Below is my report from 25 July this year verbatim.   In the context of the Labor Party settling Mr McArdle's claim for money owing to him I think the issue bears examination.   As I reported then and as I told Senator Dastyari at the time

"I had been told by a senior caucus member of the Federal Parliament that Craig Thomson had said that the Labor Party could have his vote on Stephen Conroy's media legislation if it paid his then outstanding legal bills".

I have a good deal of detail of the time, date, place and effect of Mr Thomson absenting himself from the parliamentary precinct one evening during the week of the media legislation debate.

UPDATE ENDS - ORIGINAL REPORT FROM 25 July 2013 follows

Craig Thomson in his new tshirt that says he's being doing things or something like that.

At about 10.30AM on 3 May 2013 I spoke with Sam Dastyari the State Secretary of the NSW Labor Party.   I told him that I had been told by a senior caucus member of the Federal Parliament that Craig Thomson had said that the Labor Party could have his vote on Stephen Conroy's media legislation if it paid his then outstanding legal bills.   Mr Dastyari said that while he was not present in Canberra, he had been told a similar thing.

I was told that Mr Thomson was under financial pressure and that he was looking to the Labor Party to pay his legal bills.

Mr Dastyari exaplained the Labor had paid about $360,000 in legal bills for Thomson.  Thomson was suspended from the Party in April, 2012.

On 20 March, 2013, Craig Thomson's Lawyer Chris McArdle swore and lodged this affidavit in the Fair Work Australia matter before the Federal Court.

In it he described Mr Thomson's financial position and Mr McArdle also included this reference to how much time he has to devote to publicity for Mr Thomson.

You might also recall that around this time  Craig Thomson was at the time in Bali on a holiday.

Yesterday Chris McArdle filed a law suit against the Labor Party and named its state secretary Sam Dastyari as a second defendant.  Mr McArdle claims that the Labor Party had this year agreed directly with him to pay legal fees on behalf of Mr Thomson.

I have spoken with Sam Dastyari today who characterises this claim by Mr McArdle as a try-on.   He says that he and the Labor Party are happy to have the matter spoken about in the media as it diminishes any leverage Mr McArdle might feel he has.  

Labor and Mr Dastyari will defend the claim against each of them.

The gala event of the year is on tonight, the Craig Thomson Legal Defence Fund Dinner and Speech Night with drinks at bar prices.

I'll speak with NSW Police to see what arrangements have been made for crowd control.