The federal member for Dobell, Craig Thompson, allegedly behaved very badly towards a female member of the Salvation Army at a rally on the Central Coast on Saturday night. The rally, organized to express displeasure with poker machine reform, was moderated by Louise Duff.
Apparently Thompson, also known as “Credit Card Craig” for reasons I’ll go into in a minute, became excessively exercised when he felt that the moderator did not give him an equal opportunity to address a question. He confronted Ms Duff, threatened to finish her career, threatened to name her in the Parliament, and told her she was a “disgrace.”
So closely did he insert himself into her personal space, and so violently did he shout at her that her cheeks were covered in his spittle, and she had to wipe them clean with her handkerchief.
There were many witnesses. Thompson later rang Ms Duff and apologised.
It’s safe to assume that anyone who gets right in your face, threatens you, and covers you in spittle, is spinning out of control and should be carefully watched.
Thompson’s seat is very marginal. Should a by-election result in him losing the seat, the government will collapse and we’ll have a general election.
Prior to entering Parliament, Thompson was the head of the Health Services Union. In 2005 he allegedly authorized payment for prostitutes’ services with his union credit card. These services were not for him, but his “mates.” Thompson incurred heavy legal bills when he attempted to sue the Sydney Morning Herald for defamation after they published this story. When he dropped his defamation action, the ALP bailed him out to the tune of some $90,000, saving him from bankruptcy, presumably because MP’s can’t be bankrupts as well. Financially, that is. There’s no law says they can’t be morally bankrupt and keep their seats.
Thompson has since claimed that the signature on the credit card authorization is not his, but a forgery. This claim has been discredited by a forensic expert who says the signature is almost certainly Thompson’s. People are also asking why, if his signature has been forged, hasn’t Thompson complained to the fraud squad?
Craig Thompson is probably the biggest threat the Gillard government has to contend with at the moment. He’s the one factor that could bring them undone faster than you can say by-election. If I were the PM I’d be getting him to a psychologist pronto and paying the bills. A bit of cognitive behavioural therapy, intense anger management training, meditation, heck, even drugs. Send him on leave with depression. Have him diagnosed with a bi polar disorder. Anything to render him ineffectual and harmless, because a man who’s walking round covering the face of a Salvation Army moderator in spit, is a full-blown here and now menace.
Credit Card Craig is a bigger problem for the government than the Malaysian solution and the carbon tax rolled into one.
Senator George Brandis, senior opposition attack dog, asked serious questions in the Senate this afternoon, flagging big trouble in the immediate future for the government because the opposition is going at this full-bore, and why wouldn’t they?
Related articles
- Credit card Craig a problem Gillard doesn’t need (thepunch.com.au)
- MP accused of making charity worker cry (news.theage.com.au)
No Place For Sheep 
Oh for heaven’s sake not you too. It didn’t happen, it was a media beat up. Good lord. Bombing whole countries to bits was not enough to sack Howard so grow up.
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You mean the credit card thing didn’t happen, the explosion at Ms Duff didn’t happen, (so the witness who swore an affadavit is lying, I guess) suing SMH didn’t happen, the state ALP paying $90,000 legal bills for Thompson so he could keep his seat didn’t happen,only declaring the money last night didn’t happen, the denial of authorization of the credit card didn’t happen…
Nobody’s “sacking” Thompson, he’s not the leader of the party, the opposition is attempting to bring about a by election in Thompson’s very marginal seat.
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Yeas, I’d lean to Jennifer’s reading which, incidently, does not preclude the observation from Marilyn concerning press beat ups. As we know already beat ups only become beat ups when this suits the proprietors and their friends. Thompson ought to watch it, but the one thing NSW Labor never does is have an honest look at itself and its own suite of attitudes, another beer will solve that! A drill seargent’s boot up is his arse, is what he needs.
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Look at that nose. He’s got the mark of the devil I tells yer!
I like your solution Jennifer, but I fear it will further stigmatise people with mental illnesses in the eyes of many. Arrr, If there’s ever a word should be stricken (struck?) from the English language…
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Noses, earlobes, eyebrows, abs and budgie smugglers – when will we ignorant peasants ever learn to read the warning signs God sends us!!!!
And I’m no expert but I think it’s struck….
Back to reading the entrails. All else has failed us.
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In light of today’s events I’m going to reign back my sick sense of humour and refrain from continuing this discussion!-/
But yes I think you’re right – you probably have to be struck in order to become stricken, just like you will be panic-stricken if you are thunder-struck! Oh dear, who thinks I should get myself a book of crossword puzzles on the way home?
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Then there’s always the state of being thunderstrucken after you’ve been unexpectedly embiggened by somebody’s admiration.
Citation: embigenned comes from the Simpsons when Homer said Marge’s love embiggened him as a human being.
And my own neologism coined a few days ago – quelch, from the union of quench and squelch.
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I hate to be an embuggerance, but “Berri Quelch Fruit Sticks are delicious water ices made with the goodness of 99% fruit juice and contains no added sugar”. http://www.berrijuice.com.au/berri-quelch.aspx
But back to the matter at hand, I think what we are seeing is simply a demonstration of what happens when a big fish decides he’s too big for his pond and jumps into the bigger one next door. He’s a real-life incarnation of Bob Jelly, and probably should have put some thought about the consequences of his past practices being exposed. Here I find myself quoting Malcolm Fraser again, but it might be something to do with the “innate decency and concern of Australians” (http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/end-the-appeal-to-meanness-20110821-1j4qq.html) that they expect their representatives to be able to conduct themselves properly in all facets of life.
Which of course readily translates into a mentality of “everyone should get what they deserve”.
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Dammit, I didn’t invent “quelch?”
I just read that if Thompson falls, the government plans to put the Speaker on the back bench and a Liberal speaker will take his place.
Isn’t it great how there’s a Simpson’s character for just about everyone? Like MTR and Helen Lovejoy.
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That’s nothing . You want to see what the Brits and Yanks have been offered or actually bought over recent times: Blair, Cameron, Bush, Bachmann, Palin, or the Italians with Burlesque-oni. The Big End have taken over everywhere, are set to put an anti intellectual superstitious bigot from the dark ages into power in Canberra on the engineered consent of morons “tuned” by propagandists, next (to replace the current one, some would say).
All else is pantomime outside the shopfront and cabaret distractions for the kiddies.
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If the alleged use of credit card for services from Escorts are true, gee, they were large amounts. What on earth did he ask for? It seems mind boggling. He could have had a honeymoon at Manly for that sort of money. He should have ‘beat up’ and torn up the voucher and gone home..
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Back for a second read. I think if there is a problem it comes in misreading Jennifer’s sentence that starts, “prior to entering parliament.” The way the tabloids report these things, this will be last factor they’ll want publicised, because it effectively ends the beat up. People will assume, if the reports are worded in a certain way, that the bloke was up these antics after, rather than before, he entered parliament.
Maybe Jennifer Wilson is just disappointed at the sort of mentality that seems to be on show, but Howard let his lot get away with blue murder, so by current standards, in the absence of better info, we’d hope Thompson is not crucified straightaway, particularly with some thing far more malevolent waiting in the wings, in the form of Abbott and his T-party types.
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What I’m really peed off about is the way the government is handling this. They need to be transparent about the amount of money the state ALP dedicated to getting Thompson out of his jam with Fairfax, which is now estimated as some $200,000. This was a personal legal action he took because of events that occurred before he was an MP. I don’t know or care if he actually used the services of prostitutes or paid for them for his mates – and he’s being investigated about using union money to pay for that before he became an MP. This is an opportunity for the PM to make some clear, strong statements about the situation that could shut the opposition down, so why not do it?
There’s nothing new in MPs getting away with blue murder. However, Della Bosca lost his job because he had an affair. Somebody else had the misfortune to be filmed leaving a gay club, and that was the end of his job. Belinda Neal threw a tantie at the Iguana nightclub and got dropped from pre selection, as well as being ordered to anger management by Kevin (“they’re rat f**cking me!!”) Rudd.
Basically, the whole hypocritical lot of them (with a very few exceptions) make me nauseous. Thompson, for eg, took a bunch of mates to a posh eatery where they spent $105 on food and nearly $600 on five bottles of posh wine – on the Health Services Union union credit card. And bloody nurses can’t get a decent wage, and there’s hospitals beds closed down every bloody which way. Don’t get me started, because I’ll end up having to delete myself for abuse.
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Hmmm, I’ll start at the bottom!
Hospital beds closing down every which way is not the fault of Mr. Thomson, but of the state governments.
$705 on tucker & fine wine is a good deal, if he was entertaining health bosses who have just, or are likely to very soon, approve a pay rise for Mr. Thomson’s union members. However it is unlikely that was not the scenario. More plausible is that it was he & some mates taking advantage of the union expense account. This is immoral.
It is unlikly, nay, impossible for the government to shut down either the opposition or anybody else on this matter. Mr. Thomson is booked in for the high jump via the judicial system. (A “holiday” is not out of the question). The PM sticking to him like supa-glue will reflect very badly on the PM & the government.
I’ll post below the full list of apparent sins of Mr. Thomson, it would seem he is in very hot water indeed.
Why the large amounts Gerard asks? You just blew your cover as “man about town”. Mr. Thomson would have been what is known in legal/accountancy circles as a client who is not fee-sensitive. Thus he would have been billed, & paid without question, for extras that should not have been billed for. (e.g. Some girls will happily shower with the client, but if the client is paying with a big end of town union/corporate card, there will be a fee of, say, $100 for “showering togther”)
Where the fee-sensitive client will book for a half or perhaps an hour, those who are not fee sensitive will book for several hours. Or pehaps book for all night. Even the lower priced end of the scale will be $2,000 for an all night booking.
Whatever the fee is, if the client books 2 girls, the fee is doubled. And if the client books 4 girls….(remember, this is a client who is not fee-sensitive)
As with other professional services, some practitioners charge a higher base rate than others, often for no discernable reason.
Anyone who has not got the picture, just say so & I’ll happily post in more detail.
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Anger is a normal human emotion but poorly manged anger will lead to many health issues. Regular physical exercise is a very helpful one, accept the situations and try to find the solutions for all the problems. Add humor to your life, smile is the best and very effective one to reduce your anger.
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