It can no longer claim to stand for Australian workers.

If it did, it would have come down on Craig Thomson like a ton of batts.

This guy (allegedly) stole from health services workers to give himself cash bonuses and $2000 sessions at a brothel.

Then he lied about it.

Instead of standing up for the workers, the Labor Party paid Thomson’s legal bills, lent him another $50,000, and told everyone else to shut up.

Gillard and Labor will no longer be able to form a government if Thomson has to stand down, so it is understandable that they don’t want that to happen.

But they seem to have no comprehension that by acting as they have, Gillard, Swan, etc, have confirmed what is now the standard public view – that they are in this for themselves and cannot be trusted to act in the best interests of ordinary Australians.

The Labor Party will win people’s trust again, and their votes, when it acts in a trustworthy way.