So did Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott break a promise made to the Yolngu community?

On 22 September 2013 what is best described in the vernacular as a flaming row broke out on Twitter between journalists David Donovan and Samantha Maiden.

Despite this eyewitness tweet (below) being there for all to see, Ms. Maiden continued to assert that in August 2013 Tony Abbott did not state that he would spend his first week as Australian Prime Minister in the Yolngu community in north-east Arnhem Land.

[Independent Australia,23 September 2013, Tony Abbott’s broken Indigenous promise and News Corp Breaking Bad]

Now, as Abbott was not speaking from written notes at the Garma Festival, I'm sure he didn't regard this as a firm promise because in the past he has told the world that people should only believe his carefully prepared scripted remarks.

However, it is obvious that those hearing and reporting on this speech took it as a commitment to return in his first week as prime minister and, as he made no effort to correct this misleading impression - he just accepted the audience applause - one must assume it was intentional on his part.

So unfortunately for the Sunday Telegraph National Political Editor’s credibility, David Donovan was essentially correct and despite the name calling she indulged in Samantha Maiden was hair-splittingly wrong.

Here is the exact quote preserved for posterity in a YouTube video:

“Why shouldn’t I, if you will permit me, spend my first week as prime minister, should that happen, on this, on your country.” [YouTube,http://youtu.be/F1OKujvU2wQ,then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott at 21:27 minutes]

* Thank you to John Fraser for sending North Coast Voices a link to the Independent Australia post which outlined the Twitter exchange

UPDATE

As for “Tony’s” commitment, Denise agreed Abbott had definitely made it, but characterised it as merely a “slip of the lip”. Denise said that when “Tony” made his promise, she remembers looking across at his chief of staff (Peta Credlin) for confirmation. According to Bowden, Credlin immediately and emphatically shook her head and told her Abbott would be “far too busy in his first week”. [Independent Australia,3 October 2013]

A Political Mirage or Where's Kevin Hogan?

According to the Australian Electoral Commission the National Party of Australia only has 9 Members of the House of Representatives in its own right and, if  the Australian Parliament website is to be believed there are another three Nationals who presumably come under the banner of the Liberal-National Party of Queensland.

However, one of the new Nationals in the Lower House is of such importance that he has been left off the official members list on the Australian Parliament website twelve days after the Abbott Government officially took over the reins of government.

As of 30 September 2013 there is still no parliamentary evidence that the Nationals Member for Page, Kevin Hogan, exists outside the pages of mainstream media.

Here are the National Party MPs recognised on the Australian Parliament website.

The Hon Darren Chester MP Member for Gippsland, Victoria

Mr George Christensen MP Member for Dawson, Queensland

The Hon John Cobb MP Member for Calare, New South Wales

Mr Mark Coulton MP Member for Parkes, New South Wales

Dr David Gillespie MP Member for Lyne, New South Wales

The Hon Luke Hartsuyker MP Member for Cowper, New South Wales

The Hon Barnaby Joyce MPMember for New England, New South Wales

The Hon Michael McCormack MP Member for Riverina, New South Wales

Mr Ken O'Dowd MP Member for Flynn, Queensland

Mr Keith Pitt MP Member for Hinkler, Queensland

The Hon Bruce Scott MP Member for Maranoa, Queensland

The Hon Warren Truss MP Member for Wide Bay, Queensland

At present Directory Assistance also has no listing for Kevin Hogan MP, but if one happens across old campaign literature then there is one phone number listed which is still operational - (02) 6622.7253. 

Post-Federal Election 2013: Liberal Party turns on its own 'faceless men'

the faceless men are running the Labor Party [Then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott quoted in The Australian 23 February 2012]

We will get productivity up because we are not run by faceless men—the same faceless men who dictate the policy of this government when it comes to workplace relations. [Then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in House of Representatives Hansard, 27 February 2012]

From 2006 onwards Tony Abbott made repeated reference, both in and outside of the Australian Parliament, to faceless men in the Labor Party and held his own party up as being free from the taint of such men.

Now the Liberal Party itself is publicly coming clean about the antics of its own ‘faceless men’ in New South Wales and revealing examples of the party’s undemocratic pre-selection processes.

Prime Minister Abbott may be about to lose control of the post-election political message again, as media attention was triggered by his own apparent pursuit of payback for what he sees as NSW factional bosses costing him the 2010 federal election as well a losing him an expected ‘landslide’ victory in 2013.

ABC 7.30 25 September 2013:

Today, two party activists emailed 10,000 members urging them to support broadening a ban on party officials being lobbyists. The ban was announced by the Prime Minister last week.

And senior Liberals have called for an end to branch stacking by NSW factional bosses. They blame the practice for hampering the party's efforts to pick up seats in Western Sydney in the election....

ROSS CAMERON [former Liberal MP for Parramatta]: Same thing happened in Parramatta. The Liberal Party's constitution rewarded branch stacking. Martin Zaiter took the opportunity that it presented. We stacked in 100 Maronite Lebanese into two branches. It meant the preselection was a stitch up and it was a weak - it produced a weak outcome.... 

ROSS CAMERON: The extraordinary thing is that you can become a branch member in Parramatta, as I was, and not have the opportunity to vote for your candidate. You know, you only get to vote for the delegate who's gonna vote for the candidate, and it's that concentration of the franchise that empowers the factional boss....

But today in an email to nearly 10,000 state members, party activists John Ruddick and Walter Villatora have called for the changes to go further. "... our party is now at a crossroad," they've written. The, "NSW Liberal Party is unique ... our lobbyists (have) until now not only been influencing lawmakers ... they've been installing many lawmakers."....

ROSS CAMERON: Labor are going to steal a march on us here. And if we want to be competitive, we have to be putting forward the cream of each generation as the candidates representing ordinary Australians through the Liberal Party. And the only way we will attract them to our cause is to broaden the franchise and give them a feeling they've got a real chance....

ROSS CAMERON: You've got to take the power which is currently concentrated in the hands of a few factional leaders and you've got to push it out to the rank-and-file members.

Two Australian Prime Ministers and two attitudes to child abuse within religious organizations

This is Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's last letter before leaving office on 26 June 2013:

This is an excerpt from the 1997 evidence given by Australian Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott, when he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, in support of an alleged paedophile priest later forcefully laicized by the Vatican:

Q. You kept up your friendship with the defendant?

A. From time to time, yes.
Q. And you saw him?
A. From time to time, perhaps once or twice every twelve months.
Q. And you've kept up that friendship until this day?
A. That's correct....
Q. First of all, how would you describe him as a man?
A. An extremely upright and virtuous man. I guess one of things that I liked very much about John when I first him, was his maturity, intellectual, social, emotional he was, to that extent I guess, a beacon of humanity at the Seminary
Q. How did he appear to get on with his peers at the at Manly?
A. Obviously we have different relations with different people. John got on extremely well with some, less well with others. I guess one of the things that marked John out from his peers at the seminary was he was a man with high expectations of himself and others and I can recall on occasions being more than a little annoyed with him, because, you know, he would want to bring me up to the mark, bring me back to the path of virtue from time to time and this didn't always go over too well with me. And I guess it could annoy others as well.
Q. But as far as his own conduct was concerned, did you ever become aware of anything which would in any way question his beliefs and his dedication as a priest?
A. Never.
Q. And you've come all the way from Sydney today to give this evidence?
A. I have indeed.
Q. You do have other duties to perform? A. I have an electorate to represent and a ministry to assist.

<NO CROSS-EXAMINATION

http://tl.gd/n_1rjd2n5 

Taxpayers were handed the bill when Shadow Attorney-General Brandis 'conspired' against the Gillard Government at a private wedding

Apparently Australian Attorney-General George Brandis thought it appropriate when on the Opposition benches to expect taxpayers to foot some of his costs when attending a wedding at Bells Hotel, Killcare NSW, on 4 December 2011 and staying at The Mantra in Ettalong.

The Sydney Morning Herald 29 September 2013:

Senator Brandis claimed $1700, including more than $1000 on return flights, $143 on a hire car and the overnight ''official business'' allowance designed to cover accommodation and incidentals.

He told Fairfax Media on Saturday that he regarded the wedding as a chance to ''foster collaboration'' over Mr Smith's work covering the then prime minister and the Craig Thomson scandal and it was therefore ''primarily a professional rather than a social engagement''.

''These were both matters of significant national interest on which I spoke frequently in Parliament and the media,'' he wrote in a statement.

The federal Department of Finance's guidelines state MPs are allowed to claim travel and accommodation expenses for official business including ''meetings of a government advisory committee or taskforce'' or ''functions representing a minister or presiding officer''. Meeting with journalists is not a purpose sanctioned by the guidelines.....

Mr Joyce claimed a flight to Moree the next day and about $500 worth of charges for the use of a Commonwealth car on the day of the wedding. He said he could not recall whether he had other meetings that day but defended the use of public resources to attend the wedding.....

Interestingly this article reveals George Brandis was in close collaboration with the suspended Sydney radio shock jock in the very public hounding of then Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Although at the time he was rather reticent about the general public being aware of this particular ‘friendship’:

He wouldn't get out in front of anyone in case they took a photo of him," Smith told The Sunday Telegraph. 

Once at the wedding Mr. Brandis apparently gave an impassioned speech in defence of Michael Smith’s pursuit of the Prime Minister and, it would appear that the bridal couple also paid some of his transportation costs as well:

For those interested in the financial details for dates associated with this wedding:

George Brandis July-December 2011 Parliamentarian’s Expenditure Record

                                

Domestic Travel 4 Dec 11 Brisbane Sydney 5 Dec 11 Sydney Brisbane $1,191.06

Com Car Brisbane 4 Dec 11 $82.83 Brisbane 5 Dec 11 $44.23

Hire Car Sydney 4 Dec to 5 Dec 11 $143.40

UPDATE

Subsequent to this story breaking in the mainstream media it has been reported that; 
Attorney-General George Brandis will repay almost $1700 in expenses he claimed to attend the wedding of a Sydney radio shock jock two years ago.

Although still asserting that his being a guest at the wedding was work-related, it does not appear that Senator Brandis declared the complimentary limosine supplied on 4 December 2011 in his Statement of Registerable Interests - something he might have done if that day was in fact part of his duties as a senator.

So how is Federal Coalition Treasurer Joe Hockey managing Australia's national budget?

Joe Hockey as Opposition Shadow Treasurer in The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 May 2012:

''Labor has now sought increases in the debt limit of the Commonwealth from $75 billion to $200 billion, to $250 billion and now $300 billion. On each occasion they promise not to exceed the limit. Well, enough is enough - we are going to keep them to their promises''

Joe Hockey as Federal Coalition Treasurer in The Herald Sun, 28 September 2013:

Mr Hockey also said the Coalition would raise the $300 billion debt ceiling before Christmas ...

The Australian Government currently issues debt securities to the public in the form of Treasury Bonds, Treasury Indexed Bonds and Treasury Notes.

Here are the Abbott Government’s officially announced intentions to raise money from domestic/international sources: [updated 17.12.13]

18 September intends to borrow $800 million

20 September intends to borrow $800 million

25 September intends to borrow $800 million

26 September intends to borrow $1 billion

27 September intends to borrow $500 million

2 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million

3 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million

4 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million

9 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million

10 October 2013 intends to borrow $500 million

11 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
16 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
17 October 2013 intends to borrow $1 billion
18 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
24 October 2013 intends to borrow $1.5 billion
25 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million

29 October 2013 intends to borrow $200 million
30 October 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
31 October 2013 intends to borrow $1 billion
1 November 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
6 November 2013 intends to borrow $600 million
7 November 2013 intends to borrow $1.5 billion
8 November 2013 intends to borrow $1 billion
8 November 2013 intends to borrow an additional unspecified amount
12 November 2013 intends to borrow $150 million
13 November 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
14 November 2013 intends to borrow $1 billion
15 November 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
21 November 2013 intends to borrow $500 million
22 November 2013 intends to borrow $800 million
26 November 2013 intends to borrow an additional unspecified amount

4 December 2013 intends to borrow $800 million

6 December 2013 intends to borrow $1.5 billion
10 December 2013 intends to borrow $100 million
11 December 2013  intends to borrow $800 million
13 December 2013 intends to borrow $700 million
15 January 2014 intends to borrow an additional unspecified amount

24 January 2014 intends to borrow $500 million
11 February 2014 intends to borrow an additional unspecified amount

In the first 128 days of the Abbott Government total borrowings from these sources will exceed $27.7 billion or over $216.4 million a day.

It would appear that the current Federal Coalition Government is borrowing at the same a higher rate as than the former Federal Labor Government. However, It has committed to raising the debt ceiling to $500 billion before 12 December 2013.

So there is no slowing down of the increase in the much dog whistled national debt since Joe Hockey became Treasurer - just as there is apparently the same downward trend in the rate of asylum seeker boat arrivals between the second Rudd Government and the current Abbott Government.