Broken Promises
No matter how they try to spin things in their favor, the undeniable fact is that Christopher Pyne and Tony Abbott lied about their plans for Gonski. How can I prove they lied? Because nothing has changed between now and before the election, when they agreed to a bipartisan approach to Labor’s Gonski educational funding model. They have not been forced to make a deal with a minor party to hold power. There has not been some huge budget black hole discovered that changes the funding commitment by the previous Labor government. The same person who made the promise to implement the Gonski reforms as Shadow Minister for Education, is now Minister for Education. This backflip is not about changed circumstances. This is about ideology around privilege, rich independent schools and the innate advantage that Abbott’s government thinks rich children deserve to have over poor children who go to publically funded schools. Gonski, the great equaliser, threatened this ideology. So Pyne and Abbott have lied. And they’ve wasted no time in doing it – which proves that they’re arrogant enough to think they can get away with anything, and they have total contempt for the people of Australia who voted for them, expecting them to be true to their word on Gonski.
As much as I could write about this huge porky of a dishonest, bald-faced, down-right scum-bag lie for this entire post, I’m not going to do that because that’s not what this post is about. What this post is about is our society, and particularly our media’s and minor party’s obsession with broken promises. When in actual fact, we should care little about broken promises. We should care little about ‘holding politicians to account’ to deliver what they promised. Did you hear that GetUp? What we should really care about, and what we should be passionately trying to defend is policy which is in the community interest. If someone promises to do something terrible, and then back-flips and does good instead, let’s congratulate them. Let’s not act like 5 year olds and point the finger and say ‘they lied, that’s bad’ without actually looking past the words and deciding whether the outcome is judged as positive or negative for us all.
Let me give you an example. The Abbott government should be judged harshly for lying about the Gonski education funding model. They have shown through their backflip that their support for this policy was a vote winning maneuver and nothing more. Yet, there are plenty of other policies of the Abbott government which I would support them lying about. They promised to ‘turn back the boats’. Turns out they can’t do this. But if they had come out after the election and said ‘we’ve decided it’s unsafe to turn boats back, so we’re not going to deliver on our promise to do this. Sorry about that bigots, but we have to do the right thing’, I would applaud this. If they had taken over government and suddenly decided it was time to become responsible human beings and take seriously the warnings of climate scientists, I would have applauded them. If they lied about cancelling the Carbon Tax, sure, I would be pretty miffed that they won an election by mobilizing the selfishness of our most petty and immature Australians to win government, but as long as I ended up with a price on carbon, I would be happier than I would be to living in a country without one. Lie away! Save the planet! And if Joe Hockey was intelligent and brave enough to admit that the revenue from the Mining Tax is not something that can be raised by increasing taxes to our lowest income earners, and therefore broke his promise about getting rid of this tax, who wouldn’t respect this decision? Do you see what I’m getting at? It’s fine to be outraged with Pyne for lying about a policy which had huge benefit for our community. But if politicians lie so that they end up doing something good instead of evil, we shouldn’t be ‘holding them to account’. We should be shaking their hands.
I know you saw this one coming, so here it is. The obsession with Julia Gillard’s Carbon Price lie falls into the category of a ‘backflip which should be welcomed’. But the immature media, the screaming Liberals, the far too easily conned electorate, never gave the policy enough thought to get past the ‘she said she’d do one thing before the election, and then did something else! JULIAR!’. No matter that the policy was actually a carbon price, not a carbon tax, which taxi drivers were not going to pay – just companies who profit by polluting the atmosphere. No matter that the Carbon Price policy was just a transition into an Emissions Trading Scheme, which Gillard did promise to implement before the election. This wasn’t even an official backflip. It was a half-pike at best. No matter that the only reason Gillard didn’t do as she promised was because of negotiations with the Greens to form a minority government (she wasn’t expecting a hung-parliament). No matter all of these things, Gillard was crucified for lying, when really she should have been congratulated for doing the right thing. The Carbon Price was in our community’s interest, whether huge numbers of our community wanted to admit this or not.
So yes – let’s maintain the rage about Pyne’s lie – but only because he is taking something from us that was hugely beneficial. But if Abbott’s government chooses to lie about any of the Liberal’s other policies, which are quite easily judged as being bad for our country, let’s not discourage back-flips. Let’s hold people to account for doing something in our interest, not for ‘sticking to their word’, a word that was used to manipulate scared and petty people into doing the wrong thing for everyone. Let’s encourage people to act as adults. And let’s act as adults ourselves and hold politicians to account for doing the right thing. Full stop.
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Return to home pageAbbott has virtually conceded that he signed on to Gonski as a ‘unity ticket’ with Labor merely to shut down education funding as an election issue.
Nice people we have governing us !
“Rabbott’s” and Pyne “The Whyne’s” whole approach is that they doesn’t care what anyone says knowing the MSM will not savage them and that the electorate at large has gone back to sleep.
Their antics in parliament were enough to make them unelectable but did their constituents care?
All, particularly the parents of State School students and their staff must be loud in opposing this ideological barstadry.
Think that we need more than 1 National Strike Day to wake this mob up Kaye Lee.
There are a few more things that require National Strikes too!
Here’s a 4 word slogan – LNP=BAD GOVERNMENT.
When 70% of the Australian media is doing the wishes of its American owner … then that person is an enemy of all Australian’s.
And when that same media follows the dictates of the American owner then that media is an enemy of the State.
there is nothing virtual and let us blame the victim here because labor made no political gain over his many truthful slips. He told windsor he would do anything to be pm including considering to sell his arse.(for a practised poofta bashing catholic that is confession) He told o’brien that he lies to relieve pressure from journalists. His outrageous assessment of the economy, Whyalla and copper all went unchallenged.
We should have known what the Coalition’s real desires were regarding Gonski when Pyne, back in August, said,
Abbott turned that around days later (for political and polling reasons) and committed to four years, but what they’ve done doesn’t exactly surprise me.
I wonder if a National Strike Day might wake them up.
It’s not about class warfare ?
Although I am left wondering how it became enshrined in law that the catholic education system could not have Federal money taken away from it ….. but State public schools could have money refused.
Must be religious warfare …. with …. as usual, where children are concerned … the catholic church front and centre.
But it wouldn’t have anything to do with catholic educated ,,, Abbott, Pyne, Hockey, Joyce.
And Pell is the “confessor”.
As Vic’s article advises, lets not let the rage over the lie get in the way of clearly seeing the direction of the policy. 1.These guys want to privatise education… Howard began the process by encouraging parents to leave the public school system, thus starving that system of brighter and/or more affluent students and thereby marginalising the remaining students. Since Rudd-Gillard, the public school system has begun to recover. If you are thinking of where you’ll send your kids, check out your local public school – we have a terrific education system, great teachers – but don’t judge the school by its peeling paint! 2. They want to dumb down the Aussie battler so s/he has to rely on Alan Jones and Mr Murdoch to understand whats going on. The Libs talk about the ALP making a “class war” but maybe the ALP shouldn’t be so defensive on that point – why shouldn’t they stand up for taking away funds for the extra swimming pool at the GPS and giving it to the state schools for learning disability teachers? 3. The first group always attacked by the new Totalitarians in any society are the intelligentsia. Howard referred to those tertiary educated types as ‘the elite’ when he was actually supporting the real ‘elite’. Ditto Abbot who wants to give extra money to the big end of town while starving the bread line and its no accident that he’s using his whiney attack dog to destroy public education because knowledge is power and he doesn’t want us to have any.
Ah yes, Whyalla. I wonder whatever happened to it. 😉
And neither they should, Dan. After all, this is a “no surprises” government. 😉
Better a broken promise than a bad policy. Abe Lincoln.
Yes, Abbott and Pyne did lie. They knew when they pulled that stunt at Emu Plains, they had no intention of keeping their word.
Pyne beliefs starts from the fact, that he has voiced in many occasions, rat state schools are the responsibility of the states. Private schools the responsibility of the Federal government.
Therefore, in Pyne’s eyes, he has no business getting involved with education in public schools.
Both a broken promise, bringing back a broken policy, and not in the interest of the country.
Nor is there obsession in getting rid of anything Labor, no matter the worth, in the interest of this country.,
It is pure revenge, vindictive, nothing else, that drives this government.
Why they are getting rid of all the bodies, set up to research and advise government is beyond me.
Can they not stand any criticism of what they sat and do.
All those cuts, will save the government little. Will not even add much to the numbers they want to sack.
We also need to keep in mind, both Abbot and Pyne keep on and on about bringing about independent schools to replace the present government run system. By the way, everywhere this has been tried, it has failed. Does not deliver what Pyne claims.
Under Better Schools, much authority has been given to PS for the day to day running of the school, but, not in the manner that Pyne sees.
Under Better Schools, the government, not the headmaster, remains responsible for the running of the school. Yes, the buck still stops with the government.
I wish someone would ask Pyne for the names of the two hundred schools that are worse off, out of over two thousand in NSW.
Would not mind it to be followed up, by how much each school is out of pocket.
I am sure there will be no public schools, or even Catholic or community reifious schools.
Abbott and Dutton at a hospital. ABC 24.
PS. Out electioneering again.
Cleaning up Labor’s mess. I hope the next government is able to claen up the mess, he is quickly creating, in this the day 74 old government.
Talking about breaking commitments. Ha Ha ha
He is at the Mater, North Sydney
By the way, Mr. Dutton, during the last six years did not ask one health question in parliament. Why, the concern now?
Abe was 150 years ago in a whole other country we are talking about the future of education in Australia. This Gonski Reform took a long time in the making and now because it does not conform to the controlling governments agenda its scrapped and keep the odds in their elite favour. Funnily enough a lot of people were relieved when these changes were introduced so, I’m not sure it was such a bad policy as it was never given time to even prove itself , now ask yourself WHY??? When we are talking broken promises from this current government start counting the other costs. This governments arrogance and ignorance in the face of credible social research and scientific evidence and it apparent ignorance of foreign diplomacy is becoming more and more evident. I only hope the people who voted them in are happy with the results in 4 years cause I believe we are in for an almighty crash into reality very soon.
Its time for the ALP to throw away the training wheels.
Promote Tanya Plibersek to the Opposition chair and start attacking “Slick” Abbott.
You’re blogs are always thoughtful and interesting, thank you. I have strong doubts about this Abbott govt. he never backflips, or says sorry, he is deceitful, cunning and a well practised LIAR as is his cabinet, there is no good in them whatsoever, they show no empathy and promised to be an ADULT govt. They have no plans for the Nation and treat voters like they are a waste of time. Well we will vote them out and I hope voters that were silly enough to believe Murdoch rubbish will do so proper research before voting next time. pracs
@Kaye Lee
“Poodles” Pyne also says throwing money at education doesn’t work.
Perhaps he means “throwing money at State education doesn’t work” ?
Julia Gillard also said we have been spending millions without results.
Then she spent the next six years, setting up the groundwork, bring the buildings and schools infrastructure into the modern age.
She set up the Gonski Panel, with people across the political spectrum, to research, gather fasts and come up with a fair system. Three three school systems where to be taken into account.
She then , through state/fedreral government partisanships, set up trials, in most states to test what Gonski produced.
Then, from those trials, and Gonski, the model of funding was put in place.
What has resulted, is a system that is system blind, that focuses on the individual needs ot the child. It also addresses many other things no=w lacking.
It gives schools heads more autonomy in the day to day running of the school. Something that Pyne must have missed, because he also promises this.
It also takes involves improving teachers and their ability to teach. Is high on giving the teacher, the assistance to meet the needs of every child.
It has focused on creating a curriculum that is uniform across the country. I believe they have left this task up to the people on the know, that is the teaching sector it selfs. Not something that [politicians should interfere with.
There are now ongoing collection of data and fact gathering, that was not available before Gillard became minister r for education. There is ongoing testing to assist in this.
Mr. Pyne, money does count. Mr. Pyne, it is how the money is spent that matters.
If we go down this track, it will save the country much more that is spent. Much more.
Children who are now falling through the net, or their home and personal disabilities not address, do grow up. Many end up in institutions, whether health or the penal system.
In fact they grow up to produced the next generation of losers.
It should not be not be about politics. In fact, it could even be about the future productivity of this land.
Pyne does not believe in state education.
How he supports this view, when the countries that are moving away from us, all rely on stare education. Most do not even have a private system, let alone one with government input.
Just as an aside, our system has not been going backwards. What has happened others are going ahead in leaps and bounds. We are just not keeping up, especially in our region.
We have had two systems of education, nearly from day one.
We have always had the Catholic system beside the state system. It is too late for us to revert to a singular state system. No need to do so.
Gonski found a way fro us to move on comparing private versus public, by focusing the funding model on the child.
I noticed on other sites, the debate is all about private versus public. That is not what the debate is about today.
The debate, if anything, is saving the public system, which has stood the test of time. It is in danger of being discarded.
Michael, when one has the likes of Reith out condemning Hockey, there are sure rumblings, big ones.
Even Bolt is criticizing this government,. What does that say.
Paul, already there are rumblings of discontent.
Christopher Pyne has twins who were born 9 weeks premature and, maybe consequently, are dyslexic. He was able to pay for six years of special needs tutoring for them and they seem like lovely, happy kids who are doing well in their lives.
In an interview in May this year, he said the following:
“Mr Pyne recognises his family was fortunate in being able to afford this path and says that as education minister – the role which polls say he will most likely hold after September’s election – he would improve the ability of public schools to offer similar support programs through the issue of vouchers for parents to use for extra tutoring.”
We shall see.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/29/tony-abbott-governments-is-bending-the-truth-and-thats-a-fact
Do not agree Gillard broke her no carbon tax promise, but that is another story. Has nothing toi do with this one.
https://sites.google.com/site/carbontaxmyths/
The LNP see spending money on the disadvantaged as simply a waste. To invest money in the disadvantaged is, as arch right wing Gerry Harvey put it “helping a whole heap of no-hopers…for no reason…..the more quality (read calibre) individuals you develop in the community, the better off the community should be”.
This view is fundamental to the Liberal world view, as self evident to them as the view that fostering equality in the community progresses it is to social progressives.
The LNP are waging a naked class war and until progressives are willing to get their hands dirty and call it as it is, the forces of money will continue to impoverish the majority
Why did not the rescinding of that toxic tax, not save Goa,. NO mention of the the tax, but blaming low prices and high dollar. Maybelle Abbott can explain.
Back to Pyne.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-29/states-vow-to-continue-school-funding-fight/5126300?WT.mc_id=newsmail
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-30/gonski-author-says-public-education-could-be/5126680
Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs has said that Margaret Thatcher is her heroine. MT influence appears to be coming through in Abbott gang decision making generally.
They make me very angry and I have had to edit my gross comments; it gets bad when you can’t believe any longer what the Abbott gang say.
Could this be what it is about. I suspect so. It is about dismantling the public system of education we now have.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-30/gonski-author-labels-pyne-minister-on-l-plates-over-education/5126762
Could one ever believe what Abbott and his gang has to say. In fact has Abbott ever told us what he is about?
One has to dig hard, and listen closely, to even get a hint of where they are going,.
74 days, after this government was installed, and we still have very little idea of where that is.
All we see, is the demolishing crews out, in the attempt to eradicate anything linked to Labor.
It seems, anything that Labor has done since the days of Whitlam, is on the chopping board.
I have this horrible feeling, that Abbott stopped thinking, since his early days, when Santamaria was his champion and hero.
What does one do, when ones Pope lets you down. I recall that Pope Leo made similar sentiments many years ago.
https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-prioritises-the-poor-channels-marx-in-new-manifesto-20826?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The+Weekend+Conversation&utm_content=The+Weekend+Conversation+CID_7f7ff3a7589b7a72bb34be21b392c1c8&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Pope%20Francis%20prioritises%20the%20poor%20channels%20Marx%20in%20new%20manifesto
https://theconversation.com/pope-francis-prioritises-the-poor-channels-marx-in-new-manifesto-20826?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The+Weekend+Conversation&utm_content=The+Weekend+Conversation+CID_7f7ff3a7589b7a72bb34be21b392c1c8&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Pope%20Francis%20prioritises%20the%20poor%20channels%20Marx%20in%20new%20manifesto
I read somewhere, long ago, in sociology, that the Catholic Church did not suit the needs of Capitalism, and that seen the emergence of the Protestant churches.
I believe there is a lot of truth in that.
I was also reared as a Catholic, but no longer believes in any religion.
As for a God, I, simply along with everyone else, does not know. No proof can be found either way.
Ah yes, Whyalla. I wonder whatever happened to it. 😉
But Rio Tinto alumina is being wiped out, under Abbott.
Image the barrage of headlines if 1000 jobs had gone under the previous government and the blame on the carbon price.
Rio Tinto did mention the cost of energy as being one factor for closing the mining of alumina and sacking 1000 workers, but not because of the additional cost of the carbon price. Very telling that. So despite Abbott saying Australia was open for business and business confidence sky rocketing on him being elected supposedly ushering in a new age of Howard like prosperity, “never had it so good”, major projects are being shut down, major businesses are demanding government assistance or they will go under and small business is going backwards under a Liberal government (including State Liberal) who are supposed to be all about small business. In the meantime the big end of town are doing OK thankyou and wait with slavering anticipation for their next round of tax concessions and upper class handouts.
There’s the Abbott lie.
Another week into the new LNP government and Australia is being gutted, how much longer can this go on?
“…He said any suggestion that any such cut would be borne only by the public school sector was “an affront to every public school student, their teachers and their parents”, given the majority of disadvantaged students attended government schools.
“In all of my involvement over many years I’ve never seen a press conference where ministers – National party ministers, Liberal party ministers, a Greens minister and Labor ministers – have expressed such unity and such force with respect to the critical issue of funding,” Gavrielatos said….”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/29/education-ministers-slam-broken-promise-on-school-funding
When public schools are disempowered can fascism really be all that far away?
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/abbotts-in-now-what-20131129-2yh1g.html#ixzz2m72y7bkY
I am sorry, I think I said Goa earlier. Meant Gove.
Still . it does not appear that rescinding that big toxic tax has worked. Wonder why?
Could I also point out that Electrolux decided to close after they knew the carbon tax would be repealed. Seems it wasn’t a deciding factor for them either.
“The company’s exhaustive investment study, announced earlier this year, concluded that Electrolux is able to manufacture refrigerators currently made here more cost effectively in other factories in Asia and Eastern Europe,” Dr Brown said.
The high Australian dollar coupled with high labour costs has made it difficult for the Orange plant to compete with overseas factories.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says it’s been a terrible fortnight for central west manufacturing jobs, with the announced closure of Downer EDI’s rail manufacturing plant and over 100 food manufacturing jobs cut from Simplot at Bathurst yesterday.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-10-25/500-jobs-to-go-as-electrolux-plant-at-orange-to-close/5046580
Notice it as announced just as the major TV programmes have all gone on leave……
Karen, yes all haver gone on leave. None have painted a positive picture of Abbott or even this government. Not even Bolt.
Not none core promises, but Abbott speak.
It is our fault that we misread the words he uttered. He is only keeping the promises he said he made, not the one, everyone thought he did.
Yes, everyone in the country are incapable of comprehending what Abbott utters.
Yes. like his adventures in our near region, he is the only one in step. The rest of us must be hearing different music, as we are all out of step.
We need guidelines, to understand how to decipher the words that Abbott utters.
Maybe the leaders within our region, are clever than we are at that.
Can anyone tell me, what did Abbott promise when it comes to education. In fact, when it comes to most of what he promised.
I wonder if any other premier in the country was willing to stand beside Abbott this morning. I suspect not even the WA premier would be interested.
What was he talking about, when it came to G20. Today we commence taking up that seat.
I loved Mr. Costello’s attack on Hockey this morning, on Bolt.
For once I agreed with the man.That is a shocking thing to happen.
He said among many other sensible things, few of us would disagree with, that Hockey when he cites that a takeover is unpopular, he is on a slippery slope. Maybe Hockey made the right decisions, but the reasons he gave stink. Costello said that if this occurred, everyone else, including the cvar industry would be lining up for similar safeguards.
Mr. Costello also spoke on Qantas. According to him, we should not be bailing them out, by guaranteeing their debt. That is what Joyce wants. Costello said, that they should be treated as Ansett where. cut loose.
As they are now a private company, why should the tax payer be responsible for the poor decisions they make.
We would be better placed, to make a even playing field for all.
The question that Hockey asked, is relevant.
Is Qantas a national carrier?
I say not. I say we do not even need one, in this global economy we now live.
The advantages such as providing jobs no longer applies, as moist have been taken off shore.
What would we achieve by propping Qantas up.
Repeat of Big Ideas with Paul Barry on Murdoch and it’s power. ABC 24
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/say-after-the-minister-old-is-new-again-20130927-2ujhn.html#ixzz2mBeyVfB4
Interesting insight into Pyne, Yes, his gut instincts tells him so.
No matter how much they spin it, the hole keeps getting deeper.
So they should just stop digging, and fess up.
My cartoon on it . . . .
Cheers
Mick
It’s very simple, if you want better government hold politicians to their promises, make them accountable and implement a consequence to their actions. Otherwise they can do the same thing over and over. Promise the world, add a little spin and wait for the public to forget. Rinse and repeat. Both sides of politics do it and it is getting in the way of Australia’s progress to a better future.
Is nothing sacred to this government?
http://www.afr.com/p/national/fofa_rollback_leads_abbott_cabinet_jRGi1m2WDxCWk9Yg3DfcVK
more.
http://www.afr.com/p/national/fofa_rollback_leads_abbott_cabinet_jRGi1m2WDxCWk9Yg3DfcVK
Abbott and Pyne are now on ABC 24
Announcing a simple system that is fair and national. Has agreement of states that did not sign?
All in a few days????
He has agreement with the bodies that cover only 29% of kids. The other states that signed up to Gonski, covers 80%
Third scheme within a week.
It appears, we still have the Gonski model, with some of the safe guards removed.
Another background.
Took to the end of the MC to work out what they are saying.
A lot of weasel words to get to the point, they are keeping Gillard’s model
Monday’s announcement was the Coalition’s third backflip on education
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/gonski-reversal-tony-abbott-backflips-puts-12b-into-schools-20131202-2yl79.html#ixzz2mHmy5E2T
Censure motion now on. Leave not granted.
Will we now see some of the fine print of that announcement.