Although the instances of lying by politicians are too numerous to mention, there are some obvious recent examples which fill me with disgust.
Firstly, we had the non-compulsory, non-binding postal opinion poll, which the Prime Minister stated was necessary, because Australians needed to have their say about same-sex marriage, just like we didn’t in 2004 when it was made illegal by John Howard. And what did it do? It simply confirmed the results of numerous opinion polls taken on the same subject over the previous few years. The cost of this exercise? Around about $100 million; just so the religious nutters in government could delay the inevitable1. This was in the vain hope that they could marshal their troops and frighten the populace with lies about unrelated topics. It failed miserably, so that now the religious nutters are whining about religious freedom. This is simply code for the ability to discriminate against people whose sexual proclivities they do not like. At base, these supposed Christians want to be able to continue to tell gay people that they are abominations.
Secondly, we now have the week’s delay in the sitting of parliament, called by the Prime Minister. The reason given? So the Senate could deal with the same-sex marriage bill. It is unclear how that would be impacted given that it has never been a concern before this. This is how desperate Turnbull is to limit debate about everything other than same-sex marriage. He has said that he wants same-sex marriage legislated by Christmas, so why the delay? He is frightened by the possibility that some Nationals could cross the floor and vote for a banking Royal Commission should the House of Representatives vote for standing orders to be suspended; a real possibility when he is short two members from New England and Bennelong, owing to the dual-citizenship fiasco2. There is also the possibility that even more government members could fall foul of Section 44 of the Constitution. That could lead to the government losing a vote of no confidence in the House of Representatives, which would mean we would be facing a general election early next year.
It is just more politics and less honesty.
Sources
- http://www.blotreport.com/australian-politics/yes-100-million-poorer/
- http://www.theage.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/why-would-malcolm-turnbull-cancel-parliament-hes-desperate-to-survive-20171120-gzp814.html
