Craig Thomson: please go home

Craig Thomson - the embattled MP

Craig Thomson.

If you’re an Australian and you haven’t heard of him, I hope you’re enjoying the sizeable rock you’re living under.

I’ve said for weeks that I’m not going to write on blog on this stuff.  The instant his name is mentioned, people seem to leap into a blue or red state of fury and either passionately deride him and the Prime Minister, or passionately deride Tony Abbott and the opposition.

But enough is enough.  The Australian parliament is now more devoid of actual substance than at any time in living memory.

This ‘hung parliament’ has forced both parties into a siege mentality.  Both seem willing to check their decency at the door in the vain hope of either shoring up their numbers, or breaking down the other side’s numbers.

Which brings us to Mr Thomson.1 

Despite all the protestations of ‘presumption of innocence’ it’s clear that his position is completely untenable.

To remain an elected representative of the Australian people while the highest workplace investigative authority in the land has concluded you are guilty of fraud is unconscionable.

Whether he did it or not is irrelevant.  Now the allegations have been officially tabled and are presented to the Courts, Mr Thomson has no alternative but to stand down as a member of the House of Representatives.

For him to assume he has the ability to capably represent his constituents while this criminal matter is investigated is laughable.

But, more to the point, it shirks his responsibility to his family and himself.

To stand in parliament and decry the entire saga as one enormous conspiracy theory, and decrying the affect it is having on his family, Mr Thomson must do the honourable thing and go and spend time with his family.

Staying in Parliament House and continually attracting media attention is hardly the best way to care for himself or his wife and kids.

My opinion, for what it’s worth, is that he’s a man desperate to cling to the faint hope of power.  He is categorically incapable of resigning because it would mean handing over his power and stepping down from his position of so-called authority.  It is the height of self-absorption.

Furthermore, if he’s found not guilty by the court, he’ll undoubtedly want to bring legal action against Fair Work Australia for gross negligence and character defamation.  How is it possibly tenable for a Government representative to sue a Government body set up by the current Prime Minister???

Surely, the sane, humane and common sense thing for Mr Thomson to do is stand down. 

Go!  Be with your family!  Protect them!  Focus on the biggest legal battle of your life!  Your very freedom could be at stake and you have a duty of care to your family to take care of them.

But no.  He stays there in parliament continually dominating the Government’s agenda, preventing the country from actually achieving anything, and ensuring all parliamentary debates are run into the dirt.

Furthermore, our Prime Minister (Thomson's employer) has a duty of care to best cater for the mental health and wellbeing of her employees.  By banishing him to the cross benches and essentially pretending he doesn't exist, the PM is not adequately performing this task.

Mr Thomson, I don’t know you, but please – stand down.

Go home and be with your family.

Now.

1: Does anyone else instinctively think of The Simpsons when they hear 'Mr Thomson'?