Peta Credlin: A liar looks like he’ll get back into The Lodge but do voters even care?
The Greens have said negative gearing reform would be a must for them to form a minority government. The PM said he has ‘no plans’ to change policy, but we’ve heard these weasel words before, writes Peta Credlin.
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Is the Labor Party in general – and Anthony Albanese in particular – chronically incapable of telling the truth? Is integrity in politics dead? These are the questions that we need to ask ourselves when pre-poll voting opens on Tuesday because, right now, a liar looks like he’ll get back into The Lodge and where does that leave us as a country? Do voters even care?
I get that politicians are salespeople so have a natural tendency to talk up their products, to talk down the opposition’s and to make excuses for failure. But, in small things and big, the Prime Minister seems almost completely untethered from reality if it’s in his political interests to distort it or to lie about it.
Perhaps the most telling recent example was his fall from the stage at a campaign event in the Hunter. An awkward stumble is no big deal, could happen to anyone, and the PM quickly recovered himself. But when an interviewer made what sounded like a sympathetic inquiry, Albanese’s instinctive response was to deny that the fall we all saw on TV had ever actually happened.
Lying is unbecoming at any time but lying when there’s nothing to hide is just weird.
But fibs, distortions, subterfuge, cover-ups and porkies – are all a feature of Labor’s campaign. And the PM is shameless.
Despite his promise to cut your power bill by $275 per year, Albanese has never delivered on his commitment, nor has he apologised. Instead, he’s just doubling-down on failure, insisting that renewable power is the cheapest form of energy, yet it is his renewables-only agenda that’s seen prices skyrocket, with another 15% hike on the way, so says the regulator. It’s all right for the PM, the taxpayer pays his power bill (and his grocery bill, cleans his homes, mows his lawn, puts petrol in his car and pays his insurance) but not so the rest of us. Is it any wonder that Australians have copped the sharpest drop in living standards of any developed country in the world?
Then there’s all the other lies in this election campaign. That only Labor will protect Medicare (fact – bulkbilling rates have fallen by 10 per cent under Albanese), that Dutton will sack 41,000 federal public servants (I wish he would but the fact is he says he just won’t replace those that leave), that Labor supports small business (fact – business insolvencies are at record levels under this government), that Labor will get immigration “under control” (fact – “Big Australia” is in Labor’s DNA), as well as the fact that despite the rejection of the Voice, Labor still has aspirations for a treaty between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australia.
Driving around marginal seats last week, I saw billboards claiming that Dutton will cut hospital funding to pay for his “$600 billion” nuclear energy program. Again, another Labor lie. The “$600 billion” has no basis in fact and has been put around by a mob called the Smart Energy Council, which is stacked full of Labor staffers, with its new “ambassador”, former Labor premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
Worse still, Labor is sending us hurtling down the path of 82 per cent renewables by 2030 and have never released the modelling despite experts claiming the cost for this will be in “the trillions”. How do we pay for this with debt already in the trillions, and billions being borrowed from overseas every week?
When asked about any of this, the PM’s stock response is to dodge any responsibility and just make it all an attack on Peter Dutton. Where is the accountability in public life? So much of this is because, after a term in power, Albanese has no record of achievement and his only plan for a second term is more of the same – more spending and more division.
And tax hikes. The Greens have already said they won’t support Labor in the event of a hung parliament unless negative gearing is scrapped. Zali Steggall has also said this is her blood price. This is a problem because, when Paul Keating tried this in the 1980s, rents increased and the supply of properties dried up, leading Keating to quickly reverse his changes. When pushed on this last week, the PM said he has ‘no plans’ to do it but still refused to rule it out.
I warn you. Always be wary of a politician who says “I have no plans” or “no intention” to do something. These are just weasel words. If it really wasn’t on the table, they would rule it out. And this PM has form, doesn’t he? Insisting for months he had “no plans” to change the Stage 3 tax cuts, until he did. And pre-election, that there would be no tax increases on super, only then to seek to tax unrealised capital gains on super balances over $3 million.
Life would be better if both sides just put their plans on the table, told us how much it will cost us (it is our money after all) and then answered questions simply and clearly, giving us the detail we need to make an informed choice before we vote. That’s how it used to be. Now, all we get is spin and lies and low-rent dirt-unit attacks on individuals. Any wonder that good people do not want to go into politics, isn’t it?
Every time Labor attacks Peter Dutton personally, ask yourself, by playing the man, what are they trying to hide? Every time the PM says “I’ve got no plans” to do something, then assume he has (he just doesn’t want to tell you about it before you vote).
Most of all, as Australia starts to vote from Tuesday, remember, a vote for Albanese is also a vote for Adam Bandt.
THUMBS UP
The AMA for calling out Labor’s Medicare lies and embarrassing the PM who is using his green card as a campaign stunt.
THUMBS DOWN
The Teals and Climate 200 caught out using US-style “push polling” designed to manipulate voters.
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Originally published as Peta Credlin: A liar looks like he’ll get back into The Lodge but do voters even care?
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