Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 24 August I raised certain matters regarding the member for Dobell. In my capacity as Liberal patron senator for Dobell, I have since visited there on various occasions. Constituents have raised with me their concerns and have been openly critical of his continued presence in the other place as their representative. Many want the answer to the basic question I have been raising: who is representing the people of Dobell? It certainly is not Craig Thomson, given his noticeable absence from public duties since that fateful day at the Mingara Recreation Club when he abused the Salva­tion Army worker, following his objection to certain comments I had publically made about him and his lack of credibility. I raised certain discrepancies in reports about his conduct and that of the member for Shortland. Neither Mr Thomson nor Ms Hall has responded and my questions remain unanswered. I raised the disgraceful episode of Mr Thomson lobbying a Central Coast firm to give his ex-wife a job at the same time as they were seeking federal funding for a jobs incubator. I raised his conduct regard­ing the threat made to withdraw the funding of the jobs incubator after certain comments on local radio critical of the Gillard govern­ment's lack of delivery of a GP superclinic. Despite these serious matters being raised, there has been deafening silence from the member for Dobell. Meanwhile, little pro­gress has been made with the GP superclinic and the people of Dobell will need to wait up to nine years to get a clinic that will be a quarter of what was originally promised by the Australian Labor Party. As for the prom­ised $2.7 million for the jobs incubator—again, nothing. Despite the happy snaps with Minister Albanese and the three applications for the promised money, nothing has been forthcoming and the unemployed young people of the Central Coast are still waiting.

On the last occasion, I spoke of the prep­arations by the local councils for the official opening of the largest civil engineering project ever on the Central Coast—apart from work on the F3—the Mardi-Mangrove Pipeline on 30 August. As anticipated, Mr Thomson failed to attend. One would have thought that, with such a large project which the ALP has so consistently promoted, it would have been opened by the Prime Minister or at least the responsible minister, Anthony Albanese. One would have thought the local member would have graced such an important event with his presence. But, no, it was left to Senator Don Farrell to represent the Gillard government at the opening. According to media reports, Craig Thomson decided not to attend this important event. One can only assume that this was to avoid media scrutiny and having to answer the ever increasing mountain of hard questions. But it appears that this is not the only event that Mr Thomson has missed.

On 2 September, I attended a schools expo at a local school with my state colleague Chris Spence. There was no sighting of Mr Thomson on that day. On 7 September there was the opening of the BER at the Wyong Christian School—again, no show. It was left to Mr Thomson's neighbour Ms O'Neill to fly the flag. On 9 September, there was the blessing and opening of the Aitken Hall trade centre at MacKillop Catholic College at Warnervale—again, no show by the member for Dobell, and it was left to Senator the Hon. Jacinta Collins to represent the govern­ment. I am advised that there have been other events in his electorate which, under normal circumstances, local members would have attended, but not the member for Dobell. And let me foreshadow another key event which he is not likely to front up to. This Friday, 16 September, at 10:15 am there will be the opening of the New Soldiers Beach Surf Club. The cost of this project was $3.5 million, with $2.5 million of federal funding. At this stage, indications are that he will not be attending. I will certainly be looking for him at the opening. Under normal circum­stances, local members are very keen to attend such events. But when you are running away from media attention and do not want to answer hard questions, it is precisely the sort of event that you do miss.

I would also like to focus today on another of the many unanswered questions about the misleading conduct of the member for Dobell, and this is about Coastal Voice Community Group Inc. Misleading conduct has been a constant feature of the career of the now member for Dobell. In the mid-1990s Mr Thomson ran a sophisticated campaign to lure psychologists and other health employees from a rival union—the New South Wales Public Service Associa­tion. This involved publishing a series of newsletters entitled 'Psychologist Update', which purported to provide information about psychologists' wages and conditions. The matter eventually found its way to the New South Wales Industrial Relations Commission, where the judgement reads:

Information which was provided was in a number of respects inaccurate and known to be so and was presented in a fashion designed to disguise that it had emanated from the HREA through Mr Thomson.

Furthermore, the commission also found that Mr Thomson and the Health and Research Employees Association had deliberately breached an agreement between the two unions not to intrude on each other's turf and then misled the PSA about the front camp­aign that he was running. It ruled that Mr Thomson and his union had 'completely misrepresented the activities upon which Mr Thomson was then engaged'. It also found that the union had attempted to mislead the commission in relation to Mr Thomson's activities, ruling that there was 'a continua­tion of that (misleading) approach in the proceedings'. It concluded that Mr Thomson himself was not a reliable witness:

Regrettably, I am unable to accept Mr Thomson's evidence in a number of respects.

It found that the whole misleading campaign by Mr Thomson and his union was:

... reprehensible, exploiting an opportunity which had presented itself without any regard for the arrangement it had made in the past with the PSA and then deliberately misleading that Union as to the steps it was taking in breach of that arrangement.

The IRC's judgement was upheld by the full bench on appeal. It was clear from then that Mr Thomson had form.

After moving to the Central Coast from Melbourne to further his political ambitions, Mr Thomson established Coastal Voice, which purported to be a 'community group'. Its incorporation document states its principal activity to be a 'volunteer aged care hotline'. Instead, in 2006, in the lead-up to the Dobell preselection, Coastal Voice bom­barded the electorate with glossy brochures, with Mr Thomson featuring prominently—not much about aged care. The sign-up brochure for Coastal Voice claimed that it was 'formed in early 2006 by ... a small group of 4 concerned people'. Under the heading 'Why I joined Coastal Voice', the brochure features appearances from these four locals. All of these supposed 'locals' were linked to the ALP or the HSU. Kerry Stratford is a former ALP local government candidate. Brian Kirk ran for the Gosford Council for Labor. Chrisalee Stevens was a co-convenor of a local 'Your Rights at Work' campaign and subsequently authorised Mr Thomson's campaign material. The fourth, Matt Burke, was a Young Labor member who had put his university studies on hold to work full time on Mr Thomson's campaign. A Matthew Burke was also the media contact for Mr Thomson's campaign at an HSU email address. Another person publicly linked to Coastal Voice was Bill Thompson, a former Labor member of Wyong Council.

Coastal Voice purported to be 'local' and 'non-partisan', but clearly it was not. It was set up by Craig Thomson whilst he was secretary of the union—the HSU. Its domain was registered to the national office of his union in Melbourne. Craig Thomson was and remained the contact. Its glossy four-page newsletters attacked the Howard government over all manner of things. It even attacked it for not assuming responsibility over local planning laws! Of course, Mr Thomson's involvement with Coastal Voice was extolled in his ALP website biography. Since Mr Thomson was preselected, Coastal Voice appears to have died a quiet death. It has published no more glossy newsletters, and its website, which featured no less than 71 news items on it in barely a year before Mr Thomson's preselection, has had only one item added to it since by Mr Matt Burke in July 2007. In the New South Wales parlia­ment on 10 August 2011 the Minister for Fair Trading, Anthony Roberts, was asked about Coastal Voice. He advised the follow­ing pertinent facts: Coastal Voicewas incorporated on 3 May 2006; the person who registered the group at the time and who remained its public officer was Craig Thomson; its registration paperwork stated its principal activity, as I have said, was to operate a volunteer aged care hotline; importantly, it had failed to lodge its annual financial statements in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010; and that Fair Trading was commenc­ing the process of cancelling the registration of the association. Mr Roberts notes that this action could have been commenced in 2010 but the New South Wales Labor government failed to act on this—surprise, surprise that the New South Wales Labor Right did not move on one of its own. Mr Roberts advised that on 2 August Fair Trading issued a formal notice to the public officer by post and that Coastal Voicehad until 30 August to respond.

Of course, the public officer of Coastal Voicewhowas written to on 2 August was Mr Craig Thomson. On 10 August, a Daily Telegraph article reported statements from Criselee Stevens, 'a former member of federal Labor MP Craig Thomson's inner circle'. The report confirms that union money was used both to establish Coastal Voiceand to fund glossy Coastal Voicebrochures for Craig Thomson. Ms Stevens said the HSU 'would have paid for the set-up costs and the print run, the glossy brochures' for Coastal Voice.

Minister Roberts also reported to the New South Wales parliament on10 August:

At this stage no account of Coastal Voicemoneys has been provided to Fair Trading, as required by the act. That is both unacceptable and unlawful. The people of New South Wales deserve to know that community groups and associations in their area are both real and responsible in their use of funds and in relation to their reporting responsibilities.

An article in the Australian on 26 August asserts that Mr Thomson:

…told the Australian earlier this month that he quitCoastal Voice after entering federal parliament in 2007.

Not true, according to Minister Roberts, who responded:

My department has never received any notification of resignation or change of public officer from Coastal Voice Community Group since it was first registered in 2006. I am advised that there is no record whatsoever to support the claim that Mr Thomson quit in 2007. If Mr Thomson has evidence that he quit in 2007 he should present that evidence to Fair Trading immediately, otherwise he should correct the public record and clarify any misconception that he did resign in 2007.

The article concludes that, informed of the minister's comment, Mr Thomson said he had nothing to add. Of course not, because the public record is correct and he is lying.

The 30th of August came and went, and so on 31 August 2011 Fair Trading New South Wales issued a media statement about Coastal Voice and the failure of the assoc­iation to respond to Fair Trading's notice of 2 August. It advises:

Fair Trading will now commence an investigation into financial records maintained by the association. The Fair Trading investigation will help finalise the current cancellation proceedings because it will identify any assets held by the association and who exercised control of those assets.

Perhaps the records may shed some light on where some of the $100,000 or so of missing funds from the HSU have gone. Under the relevant legislation, upon cancellation of registration of the association, Fair Trading is obliged to secure any assets of the association and may then distribute these to another, similar organisation. But most importantly, the investigation may result in further action being taken against the association and its office bearers.

Meanwhile, back in Dobell, Mr Thomson is the member you have when you do not have a member. Indeed, he is more than missing in action. It is little wonder that Labor insiders are reportedly saying that the local ALP branches in Dobell are wavering in their support of Mr Thomson, yet the Prime Minister chooses to stubbornly main­tain her confidence in him. On 9 September, the Australian quoted Mr Thomson as saying:

I will make a comprehensive statement in the near future.

That same day, the Australian reported:

Labor MP Craig Thomson is expected to rely on the disappearance of financial records and slack union rules when he makes a 'comprehensive statement' to defend allegations he misused his union credit card. But he faces a dilemma over his claim that another person forged his signature on the card dockets for a brothel, after NSW police determined they were genuine.

'We are satisfied that the person who used the card was the person whose name was on the card,' a senior police officer told the Australian.

'It would have been deception if somebody else used it; that would have been a crime.'

When asked about this yesterday, Ms Gillard dismissed the issue and said it was a question for the individual member. We will wait with bated breath for Mr Thomson's statement but, given his form since the 1990s, one can hardly expect a full and frank disclosure. It is clear that the constituents of Dobell have lost confidence in their local member. How can the Prime Minister possibly continue to have confidence in this man?