Broken promises. What is acceptable?

[i-need-a-martini]

Lots of broken promises are made by governments. If the promises are broken because of economic need, I understand.

But what of the empty promises that they know they can never keep. Like the 'Stop the Boats' promise?

Or this one: where Abbott promised at the Garma festival in the weeks leading up to the election that he would spend his first week as Prime Minister in Yolgnu country.

To break promises like this is just a low act by someone who knew he would never be able to keep it.

See where he says it clearly here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1OKujvU2wQ

I wouldn't bother to listen to the whole boring speech (although many of his off the cuff comments are a little eyebrow raising) but at 21:40 he starts making promises he can't keep.

[just_me_karen]

I only bet with people I trust would meet their obligation.

I read a blog today where the author is keeping tally of one-term-Tony's broken promised. Eleven, so far!

[*ibis]

I only bet with people I trust would meet their obligation.

OMG im laughing so hard i just fell down the stairs

[**meep**]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

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@**meep** wrote:

yes, well, Crikey, where would you go from here? how far?  lol

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and btw ANYONE fleeing war/ persecuation is the same imo .Regardless of how they flee or what papers they have/don't have when they arrive at a safe destination

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what?

my comment was in response to Crikey's Thread Closed stamp ie once you make comparisons to Nazism, what else is there left to say?  what's next?   

[izabsmiling]

there isn't a superior/inferior refugee in my view Meep ...Asylum seekers do not make 'inferior' refugees ...those who come by other means are not 'superior'  because of that 

the rest of the article (i added earlier) 

Ironically, Abbott calling what Australia's Prime Minister said a ''lie'' may itself be an example of what Adolf Hitler called a ''big lie'', that is a lie so ''colossal'' it has a ''certain force of credibility'' because the populace ''would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously'' (Mein Kampf, volume I, chapter X).

For the repetitions, just watch the TV and listen to the radio. Every time an opposition politician gets the opportunity, they repeat the ''lie'' claim over and over again. This happens with such predictable regularity it cannot be mere coincidence. There is clearly a conscious, concerted and calculated propaganda campaign of Goebbels-esque proportions under way.

Other aspects of government policy have been given the same treatment: a charge on carbon polluters becomes ''a great big tax on everyone''; a tax that aims to spread the benefits of the mining boom to the rest of the community becomes ''class warfare'', and so on.

By exaggerating a promise that might not have even been broken into a ''lie to the Australian people'', by exaggerating a charge on carbon polluters into a ''huge tax on everyone'' and by repeating these exaggerations ad infinitum and ad nauseam, Abbott and the opposition are lowering the level of political debate in contemporary Australia to that of Germany in the '30s.

No one is claiming Abbott is a Nazi but one has to ask why he, and the party he leads, are so doggedly using discredited Nazi propaganda techniques?

Ian Robinson is a Melbourne writer and president emeritus of the Rationalist Society of Australia.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/taxing-the-truth-why-we-must-not-let-abbott...

[izabsmiling]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

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@poddster wrote:

Are you saying that the PM at time was not the leader of the government???

Amazing !!!!

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Poddster , as  Ian Robinson reported

Although in general it is not commendable to break commitments, it is not even clear that this is what has happened.

The Prime Minister's commitment not to introduce a tax on carbon was implicitly premised on her being in a position to keep the commitment, by leading a majority government after the election.

This didn't happen, so her pre-election commitment was effectively null and void.

Instead, she found herself in a minority government in which she was not in total control of all the outcomes. She therefore had to work out a compromise with the other stakeholders.

Abbott is reported as saying during the post-election negotiations that he would ''do anything'' to be prime minister. This implies that he, too, would have accepted a carbon tax as part of a minority government compromise.

Perhaps in hindsight the Prime Minister could have made the limitation to her commitment clearer by saying there would be no carbon tax under ''a majority government led by me''.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/taxing-the-truth-why-we-must-not-let-abbott...

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 the point here has been kind of sidetracked ..

[izabsmiling]

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@crikey*mate wrote:

heresay

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Crikey , we aren't in a courtroom 

[just_me_karen]

Maybe close as they're ever going to get, on the right side.

I think Tony's failure to update us on today's boat tragedy or offer his commiserations is terrible and shows he's missing the humanity gene.

[poddster]

Rationalist Society of Australia

Say no more.

[**meep**]

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@izabsmiling wrote:

there isn't a superior/inferior refugee in my view Meep ...Asylum seekers do not make 'inferior' refugees ...those who come by other means are not 'superior'  because of that 

the rest of the article (i added earlier) 

Ironically, Abbott calling what Australia's Prime Minister said a ''lie'' may itself be an example of what Adolf Hitler called a ''big lie'', that is a lie so ''colossal'' it has a ''certain force of credibility'' because the populace ''would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously'' (Mein Kampf, volume I, chapter X).

For the repetitions, just watch the TV and listen to the radio. Every time an opposition politician gets the opportunity, they repeat the ''lie'' claim over and over again. This happens with such predictable regularity it cannot be mere coincidence. There is clearly a conscious, concerted and calculated propaganda campaign of Goebbels-esque proportions under way.

Other aspects of government policy have been given the same treatment: a charge on carbon polluters becomes ''a great big tax on everyone''; a tax that aims to spread the benefits of the mining boom to the rest of the community becomes ''class warfare'', and so on.

By exaggerating a promise that might not have even been broken into a ''lie to the Australian people'', by exaggerating a charge on carbon polluters into a ''huge tax on everyone'' and by repeating these exaggerations ad infinitum and ad nauseam, Abbott and the opposition are lowering the level of political debate in contemporary Australia to that of Germany in the '30s.

No one is claiming Abbott is a Nazi but one has to ask why he, and the party he leads, are so doggedly using discredited Nazi propaganda techniques?

Ian Robinson is a Melbourne writer and president emeritus of the Rationalist Society of Australia.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/taxing-the-truth-why-we-must-not-let-abbott...

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Ok, that's fair enough that it is your view but why are you telling me this?   I don't recall making references to "inferior"  refugees ??

[poddster]

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@just_me_karen wrote:
Maybe close as they're ever going to get, on the right side.

I think Tony's failure to update us on today's boat tragedy or offer his commiserations is terrible and shows he's missing the humanity gene.

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What a silly thing for anyone to pursue.

The Labor party wants a full explanation from the government for a boating tragedy in Indonesia??

How ridiculous can it get??

What has that got to do with Australia?