Just coz its sunday I thought i might add this to the discussion.
Abbott gave a speech last week.
He said
'The price of free speech is that offence will be given, facts will be misrepresented and lies will be told.'
… and then he illustrated this exact point with this:
When roof batts routinely catch fire, damaging hundreds of homes and killing four installers; when $16 billion has been spent building school halls that could have normally been constructed for less than half the price; when more than $50 billion is being spent on a National(ised) Broadband Network that the government originally claimed could be done for a tenth the cost; when more than 20,000 illegal boat people have arrived because the government assumed there was no longer a problem and dropped the policy that worked; when a carbon tax that the prime minister said would never happen has been introduced to save her political hide; when a well-respected speaker of the parliament has been forced to resign to protect the government’s parliamentary numbers; and when the system of justice seems incapable of dealing swiftly with an MP who’s clearly ripped off union members, the ability to be critical of government is more important than ever.
Wouldn’t it be terrible if Abbott wasn’t able to give offence, misrepresent facts and tell lies as he has done above?
So many lies in just one paragraph.
1. When roof batts routinely catch fire, damaging hundreds of homes and killing four installers
Rates of fires for roof batt insulation under the HIP scheme were less than the previous average. In total 27 structural fires in 1.1 million installations. Companies that hired the installers have been found culpable of work safe breaches. One died of confined space asphyxiation. One was installing banned foil insulation.
http://www.climatechange.gov.au/~/media/publications/energy-efficiency/home-insulation-hawke-report-pdf.pdf
http://blogs.crikey.com.au/pollytics/2011/04/24/the-csiro-gets-hip-to-debunking-media-hysteria/
2. when $16 billion has been spent building school halls that could have normally been constructed for less than half the price.
First the majority of money was spent on libraries and class rooms. An independent review confirmed majority of projects proved value for money with a 97% satisfaction figure and the premium for speed in getting stimulus monies out was 5-6%. Less than $1 billion at worst. The figure 'less than half the price' pure BS
http://www.deewr.gov.au/Schooling/BuildingTheEducationRevolution/Pages/berit_news.aspx
3. when more than $50 billion is being spent on a National(ised) Broadband Network that the government originally claimed could be done for a tenth the cost
First the figure is wrong, its closer to $37 billion. The government is contributing only $27 billion with the rest coming from private investment. What is misrepresented always is that the investment will actually make a return estimated at 7%. Yes the government MAKES MONEY as well as providing broadband. The" tenth of the cost" again is a deliberate distortion because the previous plan was for fibre to the node rather than the more expansive fibre to the premises which is now undertaken, By way of context the coalition policy at the last election was to give away $6 billion to Telco companies to provide broadband without ANY RETURN to the government on those monies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Broadband_Network
4. when more than 20,000 illegal boat people have arrived because the government assumed there was no longer a problem and dropped the policy that worked.
We'll cut him some slack as it goes to opinion but asylum seekers have legal right at International law to seek asylum. For context on numbers and causes:
ttp://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/2011-2012/BoatArrivals
5. when a carbon tax that the prime minister said would never happen has been introduced to save her political hide
Julia Gillard said this the day before the election.
"I don't rule out the possibility of legislating a Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), a market-based mechanism," she said of the next parliament. "I rule out a carbon tax."
Julia introduced as promised an ETS which is almost identical to the CPRS Rudd tried to get through and failed when Abbott again reneged on Turnbull's agreement to pass the CPRS.
The difference is that the present scheme has a 3 year fixed permit period whereas the CPRS had a one year fixed permit period which has been ramped up by the coalition and accomplices in the media ludicrously to constitute a tax.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/julia-gillards-carbon-price-promise/story-fn59niix-1225907522983
6. when a well-respected speaker of the parliament has been forced to resign to protect the government’s parliamentary numbers;
Harry Jenkins has repeatedly stated he was not forced to resign. The missing context is that the choice of speaker would have had no effect on parliamentary numbers if Abbott had not again reneged on his WRITTEN agreement with labor and independents to pair the speaker. Liar and hypocrite.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-09-23/abbott-cant-be-trusted-windsor/2272180
http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/11/25/slipper-takes-the-money-and-runs-the-show/
7. and when the system of justice seems incapable of dealing swiftly with an MP who’s clearly ripped off union members the ability to be critical of government is more important than ever
Thompson may or may not have ripped off union members but numerous police investigations and independent reviews have not established any criminality and to date he has not been charged with any offense. In any event criminal law being primarily the domain of the states it is a bit rich to tie in the commonwealth government for a failure to prosecute.
Oh and as a post script later in the week Abbott talked about increasing powers to take down offensive facebook pages meaning that his defence of "offensive free speech" didn't last three days.
When will the media hold this moron to account ?
