WORKPLACE BULLYING - THE ENDLESS THOMSON "AFFAIR" SAGA AND THE MEDIA

These letters were in The Age newspaper on 26 May 2012:

Trial by one-liners

IT IS time for the relentless pursuit of Craig Thomson in his workplace to be understood as workplace bullying. The media is complicit in the bullying. Radio commentators have justified their continued probing of Mr Thomson by telling us "it's interesting and salacious".

It calls to mind the salacious information that passed for journalism in England in recent years, when a murdered girl's telephone messages were hacked by the News of the World. The resultant inquiry into the media exposed the levels to which some human beings will sink. Innocent or guilty, Craig Thomson is a human being. Let the man be subject to the law, not trial by one-liners.

Madonna Grehan, Thornbury

Whatever it takes

RON Tandberg's cartoon on page 4 (The Age, 25/5)

sums up the direction of political debate under Tony Abbott and his drive for power. My Jesuit teachers would be appalled at Mr Abbott's abrogation of basic analytical and Catholic principles. His ability to ignore the police inquiry into Senator Bill Heffernan's alleged assault and the conviction of Senator Mary Jo Fisher on shoplifting charges contrasts with John Howard's loss of 11 ministers due to a breach of standards.

It is also clear that Christopher Pyne has fallen under Mr Abbott's spell; he daily displays offensive and unprofessional behaviour.

While society aims for a healthy, productive workplace, Mr Abbott, smelling blood, is reinventing the aggressive, whatever-it-takes attitude of the 1980s. By contrast, the Liberals' real leader, Malcolm Turnbull, continues to display what it takes to live in the 21st century.

Jim Kennedy, South Yarra

Test of sincerity

TONY Abbott has asserted that the Prime Minister should ''allow'' Craig Thomson to quit Parliament for his own safety. If Mr Thomson's wellbeing is in danger, a fair course of action is the granting of a ''pair''.

This procedure has routinely been adopted so that the decision of voters continues to be reflected in the Parliament despite the temporary absence of a parliamentarian due to illness or other causes.

If Mr Abbott fails to suggest this option, then his assertions of concern must be insincere or hypocritical, or both. Pure humbug.

Robert Corcoran, Edithvale

NOW FOR THE MEDIA'S ROLE IN THIS DISGRACEFUL BEAT-UP SAGA:

I am not in a position to comment on various media in this country because they are so abysmally poor that one wouldn't want to touch them with a barge pole or any other sort of pole, unless it was a pole-cat!!

However, I have unfortunately seen some of the media which has shown how low journalism has sunk in Australia - The Age newspaper and the ABC television news and current affairs programmes, and some of those who should be held accountable are Michelle Grattan, Kate McClymont, Tony Wright and others, and on the other site, Chris Uhlman as examples of how not to be investigative journalists.

How is it that so much of the saga that is reportable and shows the other side of the story is never reported? It is not hidden - others have access to these items - why not the mainstream?

Is it because they side with Tony Abbott, the workplace bully, determined to bring down the government and install himself as head honcho?

If this were to occur, there would be no further reporting of the misdemeanours of his government, there would be blackouts and censorship, bad as it already is, would descend even deeper into the mire of dictatorship.

Woe betide us all when that eventuates!