guilty

seeking more information

even Laurie oaks

so you believe thomson is 100% innocent and has done nothing wrong???????

grow up you fucken noodle......

Wong's affirmation of gay families 'a watershed'

May 18, 2012 - 4:40PM

Read later.The exchange between Penny Wong and Joe Hockey on Q&A this week about gay parents is only about two and half minutes long.

Prompted by an audience question about why the shadow treasurer thinks he and his wife make better parents than the Finance Minister and her female partner, the segment ends with Wong quietly but firmly declaring: "I know what my family is worth".

It may only be brief but activists are calling the exchange a ''watershed moment'' in their campaign for same-sex marriage – both allowing people to understand the debate at a personal level and demonstrating its status as a mainstream political issue.

On Tuesday, Wong's response trended on Twitter and the clip has had more than 71,000 views on YouTube (up from 53,000 this time yesterday). A company has even started selling "I know what my family is worth" t-shirts and stickers.

The National Times understands that Wong and her office were overwhelmed by calls and messages of support immediately after her Q&A appearance and that the messages continued into the week – a rare occurrence as the Finance Minister does not seek to campaign publicly on the gay marriage issue.

But Wong was not expecting such a personal question on Monday night – as is clear from her look of surprise and intake of breath when the question was asked. And then from her off-the-cuff response to Hockey's answer.

The shadow treasurer certainly squirmed under the spotlight of live national TV.

"I must confess my views have changed since I've had children", he said. "I think in this life we've got to aspire to give our children what I believe is the very best circumstances, and that's to have a mother and a father.''

In response, Wong began with: ''Well, there's almost nothing I can say.''

''When you say those things, Joe, what you're saying to not just me but people like me is that the most important thing in our lives, which is the people we love, is somehow less good, less valued,'' she said.

Wong went on to acknowledge that comments like Hockey's were hurtful, but concluded by saying: ''I know what my family is worth.''

Australian Marriage Equality campaign co-ordinator Rodney Croome has been a gay rights activist for more than 20 years and sees Wong's appearance as a "watershed moment" that will change hearts and minds.

This week, he says that AME have seen their web traffic double with people either getting in touch to offer messages of support or contact an MP via their website.

Croome says that even though Wong's appearance came off the back of US President Barack Obama's support for gay marriage last week, more people have been citing Wong as their reason for their messages.

"It was only a very short exchange, but I feel that it will have a tremendous impact,'' Croome says, noting that those contacting AME tend to be both older and straight. "It really struck a chord".

Croome says Wong's ''gentle, quiet, self-confidence'' also illustrates the importance of personal stories for making a difference in the same-sex marriage debate.

"People saw beyond the politics to how it actually affects people," he said.

Equal Love convenor Ali Hogg - who organised a rally of 4000 people for same-sex marriage in Melbourne last weekend - said that it was rare to hear a politician speak from the heart.

"When someone says something so offensive in front of her [Wong's] face, it's a bit hard for her to just pull out the party line," Hogg says.

GetUp! national director Simon Sheikh says that he has also noticed an increase in people getting in touch and engaging in social media over the past week, which he thinks is due to a combination of Obama and Wong's statements.

Sheikh was not expecting the same-sex marriage campaign to rev up until next month, with the expected release of a Senate committee report. But he says that Wong and Obama have fired up the campaign and showed that it is a mainstream issue.

"This has provided fantastic momentum," he says.

"I think we're finally reaching the moment in the public debate where it looks like the Emperor's got no clothes."

He says people can expect more high-profile Australians, like comedian Magda Szubanski, to ''come out'' in coming months, in support of the campaign.

But Sheikh is realistic about the chances of same-sex marriage legislation – due in the parliament at the end of the year – passing the House of Representatives this time around.

He sees the campaign as a "multi-year" one, and says that GetUp! is aiming to get a majority of Labor MPs voting in favour of same-sex marriage.

Even though Prime Minister Julia Gillard does not support same-sex marriage, Labor MPs will get a conscience vote. But with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott both opposed to gay marriage and a conscience vote, it is highly unlikely the bill will succeed.

But with recent polls putting support for gay marriage legislation at more than 60 per cent, this may be one example where the Parliament lags behind the voters.




Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/wongs-affirmation-of-gay-families-a-watershed-20120518-1yv89.html#ixzz1vE73UUUN

.News
Galaxy poll finds no Julia Gillard Government MP would survive election in Queensland, with 23% primary vote

by: Steven Scott, Anna Caldwell From: The Courier-Mail May 19, 2012

QUEENSLANDERS are waiting to smash Labor out of the state.

Support for federal Labor has collapsed to a mere 23 per cent in Queensland, the latest Galaxy poll conducted exclusively for The Courier-Mail shows.

No federal Labor MPs would be left in the Sunshine State if this result were repeated at the next election.

And the majority of voters say this humiliation would be just desserts for Labor.

Almost 60 per cent of respondents to the poll said Labor deserved to be reduced to a rump of one or two seats in Queensland.

Under Julia Gillard, Labor's primary vote has, for the second time, fallen to the lowest level recorded in the history of the Galaxy poll.

The 23 per cent primary vote marks a slump of more than 10 points since the last election.

It's a decline of seven points since the last state-based federal poll in November and takes Labor back to its low recorded in a Galaxy poll last August.

The Liberal National Party primary vote is now at 56 per cent. This would see Labor crushed in Queensland by 64 per cent to 36 per cent on a two-party-preferred basis, assuming preference flows from the past election.

The collapse in support suggests federal Labor has not gained any benefit after voters took out their anger on former premier Anna Bligh in March.

Galaxy chief David Briggs said the dire poll for federal Labor was in line with the two-party preferred figure observed in the state election.

"Support for the federal Labor Party has slumped in Queensland. Voters look like they are prepared to give Julia Gillard's federal team the same treatment that was meted out to the Bligh government in the recent state election," Mr Briggs said. The poll surveyed 800 people across Queensland last Tuesday and Wednesday.

It came just over a week after the Government used its Budget to promise $5 billion in new handouts to ease cost-of-living pressures for families and people on low incomes.

In the same week, the Government starting running advertisements promoting its coming suite of tax cuts and welfare boosts designed to compensate for the carbon tax.

But community opposition to the carbon tax appears to be growing stronger as the July 1 start date approaches.

Only 25 per cent of voters supported the carbon tax and 72 were opposed, the poll found.

Among Labor supporters, a small majority of 54 per cent supported the carbon tax. But among the LNP supporters who Labor needs to win over, only 8 per cent backed the tax.

Opinions have hardened in the nine months since a Galaxy poll in August found 28 per cent supported the tax and 67 per cent were opposed.

Why Julia will never win our hearts


AUSTRALIA is set to never love Julia Gillard. That's the verdict of marketing experts who say the Prime Minister has trashed her personal brand beyond repair.

While other politicians have bounced back from serious scandals, Julia Gillard's fight is all but lost because Australians don't know what she stands for, experts warn.

The brand trouble began when she knifed her boss Kevin Rudd, but things only got worse when she won a tricky minority government.

"Winning minority government meant she had to appease so many stakeholders," psychologist Adam Ferrier said. "It meant making promises to certain people and breaking them to appease others.

"This creates the general perception that she is not true to her word and will not stand by her convictions and that she is playing politics instead of setting a vision. It means she appears conniving and her brand is now a lost cause."

Ms Gillard has been accused of backflipping over issues such as a carbon tax and criticised for her treatment of scandal-plagued backbencher Craig Thomson.

Mr Ferrier said problems faced by politicians such as former US president Bill Clinton and former PM John Howard were not terminal because their problems fitted with their brand and did not create confusion about what they stood for.

"Clinton got away with his salacious behaviour because it wasn't at odds with his charismatic personality. In a way, it built into his brand," Mr Ferrier said. "And while Howard was often disliked, the way he was disliked built into his brand - you always knew what he stood for."

QUT marketing expert Edwina Luck said political marketing and branding was critical given the rise of the swinging voter.

Dr Luck said Ms Gillard suffered from not being accessible to the public and not showing her true self.

"She is not coming across as warm, she is not showing off her true persona, and that has harmed her image," Dr Luck said. Changing the perception of Ms Gillard's image was "very very difficult".

"It's going to take much more than the delivery of promises because people don't see her as real and accessible," she said.

Dr Luck said Ms Gillard needed to relax in front of the camera and do more interviews where voters could see her as a real person.

However, she warned taking to Twitter too forcefully could see her labelled simply a Kevin Rudd copycat.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/support-plummets-to-bitter-low/story-e6freuy9-1226360839543

even Laurie oaks believes he is guilty of the cab rort, the mis use of fund and using union funds to buy hookers.......what is there not to believe??????

I couldn't give a rats ass if Laurie thinks he is guilty. Innocent until proven guilty is my view.

Sums up the view of Qlders perfectly. I have no respect for her from what she has done to Rudd, along with some other issues. If they don't change their tune we will put her out on her ass like Bligh. I assume Rudd will win his seat up here. Imagine the irony if Rudd had the only seat in QLD. With this said I don't think I will be voting for Abbott. He has done nothing constructive in opposition.

Craig Thomson sheds tears during speech to parliament

by: Staff writers, AAP From: Herald Sun May 21, 2012 4:26PM

UPDATE: CRAIG Thomson shed tears in Parliament today as he recounted the pressure of media attention before accusing a Health Services Union (HSU) official of threatening to ruin his political ambitions by setting him up with "hookers".

..In his first address to Parliament about allegations that he visited brothels on a HSU credit card before he became an MP, Mr Thomson said he had many enemies in the HSU who did not like it when he became secretary and tried to make the union's finances more transparent and accountable.

"I was the subject on numerous occasions of threats and intimidation," Mr Thomson, the member for Dobell, said during his 58-minute speech.

He said a particular threat came from union official Marco Bolano, who had told him he would seek to ruin Mr Thomson's prospects of a political career by setting him up with "hookers".

He said the threat was witnessed by "many people" and he had made a written complaint to senior HSU officials.

Mr Thomson said that some years later the now suspended union president Michael Williamson had said in front of several witnesses that "this is the way we deal with people in the Health Services Union when we have problems".

The MP said he had alibis for occasions mentioned in the Fair Work Australia report when he was alleged to have paid for escort services.

In a statement after his speech, Mr Bolano described Mr Thomson’s claims as “fantastic and dishonest”.

He questioned why Mr Thomson had not named him earlier, and had never named him to police.

Mr Bolano said the Mr Thomson should take responsibility for his own actions and considered the impact of his choices on the union and its members.

“It disturbs me to watch Mr Thomson drowning in a river of delusion,” he said.

“For the sake of his wife and family, I hope that Mr Thomson one day grasps a branch of reality, rather than be swept away.

“Only then may he hopefully find some redemption and start to move on with his life.”


Mr Thomson urged authorities to "get the footage" to prove once and for all who was at the brothels.

"I raised this issue two years ago with Fair Work Australia," he said.

"Get the footage see who was there on those days."

The FWA report found Mr Thomson - the former national secretary of the HSU from 2002 until his election as a Labor MP in 2007 - misused almost $500,000 in members' funds on escort services, cash withdrawals and electioneering.

Mr Thomson has denied any wrongdoing and vowed to fight the alleged contraventions of workplace laws and union rules in the Federal Court.

He is expected to call Victorian police to seek any tapes that may still exist, insisting his face will not be among those involved in the alleged union-funded sex romps.

Thomson slams media

Mr Thomson's emotions caught him off guard while he recounted an instance in which Channel 7 reporters allegedly camped outside his bathroom window while his pregnant wife was showering.

"There's a great responsibility that comes with reporting. You need to take that seriously," he said.

"(The media is one) obsessed with titillation, hounding individuals, and without giving credence to anything said by the person in the spotlight."

"I have to say you haven't done a very good job."

Channel Seven denied the allegation, saying it was the first time they had heard of the apparent incident.

Mr Thomson accused FWA vice president Michael Lawler of interfering in the investigation into his role as HSU national secretary.

Mr Thomson said the FWA investigation had been biased.

Speaking under parliamentary privilege, Mr Thomson said the role of Mr Lawler - the partner of his successor and “main accuser”, HSU national secretary Kathy Jackson - should be looked at.

“The better question if you are looking at interference and the questions that need to be answered, relate to Ms Jackson's partner,” the sidelined Labor MP said.

“Rarely has it been raised in the media that her partner (Mr Lawler) is the second in charge of Fair Work Australia. (He) didn't stand aside.”

He said it was “strange” that both Mr Lawler and FWA investigator Terry Nassios were both on leave at the moment.

Mr Thomson said he had written to the FWA general manager last year asking for Mr Nassios to be removed from the inquiry.

"Mr Nassios ... was selective and biased," he told Parliament.

Mr Thomson singled out alleged perks Ms Jackson received, including a union paid-for Volvo, gym membership and childcare.

He told Parliament she collected fees for sitting on the HESTA superannuation board but rarely attended meetings.

Ms Jackson quit the position when the union decided it should be pocketing the board fees, Mr Thomson said.

She got an $84,000 golden handshake from her union branch when it formed the HSU East Branch, he said.

Mr Thomson said she was accused of paying money to contractors and then receiving it back privately.

But he also said she was entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Ms Jackson later said she was "gobsmacked" Mr Thomson's address to parliament, saying he didn't address the issue of missing union funds.

Ms Jackson says Mr Thomson used his speech as a smokescreen to divert attention away from the findings of the FWA investigation.

"I can't believe how pathetic he is," Ms Jackson said.

"He didn't address the issues about the money (which) the public and the membership were expecting him to do.

"All he tried to do is tear me down."

Ms Jackson denied Mr Thomson's claims that she received various perks after succeeding him at the HSU, including a doubling of her salary within weeks of his departure.

"My salary was not increased until May of last year," she said.

"I reject all his claims as false, pathetic and delusional that he makes against me and others."

In his address, Mr Thomson said he only ever had one interview with FWA, two years ago.

"I myself had only one interview with Fair Work Australia close to two years ago. That was it," he said.

Phone calls 'conspiracy'

Mr Thomson said he wanted to help "the CSI journalists" in the press gallery, a reference to the popular US police television show.

"They make all these assumptions, rather than report issues that are really there," he said.

Mr Thomson spoke of a conspiracy theory surrounding calls allegedly made on his mobile phone, saying it was easy to intercept phone calls and police acknowledge it is a common practice by criminals.

"Certainly, if you're looking to set someone up it is a very easy process," he said, producing a wad of printouts from websites on how to intercept phone numbers.

Mr Thomson said FWA failed to investigate the possibility of his phone being intercepted.

He referred to a phone call made from his mobile at Bateau Bay, on the NSW Central Coast, to an escort service.

Mr Thomson said he did not move to Bateau Bay until 2009 - four years after the call was made from Bateau Bay.

The union itself had paid him his full entitlements and money in relation to a defamation case he had launched against them, Mr Thomson said.

"The union has never written to me, never commenced an action, never said Mr Thomson, you owe us money, never put anything in writing," he said.

"Not even got an email saying Mr Thomson 'you have ripped off the union, you owe us this money'.

"I've not had one bit of correspondence setting that out."

Up to the courts

The acting president of the Health Services Union said only a court could clear the name of Mr Thomson.

Chris Brown, who listened to the speech, said anyone who thought Mr Thomson's statement would clear up the matter was "kidding themselves".

"The only way this is really going to get sorted is for an independent body such as a court of law to examine all the evidence, to test the evidence and make the decision as to whether Craig Thomson is guilty or innocent," he told ABC television.

"Until that happens we are not going to know."

Former Labor powerbroker Graham Richardson said in a Twitter message that Mr Thomson had failed to go into any specific details "because those specifics just hang him every time, so he just generalises".

"At the end of the day, he didn't do himself much good," Mr Richardson said.

"What he did show us is that he can put together a speech, he's got an IQ over fifty and he can have a real go."

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/thomson-show-me-the-dirty-tapes/story-fn7x8me2-1226361707973

agree , but to batfink he is guilty , hell he probably thought the labour mp in victoria that got charged for rape is guilty even when his accuser got charged for forgery in greece and lying to the courts

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/8471106/oakeshott-doubts-thomsons-claims