She Really Is a Piece of Work

IF ANDREW BOLT was not being denied his moderators once again -- a strange way for News Ltd to demonstrate its faith in a digital future -- one of his commenters certainly would have reacted to this post about Slater & Gordon by noting this passage in The Australian's report that was its inspiration:

Their leaflets warned that, with Mr Blewitt at the helm, the union risked returning to "bad old days" of corruption. They also revealed attempts to level "20 charges of misconduct and mismanagement of union funds" against Mr Blewitt.

"Unfortunately, unless something is done to restore justice and credibility to the union, the union is destined to go back to the bad old days (of corruption)," the leaflet stated.

The attempts to have the union accounts audited and Mr Blewitt investigated or ousted were crushed by the legal action [for libel], in which Ms Gillard and her then boss in the industrial unit at the law firm, Bernard Murphy, were acting on Mr Blewitt's instructions.

Mr Murphy, appointed a Federal Court judge by the Gillard government last year, said yesterday he had nothing to add to a statement he made two months ago. He said then that his reasons for leaving the firm of Slater & Gordon in 1995 had nothing to do with the AWU.

Mr Blewitt said yesterday the defamation action was ordered by Mr Wilson, who jointly controlled the slush fund.

What do we have here? Yet another, hitherto unmentioned example of our PM putting her legal talents at the disposal of a crooked lover and the corruption that was his stock in trade.

A FURTHER THOUGHT:  Given that Gillard was involved in suppressing the complaints of corruption levelled by the AWU's would-be reformers, how can she continue to claim deny she knew of that corruption or her bedmate's part in it? The simple explanation, as with most things about Gillard, is that she is a liar through and through.

Try These, Thommo

POOR Craig Thomson. All the easy excuses have been tried and found wanting, so what does the Member for Dobell do now? Here are a few suggestions that have worked, or almost worked, for others:

Everyone lies about sex.

This line helped keep Bill Clinton in office and is guaranteed to earn him the support of Anne Summers, Eva Cox and other members of the Carping Crones Collective. Summers, who once admitted being moved to tears of joy by the sound of Bill Clinton’s voice, might even re-work her book, Damned Whores And God’s Police.

New title: Rammed Whores and Craig’s Codpiece.

Emotional pressure.

Driven to distraction by visions of climate change’s impact on hospital orderlies, poor Craig sought comfort with a wholesaler of horizontalism. The remedy brought relief, but the symptoms worsened when the MP’s girlfriend reported herself pregnant, obliging Thomson to step up his self-medication until prescriptive costs were running at @2475 a night.

If Tony Abbott was not bent on demonizing victims of mental illness, adequate sums would be available to treat such blameless victims. Peter Hartcher, Shaun Carney, Michelle Grattan and many other pundits will find this argument compelling and repeat it with much conviction.

Blatant discrimination I.

Thomson will admit to signing knock shop credit card slips, but explain that he suffers from freshly diagnosed schizophrenia and blame Bad Craig. Mike Carlton will find this honesty refreshing and ridicule Abbott for wishing to starve mental health services of funds while simultaneously villifying a fine example of efficiency in government. Why, he will wonder, should Dobell’s voters be denied the benefits of two representatives for the price of one?

Blatant discrimination II

It will emerge that Thomson is of formerly unrecognized Indigenous descent. This will do nothing to explain his actions, but it will stop Andrew Bolt writing anything more about the case. 

An honest mistake 

Driving through Sydney’s CBD late one night, Thomson spied a nurse in obvious distress, apparently lost and wearing a uniform three sizes too small. Concerned for the welfare of a HSU member, he followed her to an alternative medicine centre, where she complained that her employer’s inadequate work-clothes allowance obliged her to initiate many sessions of tantric therapy in the all-together. Disgusted at the boss’ greed, Thomson whipped out the plastic and bought $2475 worth of new uniforms for all the establishment's workers.

There may be other stratagems to get the Member for Dobell’s career off the rocks (as opposed to getting his rocks off), but this little list will do for the moment. Further suggestions will be welcomed in comments.

UPDATE: They're putting the Thomson matter in perspective at Menzies House: