Jeremy Thompson Updated August 19, 2011 14:11:37
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Labor backbencher Craig Thomson is under renewed pressure today, as more allegations emerge about his use of a Health Services Union credit card when he was secretary of the union.
Mr Thomson has admitted to authorising a credit card payment for prostitutes on his union credit card, but says another man had used the card and had later paid $15,000 back to the union.
It has also been alleged Mr Thomson withdrew more than $100,000 from the credit card account to help bankroll his successful election campaign for the NSW central coast seat of Dobell in 2007.
Mr Thomson sued Fairfax newspapers over the allegations, but later dropped the action.
The Labor Party helped Mr Thomson pay a reported $90,000 for the proceedings and the Opposition says if it had not, Mr Thomson would have been declared bankrupt and forced to leave parliament, which would likely cause the fall of the minority Gillard Government.
New reports today allege Fair Work Australia is investigating whether Mr Thomson misled an initial hearing into his credit card use, and claim the card was used to pay for a hotel room in Mr Thomson's name from which calls were made to Melbourne brothels in 2006.
This morning, Mr Thomson denied the reports.
"There are reports yesterday and in the papers last night that are completely untrue," he told reporters at Parliament House.
"I've denied these allegations before. There was nothing there that was new at all."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has stuck by Mr Thomson, twice declaring in parliament he has her confidence.
But the Opposition has attacked Ms Gillard in the Senate, with two senior Opposition senators demanding she fully investigate the allegations against Mr Thompson and sack him if they prove true.
Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey has criticised Mr Thomson, saying the concern is that Mr Thomson is someone who has authorised the payment of union funds for escort services.
"This is the nurses union. Now, nurses work unbelievably hard, pay their union fees, and this fellow authorised the use of those fees to pay for prostitutes," Mr Hockey told Channel 7.
"What does this say? Is he the right sort of person that Julia Gillard should be backing 100 per cent as a member of her team?"
But the government has counter-attacked this morning, raising charges of shoplifting that have been laid against a Liberal South Australian senator, understood by the ABC to be Mary Jo Fisher.
Defence Minister Stephen Smith said people should remain silent until Fair Work Australia hands down the results of its investigation into Mr Thomson, in the same way Labor has been silent over Senator Fisher's charge.
"One of the Liberal Party senators is actually the subject of criminal charges and we have been respectfully silent about that as we let the processes take their course," Mr Smith told ABC News Breakfast.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said: "There are charges against a member of parliament at the moment, but it's not Mr Thomson".
Brothel call claims heap pressure on Labor MP - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
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