Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Much has been said about the member for Dobell's activities regarding his credit card usage. Today I would like to focus on some local issues about political integrity that are very pertinent to the people of Dobell. Julia Gillard promised new standards of transparency and integrity. We are not seeing that in relation to the member for Dobell.

Firstly, can I say how appalled I was at the member for Dobell's actions at the Mingara Recreation Club on 13 August 2011. I was present during the Save our Clubs rally Central Coast event at that club. The meeting was very antagonistic towards the Gillard government's mandatory precommitment. Very strong views were expressed. There were hundreds of people in the auditorium and more in the foyer watching on the screen. To say they were angry is an under­statement. Speakers at the rally included the member for Robertson, Deb O'Neill; the member for Shortland, Jill Hall; and the member for Dobell, Craig Thomson. Other speakers included Peter Newell, President of Clubs Australia; rugby league great Steve Mortimer; Minister Chris Hartcher; and me.

During the question time Mr Thomson made certain comments about the Howard government to which I took great exception. I put up my hand and was given the call by the MC, local businesswoman and com­munity worker Ms Louise Duff. I strongly refuted the comments made by Mr Thomson. I questioned how anyone could believe anything the member for Dobell said. I said that if there was anyone there who had a credibility problem it was Craig Thomson. There was rousing applause and cheers at my comments. The meeting then concluded. It was after that that a most appalling exchange occurred. It was witnessed by Mr Jeremy Bath, media spokesman for ClubsNSW. In a statutory declaration dated 15 August 2011 he stated:

On the 13th of August at approximately 3.50pm, I witnessed Craig Thomson and then (Labor Shortland MP) Jill Hall stand from the speaker's table and walk to a person who I later learned was Louise Duff.

Mr Thomson stood over Ms Duff who had just returned to her seat, and made the following comments 'You are a disgrace. Your career is finished. I am going to publicly name you in parliament'.

Ms Hall, (who) was standing behind him, also witnessed the words and added: 'Yeah, do that'.

I approached Ms Duff to ascertain her wellbeing. She was upset, wiping tears and said to me 'Craig Thomson just spat in my face'.

I note that the member for Shortland, Jill Hall, has also made a statutory declaration, in defence of Mr Thomson, which refutes that of Mr Bath.

"I was with Mr Craig Thomson the whole time that he spoke with Ms Louise Duff," Ms Hall wrote.

"At no stage did Mr Thomson behave inappropriately. At no time did I see (him) threaten Ms Duff, nor did I see Ms Duff in tears."

There is clearly a discrepancy between what Mr Bath saw and what Ms Hall asserts. It also appears to contradict the reports from the many witnesses at the club referred to by the Daily Telegraph on 15 August 2011. I also spoke to Ms Duff as I was leaving the Mingara club. Two other people were present. Ms Duff relayed to me what happened. Ms Duff was visibly upset and in tears. She was very concerned about being named in parliament and the effect that this would have on her and her business. I explained to her that there were avenues open to her to respond, in the event that Mr Thomson did take any such action.

Mr Thomson apologised for his action. In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald on 22 August, Paul Sheehan quotes Ms Duff:

I think the right thing to do is move on and not discuss the matter further, but the fact that he apologised to me meant he knew he was in the wrong.

Of course he was in the wrong. Someone is lying here and I will leave it to the Australian people to work out who precisely is lying. I will respect Ms Duff's desire to move on and will not elaborate further, suffice it to ask two questions. Did Ms Gillard seek an explanation from Mr Thomson as to his disgraceful behaviour towards Ms Duff? If so, what action did Ms Gillard take about this matter ?

I turn to the latest chapter in the Thomson saga which we saw revealed in today's Daily Telegraph. This is a grubby tale of broken promises, threats and a job for the ex-wife with unemployed youth on the Central Coast being the bargaining chip. Not only does Craig Thomson send an email lobbying a Central Coast firm to give his ex-wife a job at the same time as they are seeking federal funding for a jobs incubator but, when things do not go his way, he gets nasty and he starts making threats.

How the Prime Minister can continue to stand by this man is truly beyond compre­hension. Let us go back and see how this grubby episode has unravelled. Labor made a $2.5 million election commitment at the 2007 election to establish a GP superclinic in the northern part of Dobell. On 22 April 2009, the Department of Health and Ageing announced a funding agreement with Warnervale Medical Services Pty Ltd to establish the $20 million clinic at Warnervale. A development application was lodged on 3 December 2009 which included a hospital with a series of interconnected two- to three-storey buildings, consulting rooms and a range of ancillary services, a chemist, a cafe and a large parking station. A deferred commencement consent was issued on 29 June. The application was determined by the Hunter and Central Coast Joint Regional Planning Panel due to the value of the project exceeding $10 million. The consent became operational on 22 September.

Sometime later the proponents made a decision based on the financing of the project to rearrange the building schedule to something smaller for approximately $9 million at stage 1 with an intention that the balance of the work be completed in around five year's time. Since that time there have been amendments to the original proposal. We have gone from a $15 million, 7,000-square-metre project with staff of 106 to a proposal of $9 million for 81 staff to the stage 1 application currently before Wyong council with a cost of only $4 million at 1,600 square metres with only 45 staff and only five GPs and a temporary car park. It may take—wait for it—at least five years before stage 2 is completed. Many of the allied health measures promised in the initial agreement are no longer part of the applica­tion. Meanwhile the GP superclinic has been operating in a temporary facility since March 2010. I will not traverse yet again the debacle that the GP superclinic rollout has been. This is only another startling example of that debacle.

When the issue was debated at a recent council meeting, the project manager was asked how many doctors the current temporary clinic has. He said 2.5 doctors. When asked how many doctors the new GP superclinic will have when it opens sometime in the never-never, the project manager said four doctors. This is only 1.5 doctors for a growing area and little return for the $2.5 million in taxpayers' money more than three years after it was announced with absolutely no guarantee that the full project will ever be completed. Despite the debacle, Mr Thomson has been trying to lay the blame solely at the feet of Wyong councillors.

Enter the second promise: the job incubator project and the Central Coast Group Training centre. This centre has a proud 30-year record of helping kids on the Central Coast through apprenticeships and traineeships in an area which has very high youth unemployment. On 22 June 2009, armed with a letter of support from Craig Thomson, the centre applied for funding under Jobs Fund round 1. It was rejected on 11 December 2009. The centre applied for funding under round 2 and again was unsuccessful. So it was with much anticipa­tion and excitement that the centre received the news of the visit from Minister Anthony Albanese and Craig Thomson to the Central Coast Group Training centre where, with great fanfare, they announced a funding commitment of $2.7 million to build the skills centre at Wyong to house and nurture start-up businesses under the group's supervision. The memento of the happy occasion appears on page 4 of today's Daily Telegraph. In the statement dated 20 July 2010 Mr Albanese stated:

This state-of-the-art facility is about tackling youth unemployment …

He goes on that it:

… will be established and operated by Central Coast Group Training and owned by Wyong Shire Council.

Mr Thomson endorsed the commitment, welcomed the funding and said:

We are committed to moving the local economy forward by creating jobs and training opportunities for young people.

Of course, the ALP statement goes on to talk about the business and what the business will do. It will be worth a total of $4.6 million with the Wyong Shire Council contributing the land and the training group providing the funding. This announcement was warmly welcome by the Mayor of Wyong Shire Council, Doug Eaton, who is chairman of Central Coast Training Centre, and Councillor Greg Best, who is the CEO. Both are tireless workers for the Wyong community. The local newspaper reported Mr Thomson's comments at the announcement:

The Centre is the coast's most progressive employment initiative, a pilot program that will be keenly reviewed with a view to establishing further Skills Centres.

Of course, he refers to 42 per cent youth unemployment on the coast. Then it was with some surprise that in March 2011, as the centre was in the process of putting their application together, they received an approach from Mr Thomson as to whether the centre would have a job available for his ex-wife Christa Thomson. In fact, on 11 March Mr Thomson used his parliamentary email to send Christa Thomson's resume and contact phone number to the centre. The email reads:

Hi Alison, here is Christa's resume as discussed. I will get her to give you a call on—

the number—

Regards, Craig Thomson

Naturally the centre did not interview Ms Thompson for a position. How totally inappropriate! What arrogance from this man! It is clear what he was trying to do. He was trying to influence them—and was holding the funding over their heads—to give his ex-wife a job. Now, despite all the fine words of Mr Albanese and Mr Thomson, and more than 12 months after the funding was announced, the promised $2.7 million has not materialised. And so the two broken promises come together.

I do not know what is motivating Craig Thomson, but he has now gone and linked the jobs incubator to the GP superclinic—despite all those protestations about his worries about high unemployment. On 13 July this year, the council unanimously endorsed a motion about the failure of the Gillard government to deliver on the Warnervale GP superclinic. On 14 July, Councillor Best went on local radio to talk about this superclinic motion. At 6.10 that morning, Craig Thomson sent him a text message which said:

bye bye job incubator

Shameful! The mayor subsequently informed the general manager of Wyong Council about the threat and formally referred the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption for investigation. Mr Thomson of course has form in sending text messages—time precludes me from delving further today.

Senator Ronaldson interjecting—

But wait, there might be more, Senator Ronaldson. The question is: has Craig Thomson interfered with the proper process of consideration for the funding? In 2009 he signed the letter of support, yet two years on—no funding. This threat to stop the funding comes at a very interesting time, on the eve of two important events. Firstly, a funding submission has just been lodged with DEEWR, on Monday, 22 August, again to try and get the promised money. Secondly, the application for the GP superclinic is coming before council tonight. Funny about that! This is on top of the unsuccessful request for a position for his ex-wife. What is motivating the actions? Could it be retaliation? Could it be retribution? Could it be payback? It certainly is not the wellbeing of his constituents. In fact, on 21 July the local paper did make this reference:

… Federal Labor MP Craig Thomson threatened to pull funding for a job incubator project in Wyong Shire as "payback" against Councillor Greg Best who has been speaking out about the GP super clinic and delays surrounding it.

Meanwhile, the Central Coast still does not have its GP superclinic. It probably will not have it for nine years. It certainly does not have its job incubator centre.

Interestingly enough, on 31 August the Prime Minister was supposed to open the biggest ever engineering project on the Central Coast—apart from the work on the F3. But now she has decided to decline the invitation. 'Yes, I am coming,' she said, but now she is not coming. She is sending the parliamentary secretary. Why? Because she does not have the guts to turn up and face the people of Dobell, to face the difficult questions about her conduct, the conduct of her government and the conduct of the member for Dobell. Meanwhile, Labor insiders are starting to lose patience with the member for Dobell— (Time expired)