Download Fragment

Tuesday, 13 September 2011
Page: 5996

Member for Dobell

(Question No. 905)

Senator Ronaldson asked the Minister representing the Prime Minister, upon notice, on 9 August 2011:

Given the Prime Minister’s concern with the conduct of parliamentarians, as evidenced by her agreements with the Independents, and the Australian Greens, to develop a code of conduct for parliamentarians, has the Prime Minister satisfied herself that the Member for Dobell, Mr Craig Thomson, remains fit to serve as a Member of Parliament and as Chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics; if so:

(1) Did Mr Thomson engage a handwriting expert to examine the signatures on credit card slips used to purchase services at a Sydney brothel; if so, who was that expert.

(2) Did Mr Thomson’s own handwriting expert find that Mr Thomson’s signature was on any credit card slips for these services.

(3) Was Mr Thomson advised by his lawyers, after considering the report from the handwriting expert, that his defamation action against Fairfax had no reasonable prospects of success.

(4) Has the Prime Minister seen the report of the handwriting expert.

(5) Has the Prime Minister seen any legal advice received by Mr Thomson from his lawyers concerning the merits of his case at this point.

(6) Has Mr Thomson explained how his mobile phone records show calls to the brothel on the same day as a credit card slip was signed.

(7) Has Mr Thomson explained how his driver’s licence number came to be on the credit card slip, given that the escort agency in question says that it only accepts payment by credit cards from clients when photo identification is provided and checked.

(8) If Mr Thomson was not the person who paid for the services of the brothel, is the Prime Minister satisfied there is a reasonable explanation of why Mr Thomson then authorised payments of these credit card accounts as national secretary of the Health Services Union (HSU).

(9) Has Mr Thomson told Fair Work Australia that he authorised payment of these credit card bills; if not, why not.

(10) Is the Prime Minister satisfied that another person paid $15 000 back to the HSU for credit card misuse in relation to these matters, as alleged by Mr Thomson; if so, why should they not be named and/or referred to the New South Wales police.

Senator Chris Evans: The Prime Minister has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

On 2 March 2011 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Standing Committee of Senators’ Interests for inquiry and report:

The development of a draft code of conduct for senators, with particular reference to:

(a) the operation of codes of conduct in other parliaments;

(b) who could make a complaint in relation to breaches of a code and how those complaints might be considered;

(c) the role of the proposed Parliamentary Integrity Commissioner in upholding a code; and

(d) how a code might be enforced and what sanctions could be available to the parliament.

The committee is due to report on 28 November 2011.

This inquiry is being undertaken in parallel with a similar reference to the House of Representatives Privileges and Members' Interests Committee.

The Government will respond in due course to the reports of these committees.

The honourable senator’s attention is drawn to the resignation of the Member for Dobell as chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics on 23 August 2011.