Reuters/Canberra


Gillard: needs the backbencher to stay in power
Australian police said yesterday that they were investigating whether a government MP committed a crime by allegedly using a union credit card to pay for proAstitutes – an accusation which, if proven, could bring down the minority government.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard clings to power with one seat, thanks to the support of one Green and three independent MPs, but her Labor government would be swept from office if elections were held today, according to opinion polls.
Labor backbench MP Craig Thomson, a former health union boss who heads an economics committee in the parliament, has strongly denied using a union credit card to pay for brothel services before he was elected to parliament. Thomson says his signature was forged by a still-unnamed acquaintance.
Local media, led by the Sydney Morning Herald, have reported in detail the use of the credit card for escort services but have not directly linked Thomson to the payments.
Thomson said that he would stand down from his role as the head of the House Economics Committee, which was on Friday to quiz the Reserve Bank governor, as pressure on him mounted over the accusations.
Thomson said in a statement that he was standing down to avoid disrupting the work of the committee.
“I continue to reject claims of wrongdoing. I will continue to serve as a member of the committee as it undertakes its important work,” he said.
Gillard has staunchly defended Thomson, who if convicted of a crime and sentenced to a minimum of one year’s jail would become ineligible to sit in parliament.
That would force a by-election which Labor, whose centrepiece policies of carbon and mining taxes are deeply unpopular, would likely struggle to win.
Police said yesterday that they were launching an inquiry into the claims after an opposition politician supplied them with information on Thomson.
“Shadow attorney-general George Brandis has provided information to police in relation to a number of matters concerning a federal Labor MP,” New South Wales state police said in a statement. “This correspondence has now been referred for internal assessment to determine whether a criminal offence has occurred.”
Gillard said that it would be unfair to comment on new allegations against Thomson while the country’s employment watchdog conducted a separate investigation into the Health Services Union he used to head.
“Let’s remember here in this very parliament we’ve had members of parliament ... investigated by the Australian Federal Police and ultimately the police found they had no case to answer,” Gillard told Australian radio.
Still, the police inquiry will add to Gillard’s woes as she struggles badly in opinion polls.
Fresh elections are not due until 2013.
A Newspoll survey in the Australian newspaper yesterday showed Labor’s popularity has fallen back to record lows, down two points to 27%, while Gillard’s own popularity was down 4% to a catastrophic 29%.
“Is this terminal or can the government come back? There is no (opinion poll) history to match this to suggest we will get a reliable comeback by this government unless there was a major change in the external environment,” said Martin O’Shannessy, chief executive of Newspoll.
“The circuit breaker we are talking about would be an external invasion or something like that ... because the government is in such a poor state,” O’Shannessy told local radio. “If there is no change they will lose 31 seats at the next election ... and be reduced to a rump in parliament.”