HSU boss to clear air on Thomson case

2 Feb 2012, 6:21 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Health Services Union boss Kathy Jackson will release her response to the Thomson investigation, as Julia Gillard dismissed interference claims.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has dismissed claims of government interference in an investigation into Labor backbencher Craig Thomson, as a senior union official caught up in the inquiry prepares to clear her name.

Workplace watchdog Fair Work Australia (FWA) has been examining the finances of the Health Services Union (HSU) since early 2009 and is due to make a decision in March on whether to take civil action or refer the allegations to prosecutors.

Mr Thomson, the Labor member for the NSW seat of Dobell, was general secretary of the HSU from 2002 to 2007 and faces allegations of using union credit cards for prostitutes, lavish meals and cash withdrawals.

He denies the claims and has declined to step aside from his lower house seat, which is crucial to the Gillard minority government's survival.

FWA has given Mr Thomson, former union boss Michael Williamson and current general secretary Kathy Jackson a list of "contraventions" stemming from the investigation and asked for a response by next month.

Ms Jackson told AAP on Thursday she would respond to FWA on Friday before releasing her response to the media.

She claims there has been government interference in the probe, and called for an external inquiry to ascertain why it has taken three years for the $1 million investigation to get within sight of completion.

Ms Gillard told reporters on Thursday that allegations of government interference in the investigation were baseless.

She said emails showing a media adviser to former workplace relations minister Chris Evans had taken an interest in FWA's media strategy had been on the public record last year and were "old news".

Ms Jackson said she was "more concerned than ever" that the FWA probe had been politicised, pointing to the emails.

"We've seen details of very close co-operation between the government and Fair Work Australia in devising a media strategy to deal with the Thomson matter," she said.

"I believe the public understand what's going on here, even if the government appears not to understand that.

"A credible external investigation of the circumstances surrounding this matter is warranted and I hope that past and present officers of FWA would cooperate."

It's understood the allegations against Ms Jackson relate to her missing several meetings of the union executive and her handling in 2008 of union financial returns which Mr Thomson allegedly failed to complete because of his new political career.

The opposition has called on Labor to reveal whether any ministers or government officials had intervened and will pursue the issue in parliament next week.

"The government has to release all of the details of all of the contact between ministers, prime ministers, their offices and Fair Work Australia," Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said.

Ms Gillard has previously admitted that when she was workplace minister in April 2009 her chief of staff, Ben Hubbard, had asked FWA about its inquiries into the HSU, but this did not amount to government intervention.

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