EMBATTLED MP Craig Thomson has come under fresh pressure, with Director of Public Prosecutions Chris Craigie referring the Fair Work Australia report on the Health Services Union that deals with him to Victorian and NSW police.
Mr Craigie said yesterday that in deciding what to do with the report, his office had considered whether it and the associated material identified conduct that could be criminal.
Fair Work earlier sent the documents to the DPP, but Mr Craigie said at the time that the material did not amount to a brief of evidence and so could not be assessed against tests for launching prosecutions.
Fair Work general manager Bernadette O'Neill said, when she passed the report over, that it raised ''many significant matters which may be appropriate for the DPP's consideration''.
While Fair Work identified some 181 breaches of civil law and rules, it did not come to any conclusions about criminal breaches.
When he received the report, Mr Craigie said that, despite being in unusable form, it would be examined to consider what should be done with it.
Mr Thomson, whose ALP membership is suspended, will sit on the crossbenches when Parliament resumes next week.
He was national secretary of the Health Services Union before entering Parliament. The report also names union boss Michael Williamson - who allegedly tried to take away documents when NSW police raided the union offices this week.
Mr Craigie said in his statement that both the Victorian and NSW police had asked Fair Work for access to material it had gathered. Fair Work has said that on legal advice it declined to pass material to police.
Mr Craigie said his office had considered any potential restrictions on its handling of the material, particularly where the Fair Work investigations included the use of coercive powers. He had decided that it was ''appropriate in all the circumstances'' to send the report to the police.
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