Mr Thomson said the producers were guilty of ‘‘chequebook journalism at its worst". Craig Thomson speaks to the media during a doorstop interview at Parliament House. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen This evening, ACA aired more details, saying they had connected a $770 credit card transaction on Mr Thomson's Commonwealth Bank account statement to a company that is a holding company of Sydney escort agency, Boardroom Escorts. The member for Dobell called for the ‘‘circus to roll on’’ as there were nine past and current investigations and inquiries into claims that as the Health Services Union national secretary from 2002 until his election as a Labor MP in 2007, he misused members’ funds for escorts, lavish meals and electioneering.

‘‘What I am here to say is enough is enough,’’ Mr Thomson said. ‘‘I’m not sure how much scrutiny people expect on these issues but nine investigations probably does it.’’ He said the media were ‘‘collectively’’ to blame that a scenario had now arisen where an escort was being paid ‘‘more than 10 times as much money as it has been alleged to have been used on the HSU credit card for prostitutes’’. ‘‘It defies credibility,’’ he said. ‘‘This is journalism at its worst.’’ It was reported the escort was paid $60,000 for the interview, however ACA executive producer Grant Williams this afternoon denied she had been paid.

To buy a story from a prostitute is chequebook journalism at its worst. Mr Williams said the woman, who was working as a prostitute in Sydney during the mid-2000s, had signed a statutory declaration confirming her statement. ''At this stage of the game I can categorically state we haven’t paid anyone and we haven’t broadcast anything, but we have recorded an interview and we have taken a stat dec,’’ Mr Williams told 3AW Melbourne radio. He defended meeting with Mr Thomson in his parliamentary office yesterday and the offer to show the suspended Labor MP footage of his interview with the woman - an offer the MP refused. ‘‘I can’t be fairer than that,’’ Mr Williams said. ‘‘You can’t be further away from grubby journalism by going through the front door and showing the bloke point blank what you’ve got on him. "

A day after Liberal MP and general practitioner, Mal Washer, warned Mr Thomson was under tremendous pressure and aired fears he could be moved to self harm, the embattled MP concluded his statement to the media this afternoon with an impassioned plea. "Let’s not descend even further into the gutter," he said. "Is this about trying to push someone to the brink? "That’s all I’m saying." It is understood lawyers for Nine are examining the program’s content and that the report may not be aired until next week – if at all. Mr Thomson also claimed ACA had offered to pay his wife ‘‘a substantial amount of money for an interview’’.

The MP, who is suspended from the Labor caucus, has consistently denied the allegations he misused union funds. A Fair Work Australia report, released publicly earlier this month, found Mr Thomson misused almost $500,000 in members' funds, including almost $6,000 on escort services. This afternoon, Fair Work Australia general manager Bernadette O'Neill said she would not be making any comments in relation to Mr Thomson's statement to Parliament on Monday, saying that the Fair Work report on the Health Services Union spoke for itself. "These matters will be the subject of legal processing in the Federal Court of Australia and that is the appropriate forum in which to test the evidence and findings set out in the investigation report," Ms O'Neill said in a statement. During his statement on Monday, Mr Thomson denied the findings of the report and said the investigator, Terry Nassios, was ''selective and biased''.

Leader of the House Anthony Albanese today slammed the Opposition for their "obsession" with the Thomson matter and said that parliament - including MPs and the media - should be debating the recent budget instead. Mr Albanese also criticised a reported leak out of the privileges committee - which is investigating Mr Thomson's Monday statement after opposition claims he mislead Parliament. The committee met last night but details from the meeting were reported in the Fairfax media this morning. "This is a pretty serious issue to leak the first meeting," Mr Albanese said. Mr Albanese could not confirm that it was not a Labor MP who leaked the information - pointing out that he did not know who all the members of the committee were.

"Whoever (has leaked) has done a great disservice to themselves, more importantly a great disservice to the parliament," he said.



"This isn’t a game, this is not a joke," Mr Albanese said. Greens Leader Christine Milne told reporters in Canberra that proper processes should be allowed to take their course on the Thomson mater, rather than "tying to continue to pursue this to try and beat people down." Senator Milne also hit out at shadow-attorney general George Brandis for his suggestion the privileges committee should be opened up for public hearings - calling it an "appalling idea". "You have to ask what sort of Australia would you end up with with an attorney-general who wants to turn the privileges committee away from all its established tradition," she said. Chair of the Privileges Committee Labor MP Yvette D’Ath told parliament this morning that she was extremely disappointed about the leak.



The Labor MP said she was unsure about the source of the leak but said she intended to pursue the matter with those on the committee.

The privileges committee is testing Mr Thomson’s denials against the Fair Work inquiry’s findings. Last night it resolved to write to the manager of opposition business, Christopher Pyne, asking him to specify his allegations that Mr Thomson had deliberately misled Parliament during his one-hour address on Monday. Labor members rejected a Coalition push for the committee to call for witnesses and submissions. On a separate matter, they agreed to ask Mr Thomson and a Liberal, Craig Kelly, to respond to allegations they failed to comply with the requirements of the members’ interests register. Loading with AAP

Follow the National Times on Twitter: @NationalTimesAU