Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The motion authorises publication of the annexures provided to the former Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee by Fair Work Australia in its report on the investigation into the national office of the Health Services Union. The documents comprise thousands of pages unearthed during the investigation into former Labor MP and convicted union thief, Craig Thomson.

It should be noted that these annexures were suppressed until now by the Labor Party, then in government, and the Greens, first in the committee and then in a vote in the Senate which took place on 12 September 2012. It has been reported that these documents include a memo in which Mr Thomson, probably in his own handwriting, misrepresented $770 worth of sexual services obtained from Internat Immobilaire, the business name for Boardroom Escorts, as a dinner function for which he claimed reimbursement from the HSU.

I understand the Leader of the Opposition initially intended to again oppose the release of these documents. The amendment moved by Senator Faulkner is nothing more than a fig leaf to cover the opposition's embarrassment at having suppressed these documents for so long. (Time expired)