He is a lying shitbag & a hypocrite.
Your love for him speaks volumes.
Getting hammered in the polls probably isn't helping. Getting caned in this by-election would not be good for him.What, in your view, has Turnbull has done wrong? They lumped him in that portfolio which, with the LNP fibre-to-nowhere-in-particular policy, was always going to be a hard sell.
What has he done wrong?
Err, lets see -
*letting the ABC run riot,
*not sacking Mark Scott who has proven incompetent on almost every level,
*not reigning in the duplication costs for the ABC and SBS. Why they have four TV stations each with two of them replicating each other is beyond me?
*not doing anything with the NBN. Either junk it or commit to it.
*Continual leaking to the press.
*Not being true to conservative voters values and beliefs.Other than that, he’s been terrific…
Are you suggesting they take away ABC2? If that happens, I will personally hunt down those responsible and hang them from their heels. ABC Kids (ABC2 during the day) is a lifeline for parents not prepared to pay for Murdoch’s Monopoly called Foxtel. As a parent of a 1 and 3 year old it is what keeps me (and my wife) in the land of the sane.
You have my sword.
Mine too
And my Canaanite sickle sword.
Well, not really, but I like
old weaponsCROSSING SWORDS so I thought I’d join in.
fixed
He is a lying shitbag & a hypocrite.Your love for him speaks volumes.
Not sure that was necessary. Trip gets sent on holidays all the time for less (not saying he shouldn’t btw) while abuse like this gets allowed.
Read it again.
Name on likeable, relatable politician.That’s the problem with complaining about leadership and being forced to vote for any of them.
Daytripper likes and relates to Tony Abbott.
Correct - I think he’s a genuine, caring bloke.
For whatever reason the luvvies absolutely loath him (perhaps because he is the antithesis of their mostly privileged, bubble lifestyle) and their hate is so irrational its bordering on parody.
In any case, this desire to ‘like’ politicians is a bit juvenile if you ask me. They are there to do a job and to do it properly. Who cares if they are likeable…
What do you think of Dutton Trip?
Seems to be doing his job.
Probably wouldn’t have a beer with him though but who cares.
He is a lying shitbag & a hypocrite.Your love for him speaks volumes.
May I present example A of the irrational hatred
Trips…you are failing in the fair dinkum department. The sooner Abbott goes, the better for Australia, her international reputation and domestic political adulthood.
He has failed in every thing he has touched. The reverse midas touch if you will.
Take the Carbon Tax - junking it has made Australia an environmental laughing stock and has given a green light to pollution.
I don’t get the passionate support shown to these people. Any of them. They are so underwhelming in ability and presence, it’s depressing.
He is a lying shitbag & a hypocrite.Your love for him speaks volumes.
May I present example A of the irrational hatred
Nothing irrational about it, it’s extremely well considered.
The man is a lying snake, and the biggest hypocrite in politics I have ever seen. He is an illegitimate PM AFAIC, if not for Rupert supporting the lies & the fact enough of the proletariat are stupid enough to read & beleive, no way does this pr1ck get into office.
Name on likeable, relatable politician.That’s the problem with complaining about leadership and being forced to vote for any of them.
Daytripper likes and relates to Tony Abbott.
Correct - I think he’s a genuine, caring bloke.
For whatever reason the luvvies absolutely loath him (perhaps because he is the antithesis of their mostly privileged, bubble lifestyle) and their hate is so irrational its bordering on parody.
In any case, this desire to ‘like’ politicians is a bit juvenile if you ask me. They are there to do a job and to do it properly. Who cares if they are likeable…
What do you think of Dutton Trip?
Seems to be doing his job.
Probably wouldn’t have a beer with him though but who cares.
I don’t even think Tony likes him very much, just a vibe
He is a lying shitbag & a hypocrite.Your love for him speaks volumes.
May I present example A of the irrational hatred
Nothing irrational about it, it’s extremely well considered.
The man is a lying snake, and the biggest hypocrite in politics I have ever seen. He is an illegitimate PM AFAIC, if not for Rupert supporting the lies & the fact enough of the proletariat are stupid enough to read & beleive, no way does this pr1ck get into office.
LOL - yes it seems very well considered.
I see you are another one who suffers from MDS. They really should open up some rehab clinics for those afflicted.
Trips..you are failing in the fair dinkum department. The sooner Abbott goes, the better for Australia, her international reputation and domestic political adulthood.He has failed in every thing he has touched. The reverse midas touch if you will.
Take the Carbon Tax - junking it has made Australia an environmental laughing stock and has given a green light to pollution.
Example B.
Name on likeable, relatable politician.That’s the problem with complaining about leadership and being forced to vote for any of them.
Daytripper likes and relates to Tony Abbott.
Correct - I think he’s a genuine, caring bloke.
For whatever reason the luvvies absolutely loath him (perhaps because he is the antithesis of their mostly privileged, bubble lifestyle) and their hate is so irrational its bordering on parody.
In any case, this desire to ‘like’ politicians is a bit juvenile if you ask me. They are there to do a job and to do it properly. Who cares if they are likeable…
I voted for him and I think he’s an idiot*
*I also think the alternatives to Abbott are all idiots, in all parties.
I don't get the passionate support shown to these people. Any of them. They are so underwhelming in ability and presence, it's depressing.
I don’t think anyone actually ‘supports’ them although Greens voters tend to treat their politicians as mini Gods. T
I’m more about defending him (and others) from the mindless, idiotic hatred. Half the people who hate him wouldn’t even be able to quantify why.
I honestly don’t believe Abbott is a deliberate habitual liar. I’m sure there’s some fibs he tells for the sake of PR etc - pretending to believe in climate change for instance cos he knows open denialism in a PM is probably a step too far for the electorate - but in general I think he pretty much puts his honest beliefs on the table where everyone can see.
The problem is that the honest beliefs he expresses are frequently contradicted by each other, or more commonly, by reality. He’s a man with a very strongly-held and simple worldview, and instead of being able to look at reality and evidence and adapt his thought to them, he mentally edits reality to conform to what he personally believes.
I have absolutely no doubt that, in his mental world, the leftist heirs of the fading university Maoists he opposed as a kid are now pushing the Great Global Warming Conspiracy to overthrow Western civilisation, that hordes of probably-disease-carrying probably-terrorists in unobtrusive fishing boats creep ever-closer to Australian shores cunningly disguised as refugees, and that against the titanic, world-spanning evil of ISIS, he stands alone, defiant and Churchillian while lesser men cower and appease.
If he wasn’t PM, you’d almost feel sorry for the poor deluded, way-out-of-his-depth sap.
I honestly can only think of 1 good policy enacted by the goverment - their deregulation agenda.
Trip do you honestly believe the country is in better shape now? On economic and social policy measures? Are we on the right path for developing industry and encouraging innovation?
Take all the lab/lib/green bs aside…no pravda luuvie stuff is this the goverment you wanted?
I don't get the passionate support shown to these people. Any of them. They are so underwhelming in ability and presence, it's depressing.There's a couple who are good eggs or at least not terrible.
Problem is the drive to “lead” rarely coincides with ability or being an OK human being, let alone both.
Tony Abbott is a liar: It’s a mathematical truth
Date May 29, 2014
Burkard Polster and Marty Ross
Do politicians lie? Of course they do, including, of course, Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Whether it’s the manufacturing of a budget “crisis”, or the systematic trashing of election promises, or pretending that taxes are anything-but-taxes, or lying about spying, or lying about lying, Abbott has demonstrated his disdain for the truth.
There is no need to go into detail here since Mike Carlton has already documented much of the fibbing, ably assisted by Annabel Crabb and Laurie Oakes and Bernard Keane and … well, pretty much every political commentator who isn’t a Liberal Party shill.
And Tony Abbott is not alone. The Prime Minister leads a fine cabinet of companion liars, including the Minister for the Destruction of Education, Christopher Pyne. A “unity ticket” on the Gonski education reforms? Nope, just some airbrushing of history and yet another lie.
The overarching lie is that Prime Minister Abbott is leading a conservative government. In fact, Australia is being pummelled by American-style, dog-eat-dog radicals. Far from being conservative, current Liberal Party philosophy is little more than adolescent-level libertarianism.
It shouldn’t be news that politicians are lying and it’s not mathematics. Well, we believe that the depth and the nature of Liberal dishonesty is news, and we believe there is a connection to be made.
Since there is no minister for mathematics let’s begin with the minister for science. And he is … a ghost. Yes, for the first time since 1939 the federal government of Australia has no minister for science.
But it doesn’t really matter if there’s no science minister, just as long as scientific research is well-funded. And the CSIRO, the government’s dedicated body for science research is … having its funding slashed.
But it doesn’t really matter if a particular science organisation has to jettison research, just as long as someone is doing good science. And the federal government is promoting careful research into …wind turbine syndrome.
Yes, Prime Minister Abbott has arranged for the National Health and Medical Research Council to undertake a study of the health effects of wind turbines. Even though there is no scientific basis for the concerns, and even though study after study after study after study has demonstrated that wind turbines are safe. However one cannot be too careful and perhaps the National Health and Medical Research Council will discover something new. Perhaps they’ll figure out how the thousands of wind turbines that have been in Denmark for decades have failed to kill everyone. Or anyone.
But it doesn’t really matter if the Prime Minister is distracted by a little bit of cultish nonsense, just as long as the major scientific issue of our time is being addressed with care and honesty. Which brings us to global warming. Or climate change, if you prefer. Whatever. A withered rose by any other name is just as dead.
To be clear, we have no intention of debating global warming. Why not? Because there is no debate. It is a scientific fact that global warming is happening. It is a scientific fact that humans are responsible, through the production of greenhouse gases. And the evidence very strongly suggests that the consequences are already occurring, and in the future will be extensive and bad. Or, if the world continues to do bugger-all about reducing carbon dioxide emissions, very very bad.
We believe a zero-respect policy on global warming denialism is long overdue. However for the moment our concern is not with the madness of crowds but the madness of politicians.
Are the politicians mad? Abbott infamously declared climate change to be “absolute crap” but that was years ago. Abbott now claims to believe in climate change. Is he now lying? Who could possibly tell? But it also doesn’t matter.
Whether or not Abbott still believes climate change is crap, his government invariably acts as if it were crap. The list, helpfully compiled by Crikey’s Giles Parkinson, is already phenomenal: the submission of legislation to repeal the carbon tax; the demolition of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency; the guess-what-will-happen review of Australia’s renewable energy target; moves to scrap the Clean Energy Finance Corporation; moves to demolish the Climate Change Authority; the demolition of the Climate Commission; appointing a full-blown climate crank as chief business adviser; and transforming the minister for climate change into another ghost, to keep company with the minister for science. All of this while underfunding the Liberal Party’s own absurd carbon capture scheme with its absurdly inadequate target.
Can Abbott possibly get away with this environmental and scientific (and economic) vandalism? We don’t know but the Liberal Party obviously believes it’s on a winner. And it may be that enough Australians listen to enough nonsense, or just have insufficient concern, that the Liberal Party is correct.
It is clear that many Australians do not have any great respect for the scientific method or scientific practice. It seems way too common to regard science as just another belief system, nothing but boffin-based opinion. The result is that science is permitted no special claim to truth, which is a very dangerous, essentially mediaeval, state of affairs. What on Earth has happened?
A little bit about school mathematics: we, as mathmeticians, have banged on and on, column after column, about the woeful presentation of mathematics in curricula and textbooks, and consequently in maths classes. We’ve wailed over the presentation of mathematics as a collection of facts to be religiously accepted, rather than as a beautiful, precise and incredibly powerful method of reasoning. The harm to students’ opinion of mathematics is obvious and massive, but we believe the harm extends much further.
The just-the-facts style of teaching mathematics promotes a warped, faith-based attitude to knowledge. It undermines the whole point of education, for students to learn to think, to value truth as the end result of reasoning rather than as a collection of God-given facts. Until there is a dramatic change in Australia’s approach to education we cannot see how there will be any improvement in Australians’ attitude to scientific and mathematical truth, or to truth of any sort.
It’s a very long bow to blame the poor teaching of mathematics for Abbott’s anti-science crusade, and we have no intention of drawing it. But it is unarguable that Australian society currently places a depressingly low value on reason and truth, and so on science in particular. We believe mathematics teaching must take its fair share of the blame.
But what of Tony? Will he be remembered as a liar? Probably, but probably he’ll be remembered for much more. Eventually, and more likely sooner rather than later, global warming will be undeniable. Truly undeniable.
Which means Abbott should go down in history as the Australian Prime Minister, the last Australian Prime Minister, to deny physical reality.
Associate Professor Burkard Polster teaches mathematics at Monash University, Clayton. Marty Ross is a mathematician. As the Maths Masters they write a weekly column for The Age’s Education pages.
Broken Promises/Lies
Tony Abbott has repeatedly stated that he will keep his promises.
However, as Tony Abbott has already found, making promises is much easier to do when you are in Opposition and there’s every chance you won’t need to keep them.
Let the count start:
-
Tony Abbott’s promise to the Yolngu people to spend his first week as Prime Minister on their country.
-
Tony Abbott’s Gonski/Better Schools funding promise.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise to be “a government of no surprises and no excuses”.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise to be “a government that says what it means, and means what it says”.
-
Tony Abbott’s “buy the boats” policy.
-
Tony Abbott and the Liberal’s promise of “Download speeds of between 25 and 100 megabits per second by the end of 2016”. They now say that only around 43% will have speeds of 25 megabits per second by 2016.
-
In the lead up to the 2013 Federal Election, Greg Hunt committed the Coalition Government to sending a ship to monitor Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean. In October 2013, Greg Hunt claimed there was “no change” in their position to send a vessel to monitor whaling. Yet, in December 2013, Greg Hunt announced they would instead send a customs-chartered Airbus A319 aircraft. Greg Hunt, Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party had criticised the then Labor Government for not sending a vessel to monitor the Japanese whaling activities.
-
No changes to pensions.
-
No cuts to the ABC or SBS.
-
No new taxes.
-
No cuts to health.
-
No cuts to education.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise that “The only party that will raise taxes after the election is the Labor Party.”
-
Tony Abbott’s promise “to get cost of living pressures down”.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise that “We are not shutting any Medicare locals” during the August 28, 2013 debate with Kevin Rudd.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise that “We won’t do anything that is contrary to our mandate.”
-
Tony Abbott’s promise that we will get an “honest” Government.
-
Paid Parental Leave has been capped from his original promise of up to $75,000.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise to “modestly slim down” the public service by “12,000 through natural attrition”. 16,500 jobs have been announced as going.
-
Tony Abbott claimed that the Mining Tax would be gone by July 1, 2014.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise that the public service would be reduced by “natural attrition” and “that we are not talking about forced redundancies”. Since the 2013 Federal Election, public servants have been forced to take redundancies.
-
Tony Abbott’s promise ensuring all Commonwealth-funded projects worth more than $100 million to undergo a cost-benefit analysis by Infrastructure Australia.
-
In the lead up to the 2013 Federal Election, Greg Hunt, Tony Abbott and the Liberals not only promised to maintain the existing funding to Landcare, but to give them access to a greater pool of funding. After the election, the Landcare budget was cut by $483.8 million.
-
In April 2013, Tony Abbott made a promise to repeal Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act. On August 5, 2014, Tony Abbott abandoned any changes to Section 18C. On August 6, 2014, Tony Abbott went further and said that the changes are “off the table”.
-
Despite claiming that Paid Parental Leave was his “signature” policy, Tony Abbott scrapped it completely in February 2015.
-
Despite promising on numerous occasions that the GST wouldn’t change, Tony Abbott and Joe Hockey have expanded the GST to include digital purchases from overseas in a tax grab that has become known as the ‘Netflix tax’.
I honestly don't believe Abbott is a deliberate habitual liar. I'm sure there's some fibs he tells for the sake of PR etc - pretending to believe in climate change for instance cos he knows open denialism in a PM is probably a step too far for the electorate - but in general I think he pretty much puts his honest beliefs on the table where everyone can see.The problem is that the honest beliefs he expresses are frequently contradicted by each other, or more commonly, by reality. He’s a man with a very strongly-held and simple worldview, and instead of being able to look at reality and evidence and adapt his thought to them, he mentally edits reality to conform to what he personally believes.
I have absolutely no doubt that, in his mental world, the leftist heirs of the fading university Maoists he opposed as a kid are now pushing the Great Global Warming Conspiracy to overthrow Western civilisation, that hordes of probably-disease-carrying probably-terrorists in unobtrusive fishing boats creep ever-closer to Australian shores cunningly disguised as refugees, and that against the titanic, world-spanning evil of ISIS, he stands alone, defiant and Churchillian while lesser men cower and appease.
If he wasn’t PM, you’d almost feel sorry for the poor deluded, way-out-of-his-depth sap.
Example C.
No evidence, no facts.
You’re just imagining what he thinks like and have then extrapolated that to his actual actions.
The last paragraph is just a fantasy that you have come up with.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The level of self delusion is astounding. On a par with Phoney Tone himself. A hopeless case.