Phillip Coorey, Anna Patty, Sean Nicholls
August 26, 2011THE besieged Gillard government has accused the opposition of attempted political interference in the Craig Thomson case.
With the NSW Fraud Squad not expected to announce until next week if it will launch an investigation into allegations of credit card misuse by Mr Thomson during his time as the national secretary of the Health Services Union, legal experts have questioned whether a criminal offence had occurred.
Senior Labor figures in Victoria have threatened recriminations against the HSU. Sources said they were looking at ways to deal with the union.
Daryl Melham and Craig Thomson yesterday. Photo: Andrew Meares
Ian Dobinson, a criminal law lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney, said it was unlikely Mr Thomson would face a fraud charge under the NSW Crimes Act as suggested by the federal shadow attorney-general, George Brandis.
It would need to be proven there had been dishonest deception in the way a financial advantage had been obtained, and this was unlikely to be proven.
''This position is based on the facts as we currently know them and at best what we have now is an inappropriate use of a union credit card [just another type of corporate credit card],'' he said.
''He may be in breach of union rules and even Fair Work provisions but there is no fraud.''
Alex Steel, an associate professor of law at the University of NSW, said Senator Brandis had demonstrated a poor understanding of NSW law by suggesting charges of larceny and fraud under s 192E of the NSW Crimes Act.
Larceny charges applied only to the taking of physical property, not to credit card debts.
Fraudulent appropriation only applies if a person has obtained physical property honestly but later dishonestly decides to keep it or ask for a reward. Embezzlement would not apply to the incurring of credit card debts or the obtaining of services.
Under fire again yesterday, the government pounced on revelations in the Herald that on Friday last week, Senator Brandis rang the NSW Police Minister, Mike Gallacher, to tell him he was going to refer the matter to the police.
Mr Gallacher then rang the Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione, who later announced the matter was being assessed.
Senator Brandis and Mr Gallacher argued yesterday the phone calls were courtesy calls only but the government implied pressure had been brought to bear.
''Senator Brandis has dialled up a Liberal Party mate … and then that person has called the Police Commissioner,'' Julia Gillard said.
The Premier, Barry O'Farrell, defended Mr Gallacher. ''Contacting the police commissioner to say he is about to get a
letter from a senator, there's no impropriety being suggested there and I don't think there's an issue,'' he said, adding: ''I stand beside my Police Minister''.
Mr Gallacher told the NSW Parliament Senator Brandis had informed him ''out of courtesy'' he intended to write to Mr Scipione. ''I told him writing to the commissioner directly was the correct course of action,'' he said.
Soon after, on Friday night, he was attending a police dinner which Mr Scipione could not attend as he was recovering from a medical procedure and called him to ''check on his recovery''.
''During the course of that conversation I indicated as a courtesy that [Senator Brandis] was going to write to him regarding the Thomson matter,'' he said.
''The commissioner indicated that if he did receive any correspondence it would be treated like any other referral.''
He explained he called Senator Brandis again on Saturday afternoon to inform him to write directly to Mr Scipione.
Ms Gillard did not answer directly when asked if she believed Mr Thomson but said she maintained confidence in him.
She accused the opposition of ''stinking hypocrisy''. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, said the Prime Minister lacked integrity.
The police are assessing material referred to them by Senator Brandis and the union.
The union's national secretary, Kathy Jackson, told the ABC she believed the use of the credit card for prostitutes and other unauthorised services was a crime.
Senior Labor figures in Victoria were considering a possible ban on the HSU from taking part in the party's key policy and powerbroking forum, the state conference. They were looking at using the union's alleged failure to file audited reports to Fairwork Australia as a pretext for its exclusion from the conference.
with Royce Millar
