I think it's a terrible indictment on our society that a Prime Minister can shut down media enquiry into a story that she didn't want told.

Over the next few days I'll show you new evidence that will tell the story of how she did it.  My reporting on The AWU Scandal had its start in the reporting I did on The HSU Craig Thomson matter.   The two union fraud stories were interwoven for me.

In Part One of The Craig Thomson Enquiry we spoke about the lead-up to this interview with Craig Thomson MP, the member for Dobell.   As you'll see later, I was using the same up-front techniques to flush out Gillard as I did with Thomson.

If you believe someone has done something wrong and you can prove it - then say it.  Boldly.   Demand they answer questions.   Hold them to account.   Give them every opportunity to clear things up.  And if you're right, and if it matters, then never, never give up.  

Question one - how did all the details get on the credit card voucher?

I had this copy of the voucher in my hand

So it wasn't Craig.  He knew it was wrong, but it wasn't him.

Question Two - as boss of the union, did you take any action when you formed the view that it was someone else?

Craig reveals quite a bit in this question.   He says that after his enquiries, another man was identified as having used union money to pay for escort services.   Craig says that the other man was forced to pay the money back to the union.   In this answer, Thomson discloses his understanding that it is wrong to use union money to pay for escort agency services.

Question Three - did you query the entry on your statement for $2,475?  Did you act responsibly with your members' money?

Here's the statement for that month.

Question four - let's get your defamation defence out of the road Craig.

And while you were saying that to me about how you settled the matter, you knew but told no one that the Labor Party had paid your legal fees and Fairfax's costs when you withdrew your law suit.

ALP paid $350,000 for Thomson legal costs

THE NSW Labor Party paid almost $350,000 in legal costs for Craig Thomson before the troubled MP was suspended from the party in May.

More than two-thirds of the amount - $240,000 - was paid to Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Herald, under a settlement reached a year ago when Mr Thomson withdrew defamation action he instituted in 2009.

Another $108,366.87 was to cover Mr Thomson's other legal expenses and some of Labor's own bills related to the case, taking the total the ALP paid to $348,366.87.

The ALP will divulge the figure at its annual state conference next month after internal pressure from the NSW senator John Faulkner, who argued that members had a right to know.

 

Party officials contend that, had the ALP not footed the bills, Mr Thomson could have gone bankrupt. This would have disqualified him from being an MP, caused a byelection and most likely caused the Gillard government to fall.

An extract of a report from NSW Labor's finance committee, being prepared for the state conference, has been obtained by the Herald.

It concludes: "While significant legal expenses were incurred and covered by Craig Thomson, the cost of legal expenses to NSW Labor to provide ongoing financial assistance to cover Mr Thomson's legal expenses, including NSW Labor's own bills in relation to these matters, totalled $348,366.87 ($240,000 of which was a defamation settlement with Fairfax).''

ENDS

 

Thomson had effectively buried that payment from public view by not declaring it in his Members Interest Register until forced to more than a fortnight after the 1 August interview with me.

The issue that will rankle with his supporters in the Labor Party who provided the free money to bail him out is this.   The $100,000 development application filed for Thomson's house in Bateau Bay, filed on 27 July, just 5 days before this interview.

We're about half way through the interview - come back, more soon.