Former Federal Labor MP Craig Thomson Jailed for Multi-Million Dollar Visa Fraud Scheme

Craig Thomson, a former federal Labor MP who represented the electorate of Dobell, has been sentenced to four years imprisonment for his role in orchestrating a multi-million-dollar visa fraud scheme and fraudulently obtaining COVID-era government payments. Thomson will serve a minimum of two years and six months in custody before becoming eligible for parole in June 2028.

Craig Thomson / File

Thomson pleaded guilty to three counts of delivering a document containing a false statement and one count of obtaining a financial benefit by deception. Judge Robert Newlands SC, sentencing Thomson in the Sydney District Court, detailed the extent of the offending and its impact on vulnerable individuals seeking to navigate Australia's visa application process.

The visa fraud scheme operated between 2015 and 2019, during which Thomson positioned himself as a migration intermediary despite lacking registration as a migration agent. He charged visa applicants up to $50,000 for assistance with their visa applications, regardless of whether the applications were successful or ultimately refused. The court heard that applicants believed they were dealing with a skilled and trusted official, unaware that they were engaging with an unregistered fraudster who was exploiting the visa application system.

Thomson extracted more than $2 million from visa applicants through this scheme. The court was told that applicants could have approached registered migration agents directly but were instead intercepted and convinced to pay Thomson substantial fees for services he was not qualified to provide. Judge Newlands emphasized that the offending exploited a system predicated on self-reporting and trust, fundamentally undermining confidence in institutional integrity.

Beyond the visa fraud, Thomson submitted 13 fraudulent online forms claiming that a Wyong cafe was entitled to JobKeeper payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. These applications were lodged without the consent or knowledge of the cafe's owners and deliberately concealed the fact that the business was not operational at the time the payments were claimed. Thomson pocketed $61,800 through this separate fraud scheme.

Thomson's descent into criminal conduct occurred following significant financial difficulties after he departed parliamentary life. The court heard that Thomson used money obtained through his crimes to pay off personal credit card debt, mortgage repayments, and business loan obligations. Judge Newlands noted that while many people experience financial stress without resorting to criminal conduct, Thomson had chosen the path of fraud to address his financial circumstances.

The former MP's history extends beyond the current offences. While serving as a union official, Thomson had previously engaged in fraudulent conduct including misuse of union credit cards for personal expenses totaling tens of thousands of dollars. Those expenses included brothel visits and personal travel with his wife. In 2014, he was found guilty of 13 counts of theft related to this earlier offending but escaped custodial imprisonment, receiving only a $25,000 fine instead.

Thomson was also convicted of fraudulently claiming two COVID-era grants from the NSW government in 2021. He was ordered to serve a community corrections order in March 2024 for those offences. Judge Newlands told the court that the earlier fine imposed in 2014 had failed to deter Thomson from engaging in further criminal conduct, indicating that lesser penalties had not achieved their rehabilitative purpose.

Judge Newlands expressed serious concern about Thomson's propensity to re-offend, characterizing him as posing a substantial risk of future criminal conduct. The judge acknowledged that Thomson was a high-profile individual and former member of parliament and recognized that custodial imprisonment may be experienced more severely by someone with his public status and parliamentary background compared with other prisoners.

Thomson's parliamentary career began when he was elected as the federal member for Dobell in the 2007 election. In 2012, he was suspended by the Labor Party and subsequently moved to the crossbench to serve as an independent MP. The following year, in 2013, he stood as an independent candidate but lost the seat to the Liberal Party. He was expelled from the Labor Party entirely in 2014, formally ending his association with the political organization that had originally elected him.

The sentencing brings to conclusion a fall from prominence that spans more than a decade, beginning with Thomson's loss of parliamentary office through to the revelation and prosecution of his criminal conduct. The case demonstrates the vulnerability of systems dependent on trust and the serious consequences when individuals in positions of authority or apparent expertise exploit that standing for personal financial gain.