Everybody with even a limited intelligence knows Donald Trump lies, and that his lying is almost beyond comparison and that it is pathological1,2,3. Australia has had its political liars too, and perhaps the most obvious one, and one for which there is most documentation is Tony Abbott, who before the 2013 election delivered a plethora of lies to attempt to get elected4. In this he was successful, but that didn’t stop the lies; they continued unabated5-13.
After the relatively sane interval of the Turnbull Prime Ministership, we now have a Prime Minister who is more like Trump than Abbott was. Abbott would lie in doorstops and in opinion pieces he wrote (or someone wrote for him). However, I do not recall Abbott lying brazenly in places like the National Press Club or anywhere the format allowed senior reporters to question. However, I do admit that, as the Abbott hilarity continued, I tended not to watch Tony Abbott in such circumstances, so maybe I just missed such instances of him lying.
While I thought Abbott was the epitome of dishonesty, he has been well and truly eclipsed by Morrison. Morrison has adopted the same techniques as Trump. He simply lies outrageously even when confronted by the media in numbers. And when queried about some of his lies, he replies with non-answers such as ‘I do not agree with the premise of your question’, ‘that is a Canberra bubble question’, ‘I have already answered that’, ‘you already have my response to that’, ‘you can editorialise on that…’, ‘I don’t agree with your characterisation of that’ or simply rambles on about something unconnected. And more often than not, the media let him get away with it. If they don’t, and that happens rarely, Morrison simply leaves the scene14,15.
We have a government that is the most corrupt I have ever seen in 40 years of watching politics, and they are led by the worst liar I have ever seen in politics. The time for politeness is over. Morrison needs to be called out for what he is, a liar. The media need to stop dancing around his untruths, calling them inaccurate, or incorrect, or misleading. Morrison has access to the best information all the scientists and economists in the nation can muster, and he lies about it, consistently. What can the media do? They need to call out his lies, to his face. If they are unable to detect lies, when the information to do so is freely available, and the methods politicians use to lie are well understood16, then they perhaps should get out of the journalism profession. If, for some reason, they are afraid to call him out, then they are complicit in his lies, and should perhaps also get out of the journalism profession. If a journalist writes only what Morrison wants them to write, they are not in journalism, they are in public relations17.
Sources
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/01/22/liar-trump/
- https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
- https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims/?utm_term=.0e6b2f643580
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/02/24/the-liberals-rudd/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/01/15/abbott-the-liar/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/02/05/abbott-lies-again/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/08/09/abbotts-true-bigotry/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/08/16/abbott-at-it-again/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/09/06/abbott-continues-lying/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/09/13/abbott-know-lying/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2019/01/21/tony-abbott-channels-goebbels/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2019/02/13/another-lie-from-tony-abbott/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2019/03/30/more-lies-from-tony-abbott/
- https://thenewdaily.com.au/news/election-2019/2019/04/19/paula-matthewson-election-2019/
- https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/scott-morrison-press-conference-climate/
- http://www.blotreport.com/2017/02/10/how-politicians-lie/
- https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/01/20/news-suppress/
there is a cute little #ScottyfromMarketing ‘bingo’ card, referencing his non responses in this twitter: https://twitter.com/left_of_labor
I’m reminded of lil Johnny Howard being noted for being ‘𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘵𝘩’ .. #ScottyfromMarketing has simply taken this to an astronomical new level. Such as, his response re the ‘worthy’ women’s change rooms, ‘cepting that there were something like 24 other women’s change rooms that scored better than the one awarded, but didn’t get a cookie.
Geez, i wonder why they don’t allow follow up questions?
https://twitter.com/LesStonehouse/status/1222366633798189057/photo/1
Clive,
Haha! I hadn’t seen that.
Clive,
Follow up questions would be too embarrassing!
With very few exceptions, the media – including the ABC and the “Independent Always” lot (lol to that bs) – has been dancing to Morrison’s tune for years, starting with when he was Minister for No Comments On On-Water Matters. Surely some of them must be embarrassed by the way he manipulates them and treats them with disdain. That said the reason he can manipulate most of them is that they don’t come armed with knowledge, which means they can’t point out his “misspeaks” (lies) and can’t quickly separate his propaganda from the facts.
Good opinion piece by Peter Hartcher in the SMH today under the heading of “Why Scott Morrison’s vanity is his greatest weakness” though: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/hollow-the-leader-with-a-mountain-to-climb-pm-s-challenge-is-beyond-urgent-20200131-p53woq.html A few recent articles suggests Hartcher may have found strong voice after prevaricating on issues for years. About time.
To think we have 3 more years of this mob of incompetent, lying pricks is enough to make me weep, even more than the knowledge that 1 in 2 Australians voted for them despite their obvious incompetence and corruption. The vast majority of those supporters are complacent, complicit, culpable and self-interested, which is why this country is on a significant downward spiral. It’s no surprise that our international standing has taken a huge hit in recent years, nor that Transparency International has found that perceived corruption has worsened “significantly” over the past eight years in this country: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/23/australia-among-21-nations-where-perceived-corruption-has-worsened
Poor fella my country
Jon,
I get the impression that the less extreme RWNJs are starting to turn on Morrison for his incompetence, while the far right religious nutters will support him till the rapture (snigger!). On Insiders this morning, even Savva and Coorey were sticking the boot in, but the hard-core lying ‘ruperter’ Viellaris was making excuses for him. She has featured in these essays before.
I see Rudd has exposed SmirkMo’s ignorance and lies yet again in Clive’s Twitter link.
“Morrison’s claim that Labor charged Australians for tickets on charter flights out of Egypt during the 2011 uprising is an outright falsehood. The cost (about $3400 per person) was borne by the Government. Why is #ScottyfromMarketing slugging Aussies to get them out of Wuhan?”
What I’d like to see: a journalist with ticker who lists a handful of SmirkMo’s lies then asks why Australians should trust him. Happened in the UK with Johnson.
Jon,
On Insiders, Speers interviewed Fraudenberg and was all over him like a cheap suit. Fraudenberg announced that the $1,000 fee for a two week holiday on Christmas Island will not be charged to the ‘holidaymakers’. Fraudenberg said that they were initially given incorrect information about charges for the evacuation of people from the Middle East by staff in Immigration, and that there would be no charge. I expect that the evacuation charge idea was a brainfart and with the online outrage frightening the horses they backflipped. As someone said online: “ignore expert advice from the public service; have a brainfart policy; surprise at outrage regarding policy; backflip on brainfart policy; blame public service.”
Simple solution for journalists to the transparent ‘if caught out, blame the PS’ tactic. Show some spine and ask to see the official correspondence. That it has come to the point that we can’t trust elected representatives – especially government Ministers and their usually anonymous office staff , and that journalists are being targeted for revealing the truth, says everything you need to know about Australia’s failing democracy.
I see the staffer who was named as the person responsible in Angus Taylor’s office for the doctored City of Sydney travel document has been appointed as director of the ACT Liberals. According to the SMH, the same bloke was linked to an attempt by Abetz’s office to tinker with jobs data: https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/liberal-staffer-who-obtained-false-figures-used-by-angus-taylor-will-keep-job-20191204-p53gy1.html . Yet another reason to vote independent in ACT elections.
Good letter in the Canberra Times recently in regard to the Bridget McKenzie political bribery scandal. Writer suggested it pales in comparison to the $1B+ Barr-Rattenbury light rail rort which gave Barr government. Couldn’t agree more.
Jon,
Why doesn’t it surprise me that he has got a sinecure. Standard practice. What is the light rail rort?