In 2009 then Victorian ALP state secretary Stephen Newnham was one of the first people to start accusing Craig Thomson of alleged brothel creeping during his time at the Health Services Union.
After being forced to resign this senior Labor position in that same year, Newnham and former adviser to senior federal Coalition frontbenchers Rick Brown later turn up as principals of a registered lobby group which had been contracted to provide political analysis (on the upcoming elections in Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia in 2010) to a newspaper in the News Ltd Group.
By 2012 both Newnham and Brown were writing articles critical of the Gillard Government for the Herald-Sun.
Does this set of interlocking relationships with Murdoch's minions go some way to explaining why large slabs of the meeja uncritically swallow whole Abbott & Co’s vitriol concerning this MP?
Might it also explain why the veracity of this 2011 2UE954 News Talk image of Thomson's alleged credit card details (showing a misspelled surname on the face of this card imprint) is not being questioned? A set of 1st-8th April 2005 documents which appear to have been eventually handed over to VIC or NSW Police by HSU officials as evidence of Thomson's alleged 'guilt', if the accompanying interview with Kathy Jackson is to be believed.
Might it also explain why the veracity of this 2011 2UE954 News Talk image of Thomson's alleged credit card details (showing a misspelled surname on the face of this card imprint) is not being questioned? A set of 1st-8th April 2005 documents which appear to have been eventually handed over to VIC or NSW Police by HSU officials as evidence of Thomson's alleged 'guilt', if the accompanying interview with Kathy Jackson is to be believed.
In the transcript of a 1st August 2011 2UE Michael Smith interview with Thomson this section stands out:Michael Smith: "The card was also used to pay for escort agency services.
I have a copy of one of the escort agency credit card vouchers. It’s the old style one, where you put the card on the plastic slider machine, put the carbon paper voucher on top of it and swipe the slider over the voucher.
The carbon paper makes a clear embossed impression of the card. You can plainly see that the credit card that was present on that night had this on the front of it – Craig Thomson, Health Services Union."
At best this is sloppy reporting. At worst the information in red bolding is a bald lie. Thompson is not Thomson, no matter how you spin it, and any reputable credit card agency would reject the slip in question - rightly worried about the possiblity of identity theft.
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I'm still puzzling over this bit of a 7 May FWA press release.
'The investigation into the finances and financial management of the National Office of the Health Services Union was conducted by a senior manager of Fair Work Australia, known as the Delegate. It commenced on 27 March 2010 and concluded on 28 March 2012 when the Delegate provided the investigation report to the General Manager. An earlier inquiry, which preceded the investigation, commenced on 6 April 2009.'
When the report seems to have been modified on 7 May 2012 after its 4 May creation by Nassios, if you look at Properties of the document supplied to the Senate inquiry.
Any answers anyone?
The FWA report states that Craig Thomson's driver's licence valid in 2005 carries an expiry date of 31 July 2009. So how is it that the driver’s license on display in the above image has a later expiry date - probably July 2014. Showing a copy of a current driver's licence hardly proves 2UE's case re 2005 - especially as a copy of this expiring in 2014 licence was apparently supplied to the FWA investigation by Thomson's own solicitor. Is the FWA handing out copies of evidence to journalists now?
For instance, they are yet to demand an explanation from Fairfax Media as to how, in defending a defamation case brought by Thomson, it managed to get its hands on a 2005 credit card slip, allegedly paid to Keywed - a Sydney brothel - purportedly signed by Thomson. A closer examination of this slip - which was splashed across the front page of its newspapers in Melbourne and Sydney two years ago - reveals the name on the card is in fact Thompson (with a “p") and not Thomson, which is his name. The code on the slip also reveals that it was rejected by the bank. We can’t wait for that one to be explained.
http://blogs.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/simonbenson/index.php/dailytelegraph/comments/high_farce_as_thomson_eventually_takes_a_trick/
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