The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Eighteen

THE LIE

“If you start a course under one system you will finish it under one system….. If you start next year your conditions of study won't change. It's only for those who start when these changes kick in in 2016 who will have the different conditions applying to them.” [Tony Abbott quoted in The Daily Telegraph 21 May 2014]

THE FACTS

A spokesman for the Department of Education told Fairfax Media: "Students who enrol in a Commonwealth supported place after 13 May 2014 will be charged under the existing arrangements until 31 December 2015. After this date they will be charged under the new arrangements, as determined by their university or higher education institution." [The Sydney Morning Herald 21 May 2014]

Yet another example of the Abbott sense of entitlement?

Tony Abbott, Frances Abbott with founder of the Whitehouse Institute of Design Leanne Hope Whitehouse

(Sole director of Whitehouse Institute Pty Ltd & Whitehouse Investments Australia Pty Ltd)

Photograph from The Sydney Morning Herald 21 May 2014

The Guardian 21 May 2014:

Les Taylor, the chairman of the Whitehouse Institute of Design board of governors, personally recommended the prime minister’s daughter for a $60,000 design degree scholarship, and has also made donations of more than $20,000 to the state and federal Liberal party.

Frances Abbott was only the second recipient of the "chairman's scholarship", according to the institute's chief executive.

Guardian Australia revealed that Frances Abbott received the scholarship from the private higher education institute in 2011. Taylor told Guardian Australia he had “put her name forward” for the award but declined to say how much the scholarship was worth.

Taylor told Guardian Australia that, as chairman of the board of governors, “I’m entitled to make a recommendation … I’ve got the right to say [if] they’d do very well at Whitehouse.

“I knew she’d do well,” Taylor said, “And she’s flourished [at the institute]. I put her name forward as I thought she’d be suitable … she’s gone from strength to strength.”

Taylor later told Fairfax Media: ‘‘I probably did say to someone at Whitehouse, ‘Frances is a nice girl or something, good family, works hard, I reckon she’d do well’.’’

Taylor told Guardian Australia he could not recall if he had recommended anyone else for the scholarship that year, but confirmed it was not offered to students every year. Taylor said he did not “get involved” with the appraisal process for the scholarship, which was completed by academic staff. It is unclear whether any other students were considered for the scholarship in 2011.

The institute states on its website that it “does not currently offer scholarships to gain a place into the Bachelor of Design” – a cache search on the website indicates this has been the same since 2011.

The institute's chief executive, Ian Tudor, told Guardian Australia the "chairman's scholarship" was issued "occasionally" and that Frances Abbott was only its second recipient.

"I understand that the selection of Frances was done at arm's length from the chairman by the owner, founder and managing director of the institute, Leanne Whitehouse," Tudor said. 

He said the institute awarded "various types" of scholarships, despite the statement on the website. 

The director of the institute, Leanne Whitehouse, previously confirmed Frances Abbott was a recipient of the scholarship, but declined to give further details.

A spokeswoman for the prime minister confirmed that Frances Abbott was a recipient of a scholarship at the institute and said it was awarded as a result of her "application and art portfolio".

She said disclosure of the scholarship by the prime minister on the parliamentary register of interests was "not required".

"Under the Statement of Registrable Interests, a scholarship is not a gift, it is an award based on merit and disclosure is not required. If alternative advice is provided, Mr Abbott will meet the amended requirements," the spokeswoman said.

"Frances graduated with distinction-level results from Whitehouse in December 2013. She has since moved to Melbourne where she works for Whitehouse as a teacher’s aide and hopes to study for her Masters later this year."

The spokeswoman said Taylor had known the prime minister "for many years and when in opposition, he received clothing from him as a gift"….

http://whitehouse-design.edu.au/news/praise-for-interior-design-at-whitehouse.html

New Matilda 21 May 2014:

In February of this year, Frances Abbott – the Prime Minister’s middle daughter – completed a three-year Bachelor of Design course at the Whitehouse Institute of Design.

New Matilda can reveal that the Prime Minister’s daughter paid just $7,546 for the $68,182 degree.

The news come on a day where thousands of students in six capital cities around the country marched to express their outrage at an Abbott Government budget which see some university fees rise by more than 100 per cent.

Documents obtained by New Matilda also challenge claims by the Prime Minister that his daughter’s scholarship was won on merit.

Rather than an exhaustive application process, Ms Abbott, aged 22, was offered the ‘Managing Director’s Scholarship’ at her first and only meeting with the owner of the Institute, Leanne Whitehouse.

The Institute declined to nominate any other occasion when the scholarship has been awarded, and did not address a lengthy list of questions submitted by New Matilda early this morning.

Whitehouse insiders have claimed the scholarship was kept secret, even from many senior staff…..

Ms Abbott was awarded her scholarship before the school year began.

The Whitehouse website does not list the Managing Director’s Scholarship on its awards page, despite the fact it is by far the largest scholarship awarded by the school.

There also appears to be some confusion about the name of the scholarship – Leanne Whitehouse told Guardian Australia today it was called the ‘Chairman’s Scholarship’. But internal documents repeatedly refer to it as the ‘Managing Director’s Scholarship’.

An account of how Frances Abbott came to be a student at Whitehouse, provided to New Matilda by a staff member, casts further doubt on the claims by the Prime Minister that her appointment was based entirely on merit.

The source told New Matilda that Frances Abbott was approached by Whitehouse Chairman of the Board - and friend of the Abbott family - Les Taylor, after Taylor became aware that Frances was looking to complete a degree with a competing design school.

“Les Taylor knew the Abbott family. [Frances] wanted to do something related to creativity and styling. She was going to go to one of our competitors. I think it was Billy Blue [a design school in North Sydney],” the source told NM.

“Leanne got the Chairman of the Board [Taylor] to tell [Frances] she had the offer of a scholarship.”

A few years later, in the run-up to the 2013 federal election, Ms Whitehouse became increasingly excited at the prospect of a Liberal win, the staffer said.

“She said to me something like, ‘Do you know what this could mean to Whitehouse if [Abbott] gets in?’

News.com.au 22 May 2014:

FORMER classmates of Tony Abbott’s daughter are furious that she was awarded a $60,000 design degree scholarship.

The Prime Minister defended his daughter Frances yesterday after it was revealed she won a $60,000 scholarship in 2011 to Sydney’s elite Whitehouse Institute of Design, whose chairman Les Taylor is a longtime friend of Mr Abbott and a Liberal Party donor.

Chad Mason, 20, studied for the $68,000 Bachelor of Design in styling and creative direction with Frances in 2011 and said her being awarded the scholarship was “beyond a joke”.

“Having studied in the same classes alongside Tony Abbott’s daughter … I can assure you that there were no scholarships awarded to any other students in our cohort, and I can definitely say that I studied with some extremely talented people who were more deserving of a $60,000 scholarship,” Mr Mason said….

Pedestrian Daily 22 May 2014:

Student #1: We always knew that they were playing favourites. We always knew that Les Taylor was a friend of the Abbott family. Leanne [Whitehouse, owner, founder and Managing Director of the Institute] loved to say how Tony Abbott's daughter was attending Whitehouse. So it became a very good talking point for her, I believe. It looked good for Whitehouse to have Frances there.

Student #2: No not really. When it first came out that Frances was Tony Abbott's daughter I feel like even some of the teachers were surprised that they were related.  

Student #3: No, not at all. I guess with Whitehouse because the classes are a lot smaller a lot of the students had personal relationships with the faculty. But not to the extent that is obviously was with Fran. I think with Leanne it was more about the prestige of having Fran there than it was about the quality of her work or creativity.  

The Sydney Morning Herald 23 May 2014:

Because Frances indubitably did receive that scholarship because of who she is not because of her extraordinary ability, above and beyond all her fellow students.  That is my solid opinion. I came to it because I know that she will have been gifted, smiled and enveloped in a swaddling of gratuitous entitlements ever since her father began climbing the political power beanstalk….

This scholarship does appear to have spontaneously materialised almost exclusively because of Frances’ DNA rather than her portfolio and that, to my mind, was an awful thing to do to her. If it was a gratuitous hand-out, then it was an insult to her fellow students by the Whitehouse Institute of Design.

And her father should have foreseen that this could hurt Frances as much as him and he should have declined or declared the scholarship, just to be safe. If not for himself, for his daughter’s reputation. 

Poor kid. It’s one of those first-world, one percenter sort of problems that come from privilege and wealth. Not something my feral five will probably ever have to encounter. Lucky them. 

New Matilda 24 May2014:

The Whitehouse Institute of Design has labeled claims published in New Matilda overnight that owner Leanne Whitehouse lobbied Prime Minister Tony Abbott in front of 400 people as “ridiculous”, describing her comments to Mr Abbott about red tape as “teasing”.

New Matilda 24 May 2014:

The Prime Minister’s daughter was hand-picked to help lobby a federal government regulator for course accreditations worth potentially millions of dollars on the basis of her “merit” as a student, a prestigious Sydney design college has confirmed….

Leaked documents obtained by New Matilda reveal that late last year, Ms Abbott was one of just a handful of students from more than 400 put forward by Whitehouse to be interviewed by assessors from the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. TEQSA is the federal government regulator responsible for approving or denying an application from Whitehouse to launch a new Masters of Design course, and the re-accreditation of existing courses.

That application was ultimately successful. Ms Abbott has since moved to Melbourne to enroll in the course, securing a job at Whitehouse’s Melbourne campus while she waits for it to begin later this year. Ms Abbott appears to be the only one of 74 employees with no defined role, according to leaked documents….

In the latest twist, assessors from TEQSA visited the Sydney campus of Whitehouse in November 2013 - two months after the Prime Minister won office - to view the facilities, and to interview staff and students selected by Whitehouse.

Ms Abbott was one of eight students from a body of more than 400 chosen to be interviewed.

An internal Whitehouse document obtained by New Matilda, titled ‘TEQSA Staff & Student profiles’, provides assessors with detail about their experiences at the prestigious design school.

In her profile, Ms Abbott heaps praise on the Whitehouse Institute and describes her experience at the school as “life-changing”.

“This year has been a whirlwind experience for me,” Ms Abbott wrote.

“I thought that it was going to be life changing and it has been, although for all the reasons I didn’t expect.

“Through completing my major project, I am beginning to understand what I want to do. Many opportunities have emerged, and doors have opened.

“I am currently reflecting on my creative practice, and looking forward to the future – including working with the many talented creative I have met in the past few years.”

New Matilda makes no assertion that Ms Abbott's comments were not genuine, nor that she was not a student of merit. However the Whitehouse Institute declined to comment on the appropriateness of the Prime Minister's daughter being put forward, nor would it comment on claims from Whitehouse insiders that assessors were not informed Ms Abbott was attending the design school on the secret $60,000 scholarship….

Pedestrian Daily 27 May 2014:

Though both the Prime Minister's office and the Institute themselves have been adamant that Ms Abbott's scholarship was awarded on merit through a non-advertised and discretionary scholarship known as the Chairman's or Managing Director's scholarship, questions have been raised about the nature of that so-called "merit" due to the fact that the scholarship was kept secret from students and most high-level staff at the school, and was not advertised before its awarding, nor announced afterwards. In fact, it seems that in the entire history of the school, the scholarship had only ever been awarded once before. Despite questioning, the school refused to disclose who that other recipient was.

And, as it turns out, there seems to be a very good reason that they're preferring to be tight-lipped on that one. Speaking with Studio 10, New Matilda's editor Chris Graham revealed that the only other recipient of the scholarship was Billy Whitehouse. That surname is not a coincidence, as she is the daughter of the Leanne Whitehouse, the founder and owner of the Whitehouse Institute.

So while every other student who attends the institute leaves there with an initial HECS Debt of some $68,000 - a debt that will increase at a far more rapid rate thanks to the re-aligning of University fee interest rates set forth in this year's budget - the two students who receive a doggedly clandestine free ride are the daughter of the school's owner and the daughter of the Prime Minister.

Awarded on "merit." Yeah, righto.

Montage of Tony Abbott & family on the campaign trail

@timdunlop

Memo to Frances Abbott,

Remember this? http://youtu.be/JgNdDQ6W6J8

You agreed to actively campaign on behalf of a high-profile political relative and this is what happens.

Your life comes under regular scrutiny and, matters you would perhaps like to keep private go global.

You are not a victim of this media focus - you were an adult when you courted attention and very obviously enjoyed the spotlight.
You became a 'public' figure by consent.
 You cannot complain if you don't like the form this attention takes post-election.

CG

The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Seventeen

THE TRANSIENT LIE

Abbott said there was also time to talk through changes in federal-state responsibilities and revenue raising. “We're not talking about next week or next month or even next year. We're talking about changes in three years' time. [Prime Minister Tony Abbott quoted in The Guardian on 18 May 2014]

THE FACTS

But Abbott now agrees the national partnership agreement on public hospitals, which begins on 1 July, has been cut. Budget documents say it has been cut by $1.8bn over the next four years….

the budget document is clear that money has been cut by this government, stating: “The government will save $1.8bn over four years from 2014-15 by ceasing the funding guarantees under the national health reform agreement 2011 and revising commonwealth hospital funding arrangements from July 2017.”

The decision cuts $217m from hospitals in 2014-15, $260m in 2015-16 and $133m in 2016-17 before the big cuts begin in 2017-18, when the commonwealth ceases its contribution to the growth in hospital costs due to the ageing population and higher treatment costs. From that time commonwealth spending increases only in line with inflation and population growth.

[The Guardian 19 May 2014]

NSW Premier Mike Baird; said NSW stood to lose more than $1.2 billion from the health budget through scaled-back national partnership arrangements to fund hospital services. About 300 hospital beds would need to close in July unless the federal funding cuts could be absorbed elsewhere in the state budget. [The Sydney Morning Herald 19 May 2014]

The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Sixteen

Japan Daily Press: Tony Abbott

THE LIE

"I think the last government which brought down a very tough budget – the Howard government in 1996 - took a big hit in the polls too.” [ Prime Minister Tony Abbott quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 May 2014]

THE FACTS

The first post-budget Newspoll in 1996 showed a three percentage point increase in the Coalition's primary vote, to 50; a lift in Howard's approval rating, from 47 to 51; and an increase in his lead over Kim Beazley as preferred prime minister to a score of 53 per cent against Beazley's 24….

The Age Poll saw the Coalition holding its primary vote and slightly increasing its two-party preferred lead over Labor. [The Age, 19 May 2014]

THE REASON THE LIE WAS UTTERED?

Voter support for Tony Abbott's Coalition government has slumped on the back of last week's federal budget, according to polls published in Fairfax and News Corp papers today.

A Nielsen poll in the Fairfax newspapers has the Coalition down four points and Labor up four points on a two-party preferred basis, with Labor in front 56 to 44 per cent - tripling its lead from last month's poll.

The Coalition's primary vote has slumped from 40 per cent in early April to 35 per cent - 11 points lower than its vote in the election last September.

And a significant number of voters have switched to the ALP, bringing its primary support up from 34 per cent in April to 40 per cent - a figure not seen against the Labor Party's name in a national poll for years.

On the Prime Minister's performance, Nielsen says just 34 per cent approve of Tony Abbott's efforts - a 10-point slump - while approval of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's performance is up to 47 per cent.

Mr Abbott's disapproval rating climbed to 62 per cent - 12 points higher than at last month's poll….

The Newspoll published in The Australian has similarly dire numbers for the Government, showing Labor in front 55 per cent to 45 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

And for the first time, voters prefer Mr Shorten as prime minister over Mr Abbott, giving him a 10-point lead in the better prime minister stakes at 44 per cent to 34 per cent - a six-point drop for the PM since last month.

The Nielsen poll has a margin of error of 2.6 per cent and Newspoll's margin of error is 3 per cent…. [ABC News 19 May 2014]

The question Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott was careful not to answer on the ABC program "Insiders"

Reporter Fran Kelly to Tony Abbott: You get to make the choices about what you do. And you talk about everybody bearing the load. But if you drill in the numbers, there was an example of a single mother on $45,000 a year with one child. This budget was going to cost her…around $2,690. You said, as we heard there, this will cost you your contribution, around $6,500.

You earn 11 times more than this woman but you pay 2.5 times the contribution. How is that fair? [ABC Insiders, 18 May 2014]

What Tony Abbott didn't want voters to know about Kevin Rudd's evidence to the Royal Commission Into The Home Insulation Program

Example of redactions

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s sworn statement submitted to the Royal Commission Into The Home Insulation Program, as censored by the Commonwealth on the alleged grounds of Cabinet confidentiality:

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's redacted sworn statement to the Royal Commission Into Th...

The unredacted version released on 15 May 2014:

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's unredacted sworn statement to the Royal Commission Into The H...

Quote of the Week

Phase one of Tony Abbott’s strategy to sell the budget is to deny, point blank, that it is based on the deceit of broken promises made before last year’s election.

More than that, it is to assert – again point blank – that there were no broken promises and, in effect, that black is white.

''I stand by what I said before the election!'' a defiant Prime Minister told an incredulous opposition….. [The Sydney Morning Herald, 14 May 2014]

Images of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott listening to the Opposition's Budget Reply

I give you this commitment. Labor will never, never give up on Medicare. We shall fight this wicked and punitive measure to its ultimate end. That is a promise...
This Prime Minister’s cuts trespass against the nation’s covenants with pensioners...
I make this solemn pledge to Australia's pensioners. Labor will not surrender the security of your retirement. We will fight for a fair pension. And we will prevail...
This Prime Minister’s vicious, victim-blaming policy will create a lost generation of 
Australians—shut out of the workforce. And Labor will have no part of it. 
If you want an election, try us. If you think that Labor is too weak—bring it on. But remember: it is never about you or me, Prime Minister. It is about the future of our nation and the wellbeing of the Australian people. [Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, 15 May 2014]

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is a man clearly not liking what he is hearing. He maintained a defensive posture for much of Opposition Leader Bill Shorten's Budget Reply.

See Australian House of Representatives Hansard 15 May 2014 at 17:59 to 20:03 
YouTube video of Budget Reply at http://youtu.be/TrxAlX6aOy8

Hitting the nail on the head regarding Anthony John Abbott

The trouble Tony Abbott is having at the moment - which is reflected in falling approval ratings for himself and his party - has arisen because of a long-term commitment to a particular ideological point of view. In other words, his problem is that it is getting harder for him to hide what he really wants to do to the country…..he can no longer hide the reality of his vision for Australia. The reason that's a problem is because most Australians don't like what they are seeing.   [Tim Dunlop, The Drum, 8 May 2014]

In light of matters the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption is uncovering, perhaps Warringah Club activities need to be revisited

In light of the fact that the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is currently investigating allegations that in the years leading up to the 2011 state election senior Liberal Party fundraisers were hiding prohibited donations (using associated entities and at least one corporation set up as a slush fund) with the co-operation of certain Liberal state and federal politicians; it may be time to look at the extraordinary conclusion drawn by the NSW Election Funding Authority in 2010 – that the Warringah Club aka The Sydney Small Business Club and the NSW Liberal Party were unaware of their legal disclosure obligations.

The Sydney Morning Herald 5 November 2010:

THE political fund-raising arm of the federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, has been found to have breached electoral laws, while one of his principal donors has also failed to make required disclosures, according to documents lodged with the NSW Election Funding Authority.

After a five-month investigation, the authority found that the Warringah Club, which raises money for Mr Abbott's campaigns in his seat of Warringah, had broken the law by not disclosing the sources of its donations.

''The club failed to lodge a declaration [as required] and the matter is to be further investigated to determine whether to pursue prosecution,'' the authority's funding and disclosures director, Brian DeCelis, wrote to the NSW Greens, which raised an official complaint about the Warringah Club in May.

But Mr DeCelis also found that the club and the NSW Liberal Party, which lodged false declarations relating to the club, ''did not understand their disclosure obligations'' and therefore would not be prosecuted for knowingly making a false statement.

During the investigation, the Warringah Club submitted an amended list of donors showing it had given $93,000 to Mr Abbott's Warringah Federal Electoral Council in 2004 and 2007, and $10,000 to the NSW Liberal Party in 2007.

Donors to the Warringah Club include the property developers and long-term backers of Mr Abbott, John and Stanley Roth, who gave $10,440 in November 2008 and $2300 to the Warringah Club in 2009.

However, in a letter on May 19, to the NSW Planning Department in support of its planned residential and retail development on the site of Kirrawee Brickworks, the Roth family company Henroth Investments listed no political donations in 2008.

It disclosed $36,500 in donations made in 2009-10 to organisations including the Warringah Club, but applications under Part 3A of the NSW Planning Act require the declaration of donations made up to two years prior. Nor did the Liberal Party of NSW disclose the receipt of the Henroth donations in its 2008 declaration…..

The Sydney Small Business Club (The Warringah Club) – an associated entity of the NSW Liberal Party and Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s support group – is hardly new to either state or federal financial disclosure systems as it has been submitting associated entity returns in New South Wales since at least 2000-01 and in some years the amounts disclosed are substantial.

By way of example:

In 2012-13 The Sydney Small Business Club reported $14,000 received and payments of $5,644.00
In 2011-12 the Club disclosed it received $29,230.00 and made payments of $42,358.00 and in 2010-11 declared $116,234 received and made payments of $157,187.

In 2009-10 the Club declared $43,800.00 in receipts and $14,935.00 in payments and in 2008-09 it reported $29,050.00 received and $11,115.00 paid out.

In 2010-11 the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division) disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission that it had received a $50,000 donation from The Warringah Club, a donation amount which was repeated in 2011-12.

The Sydney Morning Herald 6 May 2014:

The Liberal Party of NSW last month declared a four-year-old donation of $25,000 from the Warringah Club, a fundraising entity associated with Prime Minister Tony Abbott, as well as amending its most recent returns to declare more than $100,000 in political donations including in-kind support to Joe Hockey’s Federal Electoral Committee.

The amended returns were received by the Australian Electoral Commission on April 5, 2014, as the Independent Commission Against Corruption was preparing to begin public hearings into political donations channelled to a company associated with a staff member in the office of Terrigal MP Chris Hartcher, uncovered during Operation Spicer. It is not clear what prompted the additional disclosures....

ABC fact checks the Australian Prime Minister in May 2014

Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the subject of election promises and taxation.

ABC Fact Check 1 May 2014:

In an interview on Melbourne radio on April 29, Mr Abbott did not deny that the Government was considering such a levy.

"There's been speculation, as you know, about a deficit reduction levy. Certainly, my intention is that people like myself - high income earners - should bear a significant quantum of the burden when it comes to sorting out our problems," he said on 3AW.

"We want taxes going down, not going up. But, when you're in a difficult position, sometimes there needs to be some short-term pain for permanent and lasting gain."

Mr Abbott has long set a high standard when it comes to keeping promises. On August 22, 2011 he said: "It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards. Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government than if governments were to establish by precedent that they could say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards."

"It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards."

Tony Abbott - August 22, 2011

What exactly did Mr Abbott say about new taxes, and when? ABC Fact Check takes a look at his statements from the last parliamentary term and during the 2013 election campaign.

'Lower, simpler, fairer taxes'

Mr Abbott focussed heavily on tax policy issues after failing to form minority government following the August 2010 election. Speaking in parliament on October he said: "We stand for lower, simpler, fairer taxes, not great big new taxes that damage Australia's economy, not great big new taxes that are yet another hit on the cost of living of struggling Australian families."

On November 16, 2010 he said: "The Coalition will end the waste, repay the debt, stop the big new taxes and, above all else, stop the boats." Mr Abbott also repeated his "lower, simpler, fairer" statement.

During a speech on November 24, 2010, prompted by the third anniversary of Labor's 2007 election win, Mr Abbott again used the "lower, simpler, fairer" phrase and added: "We are Liberals who believe in smaller government, lower taxes, greater freedom."…

During his first budget reply of the 43rd parliament, on May 12, 2011, Mr Abbott said: "People can be confident that spending, debt and taxes will always be lower under a Coalition government because we have the record to prove it." In this speech the then opposition leader also repeated his call to reduce spending instead of imposing a levy to aid with the cost of flood reconstruction. "We have offered to work with the government... on finding savings instead of increasing taxes," he said.

In 2012, in Mr Abbott's budget reply on May 10 he said people who work hard should not be "hit with higher taxes".

In 2013, Mr Abbott's budget reply speech on May 16 focused on removing the carbon and mining taxes. "We want taxes that are lower, simpler and fairer and will take proposals for further tax reform to the following election," he said.

Read the rest here.

Ladieez, ladieez, where arz ewe?

No matter how hard he tries, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott can never conceal his inability to relate to one half of the nation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-hB_h2zDgk&feature=share&list=UUgcea4FJVYIfNA8ovd9Nydw&index=2

Fascist Echoes: when are the Abbott Government's foreign relations blunders going to finally cease?

Tony Abbott čestitao svim Hrvatima 10. travanj!

U ime australskog premijera Tony Abotta koji se danas nalazi u Japanu prenosim vam njegove čestitke i dobre želje povodom slavlja 10. Travnja, vama, i svim Hrvatima Australije a i onima u Hrvatskoj. - rekao je Mr Craig Kelly Federal Member for Hughes

Tony Abbott congratulated all Croats April 10!

On behalf of the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is now in the Japan I am imparting to you his greetings and good wishes on the occasion of the celebration of April 10, you, and all Croatians in Australia and those in Croatia. - said Mr Craig Kelly's Federal Member for Hughes [Google translation of the publication Boka Cro Press]

The Guardian 22 April 2014:

The Australian ambassador to Croatia has been summoned after a Coalition MP was reported as passing on the best wishes of the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to a group celebrating a fascist period in the country's history.

Hughes MP, Craig Kelly, said he was "mortified" at reports he attended the Croatian Club in Sydney last week for an event marking the anniversary of the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in 1941.

The NDH wanted to rid the country of Jews, Roma and Serbs and was established after the invasion of Yugoslavia overseen by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini….

Facebook page of the Australian Croatian Club O'Connor (Social Club): 

April 16

Australski premijer Tony Abbot Hrvatima čestitao 10. travnja - Bravo Tony. Great to see only a month after Milanovic described Australian Croatian's as "living in isolation" and Pusic described us as "extremists" the Australian Croatian community still has a friend in the highest office in this great land.

Federal Liberal MP for Hughes Craig Kelly delivering his speech at a lectern draped with the fascist Ustasha flag:

BACKGROUND

A brief history of the event being celebrated, taken from the Encyclopedia Britannica online:

In April 1941 Germans and Italians set up the Independent State of Croatia, which also embraced Bosnia and Herzegovina and those parts of Dalmatia that had not been ceded to Italy. Though in fact this state was under occupation by the German and Italian armies, Pavelić’s Ustaša was put into power—a takeover facilitated by the refusal of Maček to take part in a puppet government and by the passivity of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Zagreb, Alojzije Stepinac. Initially there was enthusiasm for the independent state, but once in power the Ustaša ruthlessly persecuted Serbs, Jews, Roma (Gypsies), and antifascist Croats. The Ustaša planned to eliminate Croatia’s Serb minority partly by conversion from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, partly by expulsion, and partly by extermination. As many as 350,000 to 450,000 victims were killed in Ustaša massacres and in the notorious concentration camp at Jasenovac.

Taken from Arutz Sheva 7 Israeli news online 8 February 2007:

 a video broadcast 9 December 2006 on Croatian TV, which shows Mesic in 1992 telling Australian-Croatians:

You see, in the Second World War, the Croats won twice and we have no reason to apologize to anyone. What they ask of the Croats the whole time, "Go kneel in Jasenovac. Kneel here..." We don't have to kneel in front of anyone for anything! We won twice and all the others only once. We won on 10 April [1941] when the Axis Powers recognized Croatia as a state ... and we won because we sat after the war, again with the winners, at the winning table. -- BBC Monitoring; December 10, 2006

The Sydney Morning Herald 8 September 2005:

But on April 10 this year, Mr Clarke attended and was snapped at a similar event - which the author and historian Mark Aarons wrote amounted to a "glorification of April 10, 1941, the day Hitler installed Ante Pavelic and the Ustashi into power as Nazi puppets".
The function was held at the Croatian Club in Punchbowl - the same place where a meeting of the Liberal Party's newest branch erupted into an all-out brawl last year, prompting the arrival of eight police officers, three patrol cars and even a sniffer dog. Mr Clarke - who says politicians from both sides of politics are seen at such ethnic functions every year - has been forced to defend himself amid further allegations of his political involvement with far right-wing groups. Last night, the Liberal MP John Ryan confirmed he was one of several MPs at the Punchbowl function....
The Herald published a photograph on Monday that showed Mr Clarke in 1978 alongside Ljenko Urbancic, later exposed as a Nazi propagandist. Since then a number of individuals, including the former Liberal candidate for Auburn, Irfan Yusef, have publicly accused Mr Clarke of using religious wedge politics to recruit new members to the party....