By Phillip Coorey
A CENTRAL coast mayor has referred the local Labor MP, Craig Thomson, to the Independent Commission Against Corruption, claiming Mr Thomson threatened to pull a government project as payback for a council member criticising the government.
Mr Thomson emphatically rejected the claims, saying the text message he sent that provoked the complaint was a joke and was not motivated by any criticism levelled against the government.
Ill-advised text ... Labor MP Craig Thomson.Credit: Andrew Meares
Doug Eaton, the mayor of Wyong, told the Herald he sent a letter to ICAC late yesterday following an exchange last week between Mr Thomson and a local councillor, Greg Best.
Mr Best and Mr Eaton - both independents - had grown unhappy at the amount of time it was taking to establish a GP super clinic in Wyong.
The clinic had been promised by the federal government four years ago and the matter was discussed at a council meeting on Thursday last week.
Mr Best was unhappy not only that the clinic was taking a long time to establish but also that it was unlikely to be as large as originally promised.
On local radio on Friday morning, Mr Best was critical of the situation, although he said he did not single out Mr Thomson for criticism.
''I did not stick it to Craig at all,'' he said.
At 6.10am, after his comments had aired, Mr Best received a text message from Mr Thomson saying ''bye bye job incubator''.
The incubator is another federal government promise - a small business incubator and youth training centre in Wyong, where youth unemployment is high. The centre, once built, will be run by Central Coast Group Training, of which Mr Best is the general manager and Mr Eaton is the chairman.
Three hours after receiving the text, Mr Best sent a text back to Mr Thomson.
''Craig, this morning's radio grabs on the GP super clinic were not attacking you. You've got it wrong,'' the text said.
''And to take it out on CCGT's incubator is plain unfair. You know how much work we have put into it for the kids.
''Happy to discuss. Greg.''
Mr Thomson, who holds the central coast seat of Dobell, told the Herald yesterday his text message about the incubator was ''lighthearted'' and neither a threat nor a response to the comments he heard on radio that morning regarding the clinic.
''The business incubator was an election promise we want to go ahead and we still do,'' he said.
''They are talking about two entirely different things.''
Mr Eaton, who once ran as a federal Liberal candidate, said Mr Thomson should either resign or be sacked.
''It's worse than inappropriate, this action to me constitutes blackmail,'' he said.
Meanwhile, Tony Abbott rejected yesterday allegations by a sporting goods lobbyist that his office had asked the lobby group to oppose the carbon tax in return for a sympathetic hearing on concerns regarding the GST exemption on internet purchases from overseas worth less than $1000.
Brad Kitschke said during a visit to Mr Abbott's office on May 31, one of Mr Abbott's advisers ''went a bit crazy and told us that we couldn't come to them and argue for a lower threshold unless we had a public position to oppose the carbon tax and its detrimental effects on business''.
A spokesman for Mr Abbott said: ''At no stage was Mr Kitschke asked to give a position on one policy in return for support on another."