Doorstop - Adelaide

SUBJECTS: Mike Williamson charges; HSU

E&OE…………

Christopher Pyne: Mike Williamson has been arrested today for hindering the course of justice and destroying evidence; they are the allegations that have been made by the NSW Police. It is obviously a very serious matter and Australians will be shocked to think that the president of the HSU, a former president of the Australian Labor Party could be charged with criminal matters of that seriousness. Craig Thomson has cleared himself today that he is not a person of interest but the NSW Police have not gone that far and have said in fact there are more persons of interest than there were before and they specifically refused to rule out Craig Thomson. Now Craig Thomson continues to vote with the government and Julia Gillard continues to accept Craig Thomson’s vote. Of course Mike Williamson is a former president of the Australian Labor Party and Julia Gillard’s response to that was to say I can’t comment because the charges have been laid. Now before the charges were laid she said I can’t comment because the charges may be laid. Now the Prime Minister has to come out of her witness protection programme and actually start answering questions the public want to know the answers to about why it is that a former president of the Australian Labor Party, a former president of the Health Services Union can be charged with criminal offences and the Leader of the Australian Labor Party has no comment to make about it. She can’t just brush it aside particularly because she relies on Craig Thomson’s vote to stay in power, who was secretary of the Health Services Union when Mike Williamson was the president of it. And finally the Coalition has given the Government the opportunity to support legislation to make union bosses liable for their action in the same way that company directors are. Why has Julia Gillard voted against that? Why has she stopped that going forward? Why is she continuing to protect union leaders like Mike Williamson or Craig Thomson who we believe the law that applies to company directors should apply to them as union bosses?

Journalist: So what should the Prime Minister be doing?

Pyne: Well the Prime Minister has to immediately reject accepting Craig Thomson’s vote. The Prime Minister of course said that she asked him to leave the caucus. Craig Thomson told the truth about that matter and said in fact he offered to leave the Labor caucus until these matters were resolved. Julia Gillard’s Government is propped up with the vote of Craig Thomson, that’s a very tainted vote and Julia Gillard needs to today disassociate her government from the Health Services Union scandal. She should condemn Mike Williamson’s actions as president of a Health Services Union who was also president of the Australian Labor party. She should refuse to accept Craig Thomson’s vote. 

Journalist: Is there a presumption of innocence though?

Pyne: Well in politics as in the case of our national Parliament, the Prime Minister has a responsibility to ensure her government is not tainted by its association with the Health Services Union scandal. The NSW Police have today charged a former president of the Australian Labor Party with crimes as serious as destroying evidence and hindering a police investigation. He was a former president of the National Labor Party and of course Craig Thomson has been a member of their caucus in Canberra since 2007. She can’t just wash her hands of Craig Thomson and the Health Services Union. But at the very least she could have supported opposition legislation to require union bosses to be subject to the same rules as company directors.

Journalist: But is a person entitled to a presumption of innocence?

Pyne: Well of course they are, and the courts will go through that process, the NSW Police have laid their charges. But the Prime Minister is held to a different standard, a higher standard, because the national Parliament has been so sullied by these kind of standards in the last two years that the Australian public are thoroughly sick of it. Either she has to reject Craig Thomson’s vote, condemn Mike Williamson for his presidency of the Health Services Union and his presidency of the Labor Party or call an election. She can’t have it both ways.

Journalist: What is this indication of the Health Services Union and just how deep does the corruption allegedly go?

Pyne: Well what it indicates is that there is a very unhealthy culture in the Health Services Union under Mike Williamson and Craig Thomson when he was the secretary of the Health Services Union. But Mark Latham belled the cat on this issue, he said that Craig Thomson wasn’t so much a startling example as the norm in the union leadership in this country and Julia Gillard has tried to sidestep the Health Services Union and Craig Thomson. She needs to come out of witness protection, front up and answer questions like why hasn’t she condemned Mike Williamson, will she reject Craig Thomson’s vote, will she support legislation that will make union bosses liable in the same way as company directors are?

ENDS