is representing Australia at the London Olympics in the long distance lying event. Given he has managed to drag these lies out for over 4 years he should be a big chance to do Australia proud and bring home the gold medal.
Yes the previous paragraph might be a bad joke but the Craig Thomson affair is an even a worse joke. Mr Thomson is no longer embarrassing the government. The government is the one embarrassing itself. And if the opposition do not have a royal commission into the scandal when they get into power they will also be tarnished.
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