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May 20th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Senate estimates hearings normally toss up their fair share of quirky stories but this year the first day of hearings will be completely overshadowed by the Craig Thomson scandal involving sex, lies and a lack of union red tape.
Mr Thomson will give his much-anticipated 30-minute explanation to parliament around midday and all eyes will be on him – except the PM’s because she’s in Chicago for a NATO summit.
Opposition senators will need to uncover something really shocking during budget estimates to trump the suspended MP’s rebuttal of Fair Work Australia’s finding that he misused $500,000 of members’ funds when he was in charge of the Health Services Union.
There’s no doubt some of the money was spent on prostitutes but Mr Thomson says it wasn’t him who visited Young Blondes, Miss Behaving, A Touch of Class and Tiffany’s.
The member for Dobell is expected to tell the lower house his signature was forged and his drivers licence number used by someone else.
Mr Thomson told the Nine Network last weekend that “proof of a phone call is not proof of who’s on the end of the phone”.
On Monday he could also use parliamentary privilege to name HSU officials who he says set him up with escort services to damage his political prospects.
In the past he’s acknowledged just one mistake, that he signed off on the spending without checking his statements thoroughly.
Shadow attorney-general George Brandis warned Mr Thomson on Sunday not to make matters worse by being loose with the truth.
“I would counsel him that misleading the parliament is itself a serious breach of the privilege of the parliament,” Senator Brandis told Network Ten.
“What Mr Thomson ought to do is tell the truth.”
Coalition senators will also be trying to get the truth out of ministers and senior public servants during the coming fortnight of Senate budget estimates hearings.
Up first on Monday are the departments of climate change and energy efficiency, prime minister and cabinet, immigration and citizenship, and agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
Senators will no doubt grill Penny Wong (representing Climate Change Minister Greg Combet) about the imminent introduction of Labor’s controversial carbon tax and how it will impact on businesses and households.
They can try to attack the government’s $36 million advertising campaign spruiking the household assistance package but sadly, for them, that’s actually being run by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. And FaHCSIA isn’t up until a week later on May 28.
There’s no doubt the theatre of Mr Thomson addressing parliament and the subsequent question time antics will be more widely watched that the 12-hour-long estimates hearings.
But even more likely to be ignored is the lower house and the Senate quietly continuing to do what they do best – debate, amend, sometimes block but mostly pass legislation.
First up in the green chamber on Monday are Treasurer Wayne Swan’s budget bills.
As the explanatory memorandum for Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2012-2013 makes clear, they’re all about “proposing appropriations from the consolidated revenue fund for the ordinary annual services of the government”.
Mr Thomson was suspended from the Labor party on April 29 and now sits on the cross benches as an independent MP.
He has pledged to support the government in crucial votes.
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