Labor Seeks Sanction for Liberal Senator Heffernan ala Craig Thomson

The shoe is now on the other foot in Australian politics as Opposition leader Tony Abbott is under pressure to remove a Liberal backbencher under investigation for alleged assault.

Similar to the action or non-action made by Australian Labor Party leader Julia Gillard on then erring Labor MP Craig Thomson, Mr Abbott is rejecting calls for him to remove Senator Bill Heffernan.

The senator is accused of a homophobic attack on an employee of New South Wales Energy Minister Chris Hartcher during a Liberal Party meeting on NSW central coast. The alleged victim, 67-year-old Ray Carter, claimed Mr Heffernan knocked him off balance.

"If Mr Abbott applied his own principles he'd refuse to accept Senator Heffernan's tainted vote, he will stand him down from chairing the relevant Senate committee and he will move to dismiss Senator Hefferman from the Liberal Party," The Canberra Times quoted Trade Minister Craig Emerson.

"There is simply no parallel between the official Fair Work Australia investigation findings against Craig Thomson and this allegation against a Liberal senator," Mr Abbott's spokesman argued.

The spokesman insisted government has disowned Mr Thomson from the caucus but they still benefit from his vote in the parliament.

Senior Liberals are even claiming that Mr Heffernan could be a victim of payback for exposing alleged breaches of electoral donation law since Mr Cater is being probed by an NSW Electoral Commission for allegedly violating state campaign finance laws.

Liberal Party leaders claimed they were in the same room with the senator and saw no untoward incident.

On Monday, Mr Thomson appeared before the Parliament and denied that he misused Health Services Union (HSU) money. He instead accused current HSU officials of orchestrating the charges against him because of his attempt to clean up the HSU.

Mr Thomson identified HSU official Marco Bolano as the person behind the move to set him up with prostitutes since details his about credit card and driver's licence were available to other HSU officials. Mr Bolano belied the MP's accusation.