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The Age


Mixed emotions ... more than 50% of voters feel that the opposition's pursuit of Craig Thomson was reasonable or did not go far enough. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
MORE than 50 per cent of voters believe the opposition's pursuit of Craig Thomson was either reasonable or did not go far enough, while fewer than one-third feel the Coalition has overstepped the mark.

The findings are contained in the latest Fairfax/Nielsen poll, which sampled 1400 voters from Thursday to Saturday last week.

The past fortnight of Parliament has been dominated by Mr Thomson, now an independent MP after being exiled from Labor over allegations he misused almost $500,000 in members' funds while he was national secretary of the Health Services Union.

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Already the subject of two police investigations, a now-completed inquiry by Fair Work Australia, pending Federal Court action and a hearing by Parliament's privileges committee, Mr Thomson pleaded recently for an end to his pursuit by the Coalition and the media. He questioned whether the intention was to drive him to the brink.

This fuelled concerns about Mr Thomson's wellbeing and sparked a greater debate about the decline in civility in politics.

The poll found that while there was significant concern about the treatment of Mr Thomson, it did not reflect the majority view.

Of those polled, 31 per cent thought the opposition had gone too far, 37 per cent believed its pursuit of the MP had been ''reasonable'' while 16 per cent said it had ''not gone far enough''.

The various views reflect political allegiances. Greens and Labor voters - 48 per cent apiece - believed the attacks had gone too far while only 16 per cent of Coalition voters were of this view.

Conversely, 29 per cent of Labor voters and 27 per cent of Greens voters believed the pursuit had been reasonable, compared with 48 per cent of Coalition voters.

And only 7 per cent of Labor voters and 9 per cent of Greens voters said it had not gone far enough, compared with 24 per cent of Coalition voters.

The tenacity of the opposition attacks is believed to have contributed to a slump in the approval rating for Tony Abbott, in Newspoll and today's Fairfax poll.

Meanwhile, Mr Thomson's supporters in the union's internal battle are keen to turn the spotlight on the supposed whistleblower, Kathy Jackson.

In February, the Herald reported an email alleging Ms Jackson had laundered money through a colleague's bank account, which Ms Jackson emphatically denied.

Six weeks later, expenditure by Ms Jackson was referred to Victoria Police by the union's acting general secretary, Peter Mylan.

Documentation on those transactions have been leaked in recent days but the police had declined to investigate, telling Ms Jackson there had ''not been a complaint of criminal behaviour''.

The transactions related to the HSU's Victoria Three branch, which Ms Jackson headed before it merged with other branches to form the powerful HSU East branch.



Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/majority-has-no-sympathy-for-thomson-20120603-1zq53.html#ixzz1wwqhqMNC



the article doesnt say what the question was.. but to my tiny brain it went something like this..

do you think the opposition attack on THOMO has gone too Far.. boom boom.

pushed to the bring my aunt fanny!


lets have a good look at those who are trying to turn this into Jackson evil THOMO good..

she doesnt look clueless.. which would be the only reason she would bring this to the attention of FWA if she herself was guilty of the same corruption..

its a shame she isnt entitled to her day in parliament as well.

seeing as how we know who is behind this amazing kill the messenger slander.

The opposition has known about Thomson for 4 yrs and said nothing until they figured they could grab power from his demise.
No one comes out of this with the high moral ground.

cods wrote on Jun 6^th, 2012 at 8:07am:


I voted for the Greens the last few elections so "my side" has nothing to do with it.

longweekend58 wrote on Jun 5^th, 2012 at 9:44am:


I don't know how the question was worded, therefore I do not trust the result of the poll.

You and your reactionary camp followers also don't know how the question was worded, but do trust the result because it tells you what you want to hear.

Get the difference, now?

Maybe the question should have been

Married family man and SA Liberal MP and Minister Mark Brindle was caught red handed shagging a retarded man on his office desk.

A  should all Liberals be tarred with the same brush
B  should he have resigned his seat given the govt at the time only had a one seat majority in the house.
C should the Labor opposition driven him and his family to the point of suicide until he left parliament

Peter Freedman wrote on Jun 6^th, 2012 at 1:03pm:


not at all. the difference is that I dont assume that every professional is a cretin if they say seomthing i dont agree with. this is not some online media poll. it is a PROFESSIONAL outfit with very high standards and record. It is quite fair to assume the question was worded professionally by professionals in a professional poll. That is a reasonable assumption. If you wish to dispute that then prove the contrary. but for now, you are simply articulating that classic online denizens position of disgreeing with something he doesnt like for no other reason than he doesnt like it.

pathetic.

adelcrow wrote on Jun 6^th, 2012 at 2:37pm:


as disgraceful as it was, it wasnt illegal. stealing $500,000 and taking a whole lot more from secret commissions IS.

if you want guilt ONLY assigned by a court of law then your post has zero value.

make up your mind.

longweekend58 wrote on Jun 6^th, 2012 at 5:04pm:


If he has broken the law he will be convicted and then kicked out of parliament but until then he has every right to the assumption of innocence and every right to his seat just as others from both sides of politics have in the past.