The Sydney Morning Herald coverage emphasized that Kevin Rudd was under pressure over "allegations surrounding his past meetings with disgraced former Western Australian premier Brian Burke"; and that Thomson "had no choice but to resign, especially since Minister John Howard raised the bar a week ago by sacking Ian Campbell for doing nothing more than the meeting, in his then-capacity as heritage minister, a delegation which included Burke." The same article suggested that the sort of reference Thomson had written was similar to thousands of pro forma references supplied by MPs to their constituents and that it was an open question whether Thomson "would have suffered the same fate" had he not moved, in the seven years since writing the reference, to the position of Shadow Attorney General. It also commented: "Thomson's relegation to the backbench will be a setback for Labor. Ever since December, when Rudd promoted him to shadow attorney-general, he has dealt the Government more grief over David Hicks than Labor did collectively over the previous five years. Of the big changes to Labor's frontbench under Rudd, Thomson was the standout surprise performer." Thomson was not subsequently re-appointed to the Labor cabinet. He did subsequently chair the Parliament's Treaties Committee and frequently served as acting Speaker.