Guest Post: Union corruption
April 5th, 2012 at 3:00 pm by David FarrarA guest post by Peter Freedman:
Former Health Services Union official Craig Thomson has been a naughty boy. He used a union credit card to visit ladies of the night, obviously to try and recruit them as union members.
Thomson is also a Labor MP. To be a Labor MP in Australia it is not quite compulsory to have been a unionist, but is certainly an advantage.
The dominance of unionists in the Parliamentary Party is distinctly unhealthy. Not only does it give the LNP a stick to beat the left over the head with, but union officials are not always nice people to know
Not that union connections are restricted to leftwing parties. Bill iBirch once confessed to me he had joined the Meatworkers Union when just a lad, probably not something he would bring up over the pinot noir at a National Party pissup.
Thopmson’s dilemma has been all over the rightwing papers and the LNP, understandably, are having a ball. Constant demands that Thomson release to the media his laundry list and the extent of his vegemite addiction are in the news every day.
Questions beginning “Given that the member for Dobell is a proven debaucher of innocent young females, could the Minister please explain……” tumble out one after the other like clowns in a circus.
And the police, Fair Work Australia and a very suspicious man in a grubby raincoat and felt fedora who looks definitely ASIO, have all been ferreting away to get the dirt on Craig T.
Julia Gillard is standing by this ratbag because she has no choice. When the cold winds of a snap election are blowing up your majority skirt all you can do is try to pull it down even if the result is that you protect a scumbag like Thomson.
My prediction is that Thomson will not be charged and if he is will not be convicted. Fucking a prostitute using your penis and someone else’s credit card is hardly the crime of the century.
Thomson, incidentally, was born in Wellington.
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April 5th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Why hasn’t it been all over the left wing papers as well? It seems pretty serious.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 3:17 pm
” Thomson, incidentally, was born in Wellington. ”
That explains it.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 3:31 pm
Quite so FE Smith; after all, he has committed fraud against his employer, and surely you’d expect unionists to condemn anyone who commits fraud against their employer. It’s a bit like the noise you’d expect Matt McCarten and his Unite comrades to make if some scumbag employer didn’t pay PAYE, Student Loan and Kiwisaver deductions to the IRD for a period of 18 months; oh, wait….
More than anything, it proves that hypocrisy is not the sole preserve of the Right which you’d believe if you took The Standard and Red Alert for gospel.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
If he was born in NZ he probably shares NZ cabinet ministers’ confusion over whether buying stuff for yourself on the work credit card is wrong or not.
The dominance of unionists in the Parliamentary Party is distinctly unhealthy.
If only right-wingers would spout the same shit when it comes to a dominance of lawyers or businessmen in a political party.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
They are a tainted Government with all the incompetence of the whitlam government but without Goff’s style. Just dull and plodding. Now it seems the broadband network is plagued by waste and incompetence. To have two ALP Governments (whitlam and Gillard) end in scandal and incompetence in living memory could be terminal for the ALP
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 4:00 pm
Your guest seems determined to joke and downplay the extent of this scandal. It wasn’t just the member having his member in the wrong place, there is the large matter of how he funded this activity, several other financial allegations centred on his alleged misuse of union funds, the 3 years it has taken Fair Work Australia to investigate the above. Oh and the problem the loss of his vote in Parliament would cause Julia if he was convicted of a crime with max penalty of > 12 months.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
Milt
Touche. Although you left out woodwork teachers.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 4:07 pm
“Why hasn’t it been all over the left wing papers as well? It seems pretty serious.”
Vote:Possibly because it is not “news” for left wing papers — just the daily routine?
April 5th, 2012 at 4:27 pm
louie
Exactly.
And we have got it right over here previously. Anyone remember fake CVs and Thai painters?
That said, we aren’t consistent at getting it right. Anyone for some scampi and a helicopter ride? That’s democracy for you. You could tatoo “proven lying piece of low shit” on your forehead in this country and some indolent or doddery git would still vote for you if it meant a meal ticket.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
o/t – good to see you again da vinci.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
Freedman your last statement seems to contradict your other rants. First post you wrote about how a police car was speeding taking your drunk wife to a police station for further breath analysis, what was it 5 or 10km over the speed limit? I would use your words and say not exactly the crime of the century yet you thought the gallows should be brought back for those officers.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 6:29 pm
I really do hat to quibble, again, at Freedman’s language, but is this really ‘corruption’. Just simple theft isn’t it?
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
> Fucking a prostitute using your penis…
Isn’t there a tautology there? A penis is usually involved where fucking is concerned, is it not?
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 7:48 pm
I really do hat to quibble, again, at Freedman’s language, but is this really ‘corruption’. Just simple theft isn’t it?
The corruption one would think mm comes in when Fair Work Australia takes 3 freakin years to investigate and Julia tolerates it because of the issues it would cause her govt.
If that’s not corruption then what the fuck is?
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 7:59 pm
“Isn’t there a tautology there? A penis is usually involved where fucking is concerned, is it not?”
not if youre kick fucking the piece of trash,,
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
It’s the poor prostitutes I feel sorry for……those unionists are a kinky lot.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 9:09 pm
for anyone who has the time or inclination– have a bit of a gander at how much of” a naughty boy” he,s been- he,s been at it for yonks
Vote:hereld sun
http://search.news.com.au/search?q=Craig+Thomson&sid=661&us=ndmheraldsun&as=HWT&ac=search&r=typed
April 5th, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Ever stopped to think how stupid the term “businessman” is?
Thats not a businessman, thats a builder.
Thats not a businessman, thats a baker.
Thats not a businessman, thats a scientist.
Thats not a businessman, thats a currency trader.
It seems you only call people a businessman, if you dont actually know what it is they specifically do. Either you havent tried to find out, or you are too ignorant to understand.
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 10:57 pm
ALP terminal?
Two-party preferred Labor is still on 43%. They’ve got some work to do but I would hardly call it terminal.
Last month Gillard was leading Abbott in the preferred prime minister stakes.
If Julia Gillard is the ‘worst prime minister ever’, what does that make Abbott when he trails her in the polls?
Vote:April 5th, 2012 at 11:06 pm
a week in the life of a gingerella–
Vote:http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/what_fresh_hell_greets_gillard_today/
April 6th, 2012 at 12:29 am
Australia’s next Prime Minister.
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 8:52 am
Ever stopped to think how stupid the term “businessman” is?
Well, exactly. It’s simplistic bigotry to complain about “businessmen” dominating a political party, isn’t it. They come from all kinds of work backgrounds. So, taking baby steps, now:
Ever stopped to think how stupid the term “unionist” is?
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 10:48 am
There are a near infinite number of professions a person could choose that would have them labelled a “businessman”.
How many different activities do you engage in to be called a Unionist?
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 11:22 am
I just find it amusing that Tony Abbott often polls lower than ‘the worst prime minister ever’. Goes to show how devoid of talent that team is.
With such a shallow talent pool, and with 18 months to go before the next election, I would not count my chickens regarding Abbott being the next prime minister.
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 11:45 am
And Campbell Newman was in danger of not winning his seat.
How many times do you morons have to be told? There is no “PM” box on the ballot to tick.
You are looking at the one poll that agrees with your bias. And even on that one you have to look at older polls.
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
How many different activities do you engage in to be called a Unionist?
About the same number as for businesses, ie pretty much any work activity. For the businessman it’s work you own or have invested in, and for the unionist it’s work for which you’ve been a union delegate. But keep nurturing that simplistic bigotry, it’ll keep you warm at night.
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 12:58 pm
bb– the federal labor party has been going down the” bad abbott” road ever since he became leader of the opposition–the electorate is wide awake to this as evidenced by the newman rout–the link is a sample of the labor style–or lack of
Vote:http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/abbott_abbott_abbott2/
April 6th, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Holly donations to labour Union Man – this revelation that unions are run by sacks of shit who take hard earned cash from workers to fund highly paid politicians just has to stop!
We simply must pretend that union reps keeping their jobs after making hundreds unemployed while furthering a political parties agenda is a good thing…
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
Really? So John Key wasnt a business man when he worked for ML,\? Unless he had exercised some options, of course. But anyone can invest in a publicly listed company. Are they all businessmen?
A Unionist works for a union. Unions have a single main purpose. Like an accountancy firm, a law practice. and a gym.
A businessman works in a business. Much more diversity there.
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Despite your clumsy language I think I know what you were meaning to say, Milt.
What proportion of Union activists vote National?
What proportion of “businessmen” vote Labour?
Considering the fact that “businessmen” out number Unionists by about 10 to 1, its a wonder Labour has ever formed a single government.
Vote:April 6th, 2012 at 3:45 pm
Kimble
Unrestricted access to public funds for advertising…. They weren’t spastic about the (legal) EB spending for nothing you know.
Vote:April 7th, 2012 at 9:32 am
Thompson said he did not do anything criminal on the grounds there were no restrictions on how he used his credit card. How anyone could think that spending money on prostitutes was a wise use of Trade Union money especially as the members were very low paid – beats me. This man is despicable and represents the worst of shifty Unions Officials. Long may he remain as a reminder of how bad the Labour Party and the Trade Unions have become.
Vote: