"We will be a no surprises, no excuses government, because you are sick of nasty surprises and lame excuses from people that you have trusted with your future."
Tony Abbott, Liberal Party election campaign launch, 25 August 2013 [13 days before the election]
Over the course of the last few weeks, there has been plenty said of the Abbott government’s obvious retreat from promises made before the 2013 election. In particular, the ‘no cuts to ABC and SBS’ promise has been getting decent airplay.
This should be a surprise to no-one, and few would be sympathetic to the Prime Minister’s plight of late. For three years in opposition, Abbott campaigned hard and effectively on the carbon tax ‘lie’. He refused to cut Gillard any slack that the onset of minority government - which no-one really expected before the 2010 election - constituted a change in circumstances. That he seeks to evoke sympathy on the basis of that now is jarring at best, offensive at worst.
His focus was relentless. It was often a convenient fall back position for Abbott and his shadow ministers; in times of trouble, they simply pressed the emergency carbon tax button. He claimed that it was a huge breach of trust on the part of Prime Minister Gillard; a huge wrong that needed to be corrected.
"I think if the Prime Minister wants to make, politically speaking, an honest woman of herself, she needs to seek a mandate for a carbon tax and she should do that at the next election."
Tony Abbott, February 25, 2011 [923 days before the election]
Putting aside the sexist overtones of the 'honest women of herself', Abbott went hard, and repeatedly. For the most part, the Canberra press gallery were happy to go along with it and reported the carbon tax lie as regularly as Abbott talked about it. And that was a lot. That the current Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten has now adopted a similar approach should be a surprise to no-one.
As Annabel Crabb pointed out in a thoroughly entertaining piece over the weekend, the happiest bloke in Canberra right now is probably Bill Shorten, ‘who spends his days enjoying exactly what Tony Abbott enjoyed while in opposition - the guilty thrill of unearned political advantage - as flukey as a fifty on the footpath.’
Surely Abbott and his minders would’ve been acutely aware that his political opponents, smelling the air of hypocrisy in his breaking promises, would attack him for it?
The reality is that so damaged was the Labor brand in the leadup to the 2013 election, that many of the Abbott promises probably didn't even need to be made. But they were. When the question was put to him on whether he would just go back on his word and change everything once he got into power - as many perhaps suspected he may - his response was unequivocal.
"If we do win the election and we immediately say: ‘oh, we got it all wrong, we’ve now got to do all these different things’, we will instantly be just bad as the current government has been and I just refuse to be like that."
Tony Abbott, August 30 2013. [7 days before the election]
And it wasn’t just Abbott that was making promises. With his Shadow Minister for Education, the two quipped openly about Labor and the Coalition being on a 'unity ticket'.
"You can vote Liberal or Labor and you’ll get exactly the same amount of funding for your school."
Christopher Pyne, Shadow Minister for Education, August 2 2013 [35 days before the election]
"There is no difference between Kevin Rudd and myself when it comes to school funding."
Tony Abbott, August 2 2013 [35 days before the election]
The Gonski backflip joins a list of broken promises from this government that is considerable. Things that it set out to do have failed, and things in opposition they never mentioned they were going to do, are suddenly on the table. (If anyone can point me to the moment where Abbott et al earmarked the introduction of a GP co-payment, that would be much appreciated.)
Abbott and his team may have sought to convince people that he was going to be different, and that he was going to keep his word, but he has not. That they have gone back on their words has not only tarnished their images, and made a whole swag of backbenchers suddenly nervous, but it has also unfortunately reinforced the wide held belief that most (if not all) politicians - of all persuasions - are full of it. This in turn continues to decrease the overall tenor of political discussion - making it more a case of he said/she said, and less about policy substance. 'They’re all as bad as each other' breeds an apathy that is unhealthy for social and political discussion.
While our lives are seemingly busier than they have ever been before, and political parties and their minders are keen to get messages down to the smallest most easily consumed soundbite, it means that real policy debates and discussions are almost non-existent. Short term political and electoral success takes priority over what is in the best and long-term interests of the nation and its people. Many journalists find it easier to ask a question about an opinion poll, instead of perhaps one about the technical details of a particular policy. The politician is likely to be better prepared for the first question than the latter, and the circus continues.
Concepts of 'vision', 'big picture', 'the future' rarely get a look in. We are all poorer for it.
It will be a bold individual that tries to change that. One that looks beyond short term gain and actually speaks to the hearts and minds of Australians, engages them on a journey about what type of Australia they want to live in. While such a person may exist only in a utopian political world, one nevertheless hopes that he or she does exist, because otherwise, it will continue to be a race to the bottom.
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