The Lies Abbott Tells - Part Two

ABC The Insiders on 10 November 2013 provided the Australian electorate with very clear evidence of how Australian Minister Tony Abbott continues to utter political lies with gay abandon.

THE LIE

TONY ABBOTT, PRIME MINISTER (at press conference): People are entitled to ask whatever questions they want at those briefings. Not only is the minister on hand to address issues but you have got General Campbell the commander of Operation Sovereign Borders on hand.

They are happy to answer questions as fully as they can.

THE REALITY

(Excerpt from weekly briefing plays)

JOURNALIST 1 (at briefing): The overnight incident. What's become of that boat of asylum seekers?

LIEUTENANT GENERAL ANGUS CAMPBELL, COMMANDER, OPERATION SOVEREIGN BORDERS: I will not comment further in relation to on water matters. Thank you.

JOURNALIST 1: General this is of great public interest, the fate of those people…

LIEUTENANT GENERAL ANGUS CAMPBELL: I will not comment further in relation to on-water matters.

JOURNALIST 1: Have they been sent to Indonesia?

LIEUTENANT GENERAL ANGUS CAMPBELL: I will not comment further in relation to on-water matters. I think we've dealt with that question.

JOURNALIST 2: But in terms of making a judgment, if those asylum seekers do come to Australia doesn't that mean your turn back the boats policy is kind of...

SCOTT MORRISON, IMMIGRATION MINISTER: Well you've made a whole bunch of assumptions there which I'm not about to speculate on.

JOURNALIST 2: Well maybe you can clear them up for us?

SCOTT MORRISON: Well you're the one making the presumptions not me.

JOURNALIST 1: Is it the case that the overnight incident is not resolved and that's why more information is not forthcoming?

SCOTT MORRISON: It's an ongoing operational matter and the persons at risk have all been accounted for.

We're not going to go into the micro detail of these operational matters.

JOURNALIST 3 (at briefing): Well I don't think that's micro detail, I think. Did you help them? …

SCOTT MORRISON: What we are saying is we rendered assistance…

JOURNALIST 3: … And what assistance was that?

SCOTT MORRISON: ... and all the people have been accounted for…

JOURNALIST 3: Can you tell us what…

SCOTT MORRISON: … so we can go around this for a lot longer, but that is the position.

(Excerpt ends)

Today's APN reading competition

A court report appearing in an APN newspaper today makes one wonder what was deleted from the report. Readers who work out the answer might forward it to the editor of The Northern Star The Daily Examiner.

NCV suspects the editor probably has some prizes for readers who provide the correct answer. (Hint: find ****)

NCV apologises to The Northern Star for having previously stated that it carried the blooper. Having seen its print edition NCV acknowledges that the Star doesn't carry the blooper; however, the piece which was written by a Star journalist appears in the Examiner (see below) with the colourful language.

Image credit: APN

Sanctuary Northern Rivers

Sanctuary Northern Rivers

Sanctuary Northern Rivers is a local community based not-for-profit organisation run by volunteers that assists off-shore refugees to come to Australia under the Government’s Humanitarian Settlement program.  Over the past 8-9 years it has assisted over 150 African refugees to settle in Lismore and Mullumbimby.  It provides advice and sponsorship when applying for a visa under the program, financial assistance in the form of airfares for these people to come to Australia when a visa is granted and personal support throughout the settlement process.  

In addition, it auspices the Universal Declaration of Human Rights project to schools as one of the organisation’s key objectives is to educate young people and the community about the plight of refugees.  Article 14 of the Declaration says people have the right to seek asylum in another country when under persecution in their own country.

Email: info@sanctuary.asn.au

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Pell and Abbott - two high profile Catholics who remain in denial concerning the extent of institutionalized child abuse and the part each may have played?

Cardinal George Pell and Minister for Health and Ageing Tony Abbott in 2004

This is the reality that is the Catholic Church in Australia in November 2013.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, self-styled Captain Catholic in a Radio 3AW (Melbourne) interview on 14 November 2013: As is pretty well known, I have a lot of time for George Pell... Well, I didn’t see his evidence before the committee and I haven’t read the report. He is, in my judgment, a fine human being and a great churchman.

Three snapshots from the Victorian Parliament Family and Community Development Committee Inquiry into the Handling of Child Abuse by Religious and Other Non-Government Organisations report entitled Betrayal of Trust:

Betrayal of Trust Report:
Volume 1 (PDF 2.2Mb),
Volume 2 (PDF 4.0Mb)

This is an excerpt from the 1997 evidence given by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, when he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs, in support of an alleged paedophile priest, John Gerard Nestor, later forcibly 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

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