But why doesn't he step down, guilty or not guilty his Union and Political Career is screwed. So why doesn't he step out of the light?

i think the part I find hard to believe in the whole government sector is how little accountability there is. If anyone in the private sector so much as misused their credit card on a minor level, there is a disciplinary hearing. They don't get forced to pay it back, they get their asses fired. The whole idea that there is little understanding on what they can't use it for is bull. People know that they can't use a credit card for personal things. It isn't your own private stash of money. Any idiot would know that (apparently being in government qualifies you to be dumber than an idiot) and yet, there is a simple "pay it back when you get caught and nothing happens" out.

I'd like to see a government where people are accountable for their promises and they are measured based on them. Its all fine and well for someone to make promises and then get voted in and do nothing for 4 years (or wait until the final year before they make it look like they are doing something). Why shouldn't they have a job contract like any CEO would have, and get fired when they don't meet their deliverables within a reason timeframe, not 4 years.

The other issue I have is how people with no experience in a particular industry get put in positions where they have no qualifications or skills. Mr X gets pushed into the minister of transport position. What experience does he have with transport? Absolutely zero other than having caught public transport. Is he qualified to make decisions on the inner runnings of public transport? Nope, but apparently he has advisors who tell him what to do. WTF? Just put the advisors in the position and make sure the person doing the job actually understands what they are doing. No corporate would ever put some random in charge of their company who has no industry experience.

Rant over

tmurray said...

- he is almost definitely guilty
- in almost any other parliament he would have 'resigned' long ago, but it may just mean loss of power for labor, so he won't be forced
- the liberals would do exactly the same thing in the same position - only difference is that any liberal spending previous employers money would have been using a private companies funds rather than those of a union representing many of Australias lowest paid workers, hence a little less political mileage
- the libs will not let this go as they think they're getting political points, whilst really the whole affair just lowers even more the public perception of all sides of politics
- the media will not let this go, because they're the media
- the public is sick of the whole thing

- parliament is being bogged down by this - too much discussion on POLITICS and none on POLICY

All your points above are correct and fair... except the last which isn't really accurate.

Question Time is getting definitely bogged down by Libs thowing crap at the government, from Krudd/carbon tax/etc/through to Thompson/Slipper these days. Their main way of doing that is to raise a censure motion. So far they have tried it 57 times. (I think,IIRC). And failed 57 times. So it's obviously an empty threat, it's just a way of hassling the gov, and getting an extra bit of soapbox.

Parliament has actually passed record amounts of legislation and is incredibly effective. Big Issue items that have been dogging successive governments for 10+ years have been resolved. No-one is particularly happy with the deals hammered out, but that's politics - the art of making all sides of the deal equally unhappy.

Parliament is far more than question time, but unfortunately just the juiciest 1 min of QT ends up on TV. Making actual law is dead boring, but someone has to do it.

Also the media chooses to ignore a lot of the real law and policy.

Disabled people finally getting support? Did you hear about that?

How about the budget then? Any other year and it's a huge thing, talked about for weeks. This year it was gone in a day.

A cynic might think that because the budget is Labor's saving grace (It's good, it totally offsets the big scary carbon tax, it's a surplus as promised, and it contains actual detailed fiscal policy which is something Abbott & Hockey have no clue on), didn't the Libs do well to turn on the burners with their stage-managed twin attack just in time to bury the budget so well.

Almost lets the public forget that the world was supposed to end with the introduction of the big scary carbon tax, but hey the average joe's got more money in his pocket so he's actually not that upset, and Abbott's blood oath to repeal it look pretty silly, especially considering he'd be taking back all those budget goodies to do it.

kiteboy dave said...

tmurray said...

- he is almost definitely guilty
- in almost any other parliament he would have 'resigned' long ago, but it may just mean loss of power for labor, so he won't be forced
- the liberals would do exactly the same thing in the same position - only difference is that any liberal spending previous employers money would have been using a private companies funds rather than those of a union representing many of Australias lowest paid workers, hence a little less political mileage
- the libs will not let this go as they think they're getting political points, whilst really the whole affair just lowers even more the public perception of all sides of politics
- the media will not let this go, because they're the media
- the public is sick of the whole thing

- parliament is being bogged down by this - too much discussion on POLITICS and none on POLICY

All your points above are correct and fair... except the last which isn't really accurate.

Question Time is getting definitely bogged down by Libs thowing crap at the government, from Krudd/carbon tax/etc/through to Thompson/Slipper these days. Their main way of doing that is to raise a censure motion. So far they have tried it 57 times. (I think,IIRC). And failed 57 times. So it's obviously an empty threat, it's just a way of hassling the gov, and getting an extra bit of soapbox.

Parliament has actually passed record amounts of legislation and is incredibly effective. Big Issue items that have been dogging successive governments for 10+ years have been resolved. No-one is particularly happy with the deals hammered out, but that's politics - the art of making all sides of the deal equally unhappy.

Parliament is far more than question time, but unfortunately just the juiciest 1 min of QT ends up on TV. Making actual law is dead boring, but someone has to do it.

Also the media chooses to ignore a lot of the real law and policy.

Disabled people finally getting support? Did you hear about that?

How about the budget then? Any other year and it's a huge thing, talked about for weeks. This year it was gone in a day.

A cynic might think that because the budget is Labor's saving grace (It's good, it totally offsets the big scary carbon tax, it's a surplus as promised, and it contains actual detailed fiscal policy which is something Abbott & Hockey have no clue on), didn't the Libs do well to turn on the burners with their stage-managed twin attack just in time to bury the budget so well.

Almost lets the public forget that the world was supposed to end with the introduction of the big scary carbon tax, but hey the average joe's got more money in his pocket so he's actually not that upset, and Abbott's blood oath to repeal it look pretty silly, especially considering he'd be taking back all those budget goodies to do it.

My bad - the LNP is getting bogged down with all this politics and ignoring any actual debate on policy.

You're calling me a moron? You can't spell H-E-R-O, your name's "Boofta", and you think you're better at economics than actual economists.

Now how about you try to play the ball not the man, if you've got something to add about Craig Thompson or Parliament come out with it, otherwise back in your hole mate.

Spot on Safer, the whole system is a joke, and will always be a joke on all sides of politics until Running a country is treated and run like any other business.

The amount of money wasted with retards running the show makes me

Interesting developments on Today Tonight......Tonight. The 60 grand hooker now says she didn't shag Thomson......It was a case of mistaken identity. WTF!!

Maybe Craig Thomson's alter-ego (Craig Thompson) got these guys to knock up his cred card?

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/General-Discussion/Chat/PASSPORT-DRIVING-LICENSE/

Sounds good!! Check out this series of articles. The Author has posted 8 updates on the whole sordid mess....fascinating. independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/thomson-8-the-hsu-family,4170

Er, in case you didn't realise the whole of the NSW ALP is rotten to the core.

Bob Carr ensured that any dissenting voices were removed in 1996, what we are seeing now is a crack of light into the heart of darkness.

Google a few of these Aussie champs

Obeid
Abib
Tripodi

and sitting nicely in government are Carr and Albanese.

It's a bit embarassing as I have Indian friends and they reckon Oz is just as corrupt as Indian, and they're not wrong.

whippingboy said...

Er, in case you didn't realise the whole of the NSW ALP is rotten to the core.

Bob Carr ensured that any dissenting voices were removed in 1996, what we are seeing now is a crack of light into the heart of darkness.

Google a few of these Aussie champs

Obeid
Abib
Tripodi

and sitting nicely in government are Carr and Albanese.

It's a bit embarassing as I have Indian friends and they reckon Oz is just as corrupt as Indian, and they're not wrong.

A bit harsh on Arbib? I only know him as a federal member and he seemed legit to me. And Albanese? And CARR!! or is it that he's Labour and therefore corrupt?

whippingboy said...

Er, in case you didn't realise the whole of the NSW ALP is rotten to the core.

Bob Carr ensured that any dissenting voices were removed in 1996, what we are seeing now is a crack of light into the heart of darkness.

Google a few of these Aussie champs

Obeid
Abib
Tripodi

and sitting nicely in government are Carr and Albanese.

It's a bit embarassing as I have Indian friends and they reckon Oz is just as corrupt as Indian, and they're not wrong.

Wippen, its not just related to left or right side, both sides have a checkered history in that state. Bob Askins mob being the most blatent at it

log man said...

Sounds good!! Check out this series of articles. The Author has posted 8 updates on the whole sordid mess....fascinating. independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/thomson-8-the-hsu-family,4170

Updates 9 and 10 are on the website.

And Kathy Jackson has sacked her lawyer...
www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-08/jackson-sacks-lawyers-in-hsu-court-case/4060984

Busy woman.

Back to the original topic - I'm curious now - the guy's supposed to have spent thousands of dollars on brothel services and not a single witness has come forward to the media. From an industry not exactly known for taking the high moral ground??? I think most people would have some memory of someone throwing cash around like this.

^^^ also according to the 8 part story linked above, I haven't been thru it all but one thing I saw was that apparently that's the bank copy of the slip.
Meaning if it was real he would have never actually been charged that money.
(A bank will never process any other copy. And they won't keep/hand out processed copies either.)

[edit - look really close at the right hand side]