The lawyer representing federal MP Craig Thomson says errors in public statements made by the New South Wales Police have damaged his client's case.

Thomson was arrested at his NSW central coast electorate office on Thursday and is facing 150 fraud charges relating to his time as head of the Health Services Union.

Speaking outside the Wyong Police Station soon after the arrest, Detective Superintendent Col Dyson told reporters that Thomson had been invited by Victorian police to "surrender himself" before Christmas but had "refused".

The claim was quickly denied by Thomson's lawyer, Chris McArdle, who said: "We were invited on December 21 to go to Victoria to be interviewed by the police. It is untrue to say that we were invited to go and surrender our client for arrest."

In a statement issued this morning, Detective Superintendent Dyson conceded the words he used were incorrect.

"The arrest warrant indicated that Mr Thomson was invited to Victoria to be interviewed," the statement said.

"It additionally indicated that the arrest warrant was issued on the grounds that he was avoiding the service of the summons.

"I concede the word 'summons' and not 'arrest' should have been used when I referred to the wording on the warrant."

But Mr McArdle disputes that even a summons had been issued, saying the paperwork provided to the NSW police by their Victorian counterparts was wrong.

He has thanked NSW police for correcting the record, but says the damage has already been done.

"There's this great steamroller of opinion in the public mind that this fellow must have done something - 'you wouldn't charge him with 150 things if he hadn't done anything, would you?' seems to be the rhetorical comeback," he told ABC News.

"Well, it's simply cemented the fact that this fellow's some sort of fugitive, which he is not.

"He's the most available human being in the country."

Thomson is due to face the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

Some of the charges relate to allegations he used Health Services Union funds for lavish hospitality and to pay for prostitutes.

He has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to "vigorously" fight the charges.

"Every fibre of my being is screaming out to say how wrong this is," he told reporters on Thursday, after being granted bail.

The Coalition has sought to use Thomson's arrest to target the Prime Minister's judgement in standing by the MP until he was suspended from the Labor party early last year.