Geoffrey Robertson QC's comments on Thomson on the ABC's QandA program of 16 April, 2012.   FWA's report would not be made public until 7 May 2012.

Note Nicola Roxon's claim that no one in the government knew what was in the confidential FWA report into Thomson.  

We now know that former HSU official turned lawyer Val Gostencnik had a full set of the report and its annexures delivered to him on 3 April.   Gostencnik then took on the brief to act for minister Bill Shorten in a Federal Court Action to have an administrator appointed to run the HSU.   Gostencnik had the secret FWA report and did not disclose that material fact to the court - the other side (Kathy Jackson) had no idea that Gostencnik was acting as a legal adviser to FWA as well as representing Shorten in the court action. 

Attorney General Nicola Roxon sounds less than convincing in saying that Gillard and the government had no idea what was in the FWA report.   No idea at all, your honour.   I swear.

Don't forget all of us have been frustrated about how long the Fair Work Australia process has taken. It has become a highly politicised situation in a Parliament where the numbers are very tight. That's why it has been played so hard, I think, by the Opposition. Fair enough, that's how the numbers are. But we haven't had actually any content. There has been swirling allegations, no one has the report, no one actually is aware what is being alleged in detail. So I think...

TONY JONES: One of the reasons for that is the Prime Minister refuses to look at the report.

NICOLA ROXON: That's not right. The reason for that is Fair Work Australia has not provided that information. It is not public. It is not released.

TONY JONES: But it is going to be released to a Senate committee so it begs the question why the Prime Minister couldn't look at it in advance of that?

NICOLA ROXON: You can't have it both ways. You can't say you should let a process run and it shouldn't be politically interfered with and then say she should interfere and take this particular action.

To recap, the former Industrial Registrar thought there was enough evidence to refer the HSU matter to police in mid-2009.   Julia Gillard's Fair Work Australia took over his responsibilities in July 2009 and things went quiet.

Former union official Michael Lee was appointed Fair Work Australia General Manager and had responsibility for the investigation of the Craig Thomson/HSU enquiry.

After the 2010 election delivered a hung parliament, Thomson's continued presence in parliament became critical to the Gillard Government's survival.

Fair Work Australia did not begin its investigation until 27 March, 2010.   In the 7 months from March 2010 to October 2010, Fair Work Australia interviewed only 12 witnesses and incurred external legal fees of $320,000 in the investigation.

On 24 August 2011 the National Executive of the Health Services Union resolved to lodge a complaint with NSW Police alleging it had been defrauded by Thomson.   Kathy Jackson advised NSW Police that some of the evidence to support the HSU's criminal complaint had been given to Fair Work Australia and she sought Fair Work Australia's assistance in cooperating with police.

On the day Kathy Jackson's complaint as National Secretary of the HSU was taken by police, NSW Police Fraud Squad acting chief Detective Superintendent John Watson wrote to Fair Work Australia GM Tim Leeseeking a meeting to discuss the matter.

Lee refused to meet and briefed the government solicitor and external law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth to draft a letter detailing purported impediments to him meeting with police on the Thomson matter.   The cost of the legal work in the letter was later calculated at $30,3015.

Fair Work Australia as a government agency was answerable to the Senate Estimates Committee hearing evidence from agencies in the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio.

This file containing the minutes and action items at weekly meetings called HSU Strategy show the focus and effort put into preparing for Senate Estimates, it's the only time any sense of urgency or deliverable result is mentioned.

Senate Estimates hearings for the Fair Work agency were planned for October, 2011.   NSW Police had written to General Manager Lee on 24 and 25 August seeking co-operation and had been told Fair Work Australia would not meet with them by letter on 26 August 2011.  

Here are the redacted minutes of the Fair Work Australia HSU Strategy meeting of 25 August, 2011.

It was to be General Manager Tim Lee's last.