Oppn attacks Gillard integrity over HSU

9 Feb 2012, 7:38 pm   -   Source: AAP
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The opposition has again tried to censure Prime Minister Julia Gillard over alleged interference in the Craig Thomson HSU investigation.

The federal opposition has attacked Julia Gillard's integrity over the Craig Thomson affair, as Labor accused Tony Abbott of offering "a blank sheet" on the economy.

For the second day in a row, and the 37th time since the 2010 election, the coalition brought on a suspension motion in parliament in a bid to censure the prime minister - this time over the Fair Work Australia (FWA) probe into NSW Labor MP Mr Thomson.

FWA is examining whether Mr Thomson, a former Health Services Union secretary, misused union credit cards for prostitutes and cash withdrawals.

Mr Thomson on Thursday repeated he had done nothing wrong.

"I have fully cooperated with the investigations and I look forward to them concluding," he said in a statement.

Deputy Opposition Leader Julie Bishop presented to parliament a "family tree", connecting officials and former executives of the Health Services Union (HSU) with Ms Gillard, other Labor MPs and officials of other unions.

Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne said the mafia had a saying: "A fish starts to stink from its head."

Ms Bishop said the issue was vital because without Mr Thomson's vote in the finely balanced parliament "the government will fall and Australia will be heading for the polls".

Ms Gillard left the chamber during the debate, leaving it to Leader of the House Anthony Albanese to accuse the opposition of mounting a "personal attack".

Mr Albanese compared Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's strategy to the 1964 US presidential campaign in which Republican Barry Goldwater used the slogan: "In your heart you know he's right."

The Democrats, who accused Goldwater of running a right-wing fear campaign, shot back with: "In your guts you know he's nuts."

"That is exactly what this leader of the opposition shows himself to be," Mr Albanese said.

"They had three months (in the parliamentary recess) to come up with an alternative plan on the economy ... what they have is a blank sheet."

Ms Gillard acknowledged earlier in question time that it was already a matter of public record that her chief of staff Ben Hubbard had in 2009 contacted Fair Work Australia to "check facts" in a media report.

Ms Bishop said the incident still had not been properly explained.

She was also critical that Fair Work Australia had taken three years to complete the probe, despite the legislation - drafted by Ms Gillard as workplace minister - requiring the body to "act in a manner that is fair and just, quick and informal ... and is open and transparent".

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie sided with Labor on the motion, which failed, telling AAP the opposition had "failed to convince me of the possibility of government interference in the Craig Thomson matter".

"As far as Mr Thomson himself is concerned, he remains the subject of an inquiry which should be allowed to run its course before any observer can reasonable judge the man," Mr Wilkie said.

The parliament's youngest member, Queensland MP Wyatt Roy, was thrown out for making a point of order during an answer by the prime minister.

Ms Gillard was arguing Labor's planned budget surplus was important because it showed Australia was a global role model for fiscal responsibility, government spending should ease when the economy was growing and it created scope for the Reserve Bank to lower interest rates.

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