Lie of the land easily exposed

AUSTRALIA'S political culture is so debauched that the public is no longer shocked when the incumbent Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, is called a liar.

Forty years ago, when journalist Alan Ramsey yelled "you liar" at then-PM John Gorton, the nation was stunned by Ramsey's outburst. Now, it would seem, even the most outrageous lies have lost the capacity to astound. Former US president George H.W. Bush laid the foundations in 1988 for his own demise when he said: "Read my lips: no new taxes." Unfortunately, Bush was forced to then raise taxes. The public remembered his soundbite and Bush's re-election hopes were doomed. His successor Bill Clinton told the world: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Then we learned the truth and Clinton became an embarrassment. Gillard's now notorious lie "There will be no carbon tax under the government I lead" is in the same league of dishonesty and she deserves to be ousted because of it. Gillard has only herself to blame now for the protesters who made their point outside Parliament on Wednesday. Here is a sampling of Gillard's remarks over the past few years, which show how she has misled the country. "The Labor Party is the party of truth telling," she told Parliament on October 5, 2005. "When we go out into the electorate and make promises ... we would keep them. When we say them, we mean them." Sure she will. "I think when you go to an election and you give a promise to the Australian people," Gillard told the ABC in 2009, "you should do everything in your power to honour that promise ... this is a Government that prides itself on delivering election promises." Well, obviously. "We're always there delivering our election promises," Gillard said on ABC's Lateline program. "That's important to us. And we're always there acting in the national interest." The record doesn't lie. Gillard now has a retinue of independents and party hacks prepared to shred any reputation for integrity they might once have had to keep the Big Lie afloat. That sad figure Tony Windsor put out a statement on February 25 which said "there is no carbon tax" after willingly being party to Gillard's joint announcement with Greens leader Bob Brown that there would be a carbon dioxide tax. Windsor bumblingly tried to camouflage his unmasking as a tax advocate by saying that what had been announced at the press conference held in Canberra just the day before "was a proposal in regard to a framework that will lead to a community debate in relation to a possible carbon price". The laughter is still ringing around the hills. Windsor, and his buffoon sidekick Rob Oakeshott, overlook the reality that they supported the formation of a Labor government when it promised there would be no carbon dioxide tax, when it promised a so-called citizens assembly to formulate a carbon dioxide tax, when it promised a new era of transparency. They have supported Labor through every contortion, every backflip, on every broken promise and in every easily exposed lie. Following the rally against a carbon dioxide tax, Climate Change Minister Greg Combet joined Greens leader Bob Brown in claiming to be outraged by two or three signs displayed by demonstrators. Where were they when trade unionists smashed their way into Parliament House and battled federal police after the ACTU's anti-government rally on August 19, 1996? Only a handful of Green-Left commentators, the ABC's reliably biased Deborah Cameron among them, were able to summon up the same faux indignation as the former union boss who presided over a reckless campaign of death threats, let alone slagging, of former prime minister John Howard and some of his ministers during the ALP's campaign to protect the historically corrupt reign of the MUA over the nation's inefficient dockyards. If these are the best defenders Gillard can find for her slovenly approach to truth, she has nowhere to hide, no political or moral cover.