FED:Gillard must explain Thomson saga: Abbott

AAP General News (Australia)
08-20-2011
FED:Gillard must explain Thomson saga: Abbott

Eds: Reissues to clarify in last par the year the Liberals were calling for Mr Thomson
to be disendorsed.

ADELAIDE, Aug 20 AAP - Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has called on Prime Minister Julia
Gillard to explain the unsavoury Craig Thomson saga that he says is paralysing her government.

Besieged federal MP Craig Thomson is under fire over claims surrounding the use of
a union credit card to pay for prostitutes.

NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell has called Mr Thomson a "disgrace" and says the sooner
he's out of federal parliament "the better for the country".

Mr Abbott stopped short of calling for Mr Thomson's resignation but said Ms Gillard
must face the public and deal with the matter quickly.

"Something untoward has gone on here and he has to explain it and the prime minister
has to explain it and then the prime minister has to deal with it, Mr Abbott told reporters
in Adelaide.

"Because every day there is more and more unsavoury information coming out and every
day it is more difficult for the prime minister and the government to function.

"We can't have a government which is paralysed because the prime minister doesn't want
to come out ... and face questions about a particular MP."

Hotel bills obtained by Fairfax show phone calls made to two Melbourne brothels in
2006 were from rooms hired in Mr Thomson's name.

The member for Dobell has repeatedly denied using his credit card to pay for escort
services, saying it was regularly used by other people within the Health Services Union
(HSU) when he was national secretary.

Mr Thomson is also under pressure for delaying a disclosure that the ALP's NSW branch
paid a "sum of money" - reportedly $90,000 - to his lawyers on his behalf to allegedly
avoid bankruptcy after ending a defamation case against Fairfax.

Bankruptcy or criminal charges could force Mr Thomson from his NSW seat, potentially
ending Labor's minority government.

NSW Labor Leader John Robertson said on Saturday he wasn't aware of payments made by
the ALP's NSW Labor branch to Mr Thomson's lawyers.

"The prime minister's responded to this on numerous occasions," Mr Robertson said.

"It's a matter for her to deal with and I think she's addressed it every day."

Ms Gillard has defended her backbencher, saying people can be investigated and have
no adverse conclusions drawn against them.

Treasurer Wayne Swan on Saturday also declined to be drawn on what action Labor would
take if the allegations allegations turned out to be true, saying only that Mr Thomson
had denied the allegations.

"It is too early for people to be jumping to conclusions, we have to let the processes
in place reach their conclusion," Mr Swan told reporters in Mackay.

It's not the first time the Liberals have questioned Mr Thomson - they called for him
to be disendorsed in 2007, citing an NSW Industrial Relations Commission ruling that found
he and the HSU had run a deliberately misleading campaign to poach members from a rival
union.

AAP lk/jjs

KEYWORD: THOMSON WRAP

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