Former Labor MP Craig Thomson granted bail over Covid payment fraud charges

Former Labor MP Craig Thomson has been charged with fraudulently claiming $25,000 in Covid support payments, with a court hearing he allegedly used the money for personal uses.

Former Labor MP Craig Thomson has been granted bail after being charged with four Covid payment fraud charges to the value of $25,000, with a court hearing he allegedly used the money for mortgage, school fees, credit card payments and other personal reasons.

The fresh charges were laid following Thomson’s arrest on Tuesday for an alleged breach of an apprehended violence order (AVO).

Thomson, 57, spent the night in custody and appeared via audio visual link at Gosford Local Court on Wednesday before Magistrate Jennifer Price.

Thomson’s Legal-Aid lawyer made a release application indicating that the fresh fraud charges predated the Commonwealth Visa and JobKeeper fraud offences that he was charged with in late 2021.

Former Labor PM Craig Thomson is facing fresh fraud charges.

Thomson’s fresh charges include two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, publishing false and misleading material to obtain advantage and making false documents to obtain financial advantage.

The court heard Thomson allegedly fraudulently applied for and received a Small Business Covid-19 Support grant of $10,000 for a cafe with the money used towards his personal mortgage and credit card. He also allegedly received a Covid-19 Small Business Hardship grant for $15,000 for the cafe, which the court heard had ceased trading, with the money used for school fees, lease of a vehicle and other personal uses.

Police will allege Thomson also submitted a fraudulent application for JobSaver payments of $3000 a fortnight, which was not approved or paid, and allegedly fraudulently signed and submitted a document for the purpose of obtaining a reduction in rent.

Former Labor MP Craig Thomson leaving Gosford Local Court on an unrelated matter. Picture: Richard Noone

“The fresh charges go back almost two years with the most recent being October 2021,” Mr Thomson’s defence lawyer told the court. “There’s no suggestion there’s been any further offending of that nature over the past five months.”

He said Thomson had complied with his bail conditions since his arrest in November 2021 and would comply with further conditions if bail was granted.

The prosecution argued against bail indicating concerns that Thomson was at risk of committing further serious offences, endangering the community and interfering with witnesses.

He described Thomson’s alleged offending as “a premeditated course of criminal conduct” and said he was an “unacceptable risk of committing a further offence”. He said the prosecution’s case was strong with a likely term of imprisonment if Thomson is convicted.

On Tuesday, Thomson pleaded guilty to using a device to menace or harass his ex-wife Zoe and three counts of contravening an AVO taken out for her protection. He was sentenced to an 18-month conditional release order, a condition of which was for Thomson to commit no further crime.

Thomson appeared before Gosford Local Court.

Former Labor MP Craig Thomson has been granted bail. Picture: Richard Noone

But within hours of walking out of Gosford Local Court Thomson was back in the custody of NSW Police over an allegedly fresh breach. The court heard this was Mr Thomson’s fourth contravention of court orders.

The police prosecutor said while the breach was not the most serious and did not involve violence, “Mr Thomson presents with a history of noncompliance and has demonstrated contempt of court orders.”

Magistrate Price said Thomson had not served any time in custody, however two of the fresh fraud charges carried maximum penalties of 10 years.

She said while Thomson had a history of breaching court orders, he had no history of violence. She also said he had a history of compliance when it came to bail conditions.

“He is currently subject to strict bail for the Commonwealth offences,” she said. “It’s clear if he was remanded in custody it would be months before the matters are resolved.”

Magistrate Price said the current bail conditions “are sufficient to ameliorate the risks”.

He was granted bail and ordered to live at an address in Narara, report to Gosford Police Station three times a week, not travel out of the Greater Sydney/Newcastle area and be on good behaviour.

His matter was adjourned until April 5.