TRACKING ABBOTT’S WRECKAGE

sallymcmanusdotnet

Tony Abbott has been in power since 7 September 2013. From that moment, he and his government have broken promises and hurt Australians. This post will be regularly updated to keep track of the Abbott Government’s broken promises and everything his Government does to hurt Australians. Each separate item will have a link to a source. Broken promises appear in bold and in a separate list at the end.

THE LIST

290. Breaks promise to  achieve a surplus in the Government’s first year in office, instead overseeing an estimated $51 billion deterioration in revenue – 11 November, 2014

289. Extends the Royal Commission into Trade Unions for another 12 months and expands the terms of reference despite their being no requests for either – 09 October, 2014

288. Cuts spending on science and innovation to the lowest levels since the data was first published - 07 October, 2014

287. Spends an estimated $500 million yearly participating in the conflict in the Middle East while ruling out increasing taxes to pay for –  07 October, 2014

286. Limits scrutiny of ASIO, expands protections from prosecution for ASIO officers, and allows ASIO greater powers for surveillance with reduced requirements for warrants  – 30 September, 2014

285. Signs a deal with Cambodia to accept Australia’s refugees for a payment of $40 million over 4 years – 26 September, 2014

284. Breaks an election promise to a publish a proposal for constitutional recognition for Indigenous people and establish a bipartisan process to try to bring about recognition as soon as possible within the first 12 months of Government – 19 September 2014.

283. Breaks election promise to  build replacement submarines in South Australian shipyards, spending more than $20 billion on Japanese submarines instead – 8 September, 2014

282. Fails to provide adequate medical care to asylum seeker Hamid Kehazaei who died after developing an infection from a cut on his foot – 5 September 2014

281. Delays superannuation increases for seven years costing workers thousands of dollars in retirement savings – 2 September 2014

280. Kills the Low Income Super Contribution payment and the Superannuation Guarantee which aimed to boost the retirement savings of 3.6 million workers who earn $37,000 per year or less – 2 September 2014

279. Repeals the mining tax on the profits of big coal and iron ore companies – 2 September 2014

278. Bans secular workers from the school chaplaincy program – 27 August 2014

277. Refuses temporary visitors visas for Sri Lankan trade unionists to attend a union conference in Australia because they “do not have enough personal wealth” – 25 August 2014

276. Unemployment hits highest level in 12 years – 7 August 2014

275. Breaks an election promise to amend the race hate laws – 6 August 2014

274. Directs all government departments to disclose every contact with every union for any reason over the last decade to the Royal Commission – 28 July 2014

273. Allows the suspension of payments to parents whose children do not attend school in the Northern Territory – 19 July 2014

272. Axes the carbon tax with no viable policy to address climate change or Australia’s emission targets – 17 July, 2014

271. Risks up to $1 billion in revenue through job cuts at the ATO – July 15, 2014

270. Cuts all funding to Vibe Australia, the Indigenous organisation responsible for creating and producing the Deadly Awards, Deadly Vibe and InVibe magazines, Deadly Sounds radio, Move It Mob Style TV and deadlyvibe.com.au –  July 14, 2014

269. Detains 153 asylum seekers at sea on board a customs ship for a month, despite questions about the legality of this action – July 12, 2014

268. Offends China and many Australians by praising the “skill and honour” of Japanese soliders who killed 22 000 Australians and hundreds of thousands of Chinese during World War II – 9 July 2014

267. Hands over 41 Sri Lankan asylum seekers to the custody of Sri Lankan authorities after screening them at sea and transferring them while still on the water – 07 July, 2014

266. Creates a strategic communications branch employing 37 people  and costing $4.7 million each year, to oversee communications in the department of Prime Minister and Cabinet despite saying at the 2013 launch of the Liberal Party’s book on ALP waste, that they would spend less on spin than the previous government  – July 05, 2014

265. Describes Australia as ‘unsettled’ before the British arrived, during an address to the Australia-Melbourne Institute Conference – 04 July, 2014

264. Grants the Immigration Minister power over the granting of permanent residence allowing him to personally decide the conditions of the test and his decisions will not be subject to appeal  – 03 July, 2014

263. Breaks a promise not to grant permanent permanent residency to people arriving by boat  by granting a visa to a least one refugee – 03 July, 2014

262. Prohibits Community Legal Centres from using Government funding to advocate for policy or law reform – 02 July, 2014

261. Appoints a former Liberal MP and a conservative columnist and vocal opponent of the ABC to the ABC and SBS appointments panel – 02 July, 2014

260. Strikes out protections for consumers of financial advice before the report into the Commonwealth Bank of Australia financial planning scandal is tabled, which recommends a Royal Commission into the bank to investigate allegations of fraud, forgery and a management cover-up – 01 July, 2014

259. Refuses to confirm the existence of two boatloads of refugees reported to be currently on board customs vessels. The Government previously denied the vessels were in trouble and refuses to comment on whether the refugees will be landing in Australia – 30 June, 2014

258. Revokes the residential determination of two asylum seekers from Vietnam currently in high school in Adelaide and removes them to a detention centre, resulting in up to 7 other children, also in school, running away for fear of the same fate – 28 June, 2014

257. Cuts Dementia and Severe Behaviours Supplement, a payment to those who provide care for people with severe behavioural  and psychological symptoms of dementia – 26 June, 2014

256.  Breaks promise that no public servants will be forced into redundancy as it is revealed that staff in Treasury in Finance will be made involuntarily redundant  – 24 June, 2014

255. Seeks to reintroduce Temporary Protection Visas after the High Court strikes down the Government’s attempt to limit the number of permanent visas available each year  – 22 June 2014.

254. Refuses to halt return of refugees to war-torn Iraq – 18 June, 2014

253. Abandons the long-held, bipartisan position of referring to Palestinian land captured in 1967 as occupied – 06 June, 2014

252. Abolishes the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee, which has, for 25 years,  investigated gaps in Australia’s corporate and financial markets law  and recommended ways to close them – 05 June, 2014

251. Excludes Australian shipyards from a major new contract, sending jobs offshore and threatening the industry in Australia – 05 June, 2014

250. Cuts funding to the peak refugee organisation the Refugee Council of Australia – 30 May 2014

249. Takes money from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and gives it to the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Scheme – 28 May 2014

248. Breaks promise that no public servants will be forced into redundancy after revelations that public servants in the Department of Industry have been made involuntarily redundant – 19 May 2014

247. Scraps the National Water Commission – 13 May, 2014

246. Abolishes funding for Building Australia’s Future Workforce — Connection Interviews and Job Seeker Workshops and the Experience+ Career Advice initiative – 13 May, 2014

245. Abolishes the Get Reading Programme – 13 May, 2014

244. Scraps the annual subsidy to local ethanol producers – 13 May 2014

243. Slashes the Biodiversity Fund – 13 May, 2014

242. Cuts the Education Department’s Online Diagnostic Tools Programme – 13 May, 2014

241. Abolishes the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority which was established to encourage organ donation – 13 May, 2014

240.  Introduces annual reviews for veterans receiving military compensation payments due to illness or injury – 13 May, 2014

239. Terminates the Office of Water Science research programme – 13 May, 2014

238. Abolishes the Commonwealth Human Rights Education Grant – 13 May 2014

237. Abolishes funding to the Exotic Disease Preparedness Programme – 13 May 2014

236. Slashes funding from the Indigenous Health Budget – 13 May 2014

235. Cuts funding for Indigenous language support – 13 May 2014

234. Cuts funding to the Torres Strait Regional Authority – 13 May 2014

233. Abolishes the Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, the only elected representative body for Indigenous Australians - 13 May 2014

232. Breaks election promise and slashes funding to Landcare – 13 May 2014

231. Abolishes the National Rental Affordability Scheme – 13 May 2014

230. Cuts funding from the corporate regulator ASIC which oversees the financial sector – 13 May 2014

229. Axes the first home buyers savings scheme – 13 May 2014

228. Reduces funding to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency – 13 May 2014

227. Abolishes the Improving Educational Outcomes Programme – 13 May 2014

226. Cuts funding to the Child Care Early Learning Projects and the Professional Support Program which assist childcare workers gain skills – 13 May 2014

225. Reduces funding to the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership – 13 May 2014

224. Cut the Research Training Scheme, with tertiary education providers to introduce student contributions for higher degrees – 13 May 2014

223. Ends the development of the Australian Baccalaureate – 13 May 2014

222. Cuts higher education reward funding – 13 May 2014

221. Cuts the Australian National University’s HC Coombs Policy Forum – 13 May 2014

220. Cuts Australian Research Council funding – 13 May 2014

219. Abolishes tax break for mature age workers and replaces it with a payment for employing people over 50 who have been on Newstart or the DSP for more than 6 months – 13 May 2014

218. Cuts an incentive program for graduates to take up work in regional locations of need – 13 May 2014

217. Axes the National Partnership Agreement on Certain Concessions for Pensioners and Seniors Card Holders which supports state and territory concessions for senior citizens including energy rebates. – 13 May 2014

216. Kills off four grant programmes including the the Australian Community Food Safety Campaign and Outreach Support Services for Criminalised Women – 13 May 2014

215. Cuts $2.3 million in contribution to the World Health Organisation – 13 May 2014

214. Abolishes the Australian Interactive Games Fund which helped support local video game developers – 13 May 2014

213. Breaks a promise not to cuts funding to health by dramatically cutting hospital funding – 13 May 2014

212. Cuts $240 million over four years to community programs that support poor, sick or disadvantaged people – 13 May 2014

211. Cuts $25 million over 4 years (a quarter of the total) funding to Community Legal Centres who provide legal support to the poor and disadvantaged – 13 May 2014

210. Cuts the Women in Leadership program – 13 May 2014

209. Breaks a promise to have one million more solar roofs across Australia and at least 25 solar towns – 13 May 2014

208. Breaks a promise to spend $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund by committing less than half this amount in the budget – 13 May 2014

207. Orders the spending of $11.7 million to plan the privatisation of: Defence Housing Australia, the Royal Australian Mint and the registry function of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission – 13 May 2014

206. Announces 3000 job loses at the Australian Tax Office – 13 May 2014

205. Freezes the Family Tax Benefit A at a set income level regardless of the number of children – 13 May 2014

204. Cuts the Family Tax Benefit B end-of-year supplement by 15% – 13 May 2014

203. Reduces funding for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation – 13 May 2014

202. Reduces funding to the Australian Institute for Marine Science – 13 May 2014

201. Scraps a range of grant programs aimed at funding innovation and start-up businesses, including: Australian Industry Participation; Commercialisation Australia; Enterprise Solutions; Innovation Investment Fund; Industry Innovation Councils; Enterprise Connect; Industry Innovation Precincts; and Textile, Clothing and Footwear Small Business and Building Innovative Capability – 13 May 2014

200. Rips a further $111.4 million over four years out of the operating budget of the CSIRO – 13 May 2014

199. Ceases funding for National ICT Australia, which is a research centre for communications and information technology – 13 May 2014

198. Abolishes Medicare locals – 13 May 2014

197. Reduces payments to people under 35 with a disability who cannot find employment if they could work more than eight hours a week – 13 May 2014

196. Mandates religious education in schools by taking away the option for schools to opt for a secular social worker instead – 13 May 2014

195. Abolishes the ABC’s disability communities website Ramp Up – 13 May 2014

194. Abolishes the Disability Discrimination Commissioner – 13 May 2014

193. Abolishes the Better Schools Centre for Quality Teaching and Learning – 13 May 2014

192. Dismantles the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and will establish a health productivity and performance commission – 13 May 2014

191. Abolishes the Seniors Supplement – 13 May 2014

190. Axes the tax break for people with dependent spouses – 13 May 2014

189. Axes the Diagnostic Imaging Quality Programme – 13 May 2014

188. Ceases the Dental Flexible Grants Program – 13 May 2014

187. Axes the Charles Sturt University’s dental and oral health clinics – 13 May 2014

186. Axes funding for the nursing and allied health scholarships in Tasmania – 13 May 2014

185. Defers 13 Partners in Recovery programs which help people with severe and persistent mental illness and complex support needs – 13 May 2014

184. Cuts funding to the National Anti-Tobacco Campaign – 13 May 2014

183. Cuts Australia’s Animal Welfare Strategy – 13 May 2014

182. Abolishes Health Workforce Australia and cuts the expansion of the Clinical Training Funding Program – 13 May 2014

181. Axes the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health – 13 May 2014

180. Defers the National Partnership Agreement for adult public dental services until July 2015 – 13 May 2014

179. Reduces the Medicare benefit for optometry services and allows optometrists to charge more – 13 May 2014

178. Abolishes the GP Education and Training Limited and ceasing the Pre-vocational GP Placements Scheme – 13 May 2014

177. Axes industry and community clean energy programs include the Low Emissions Technology Demonstration Fund, the National Low Emission Coal Initiative, Energy Efficiency Programmes, the National Solar Schools Plan, Energy Efficiency Information Grants and Low Carbon Communities – 13 May 2014

176. Scraps The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) which was set up to support new and emerging renewable technologies and in doing so breaks an election promise – 13 May 2014

175. Scraps the Housing Help for Seniors scheme which provided assistance to older Australians – 13 May 2014

174. Pulls $2.5 billion from aged care, including $1.7 billion from home based support such as Meals on Wheels – 13 May 2014

173. Cuts the benefit for unemployed people under 25 by moving them onto the Youth Allowance – 13 May 2014

172. Kills off the Gonski school funding vision by cutting future funding by $30 billion – 13 May 2014

171. Reduces Medicare and Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme safety nets – 13 May 2014

170. Breaks a promise to make no cuts to health with a $368 million cut from preventative health measures – 13 May 2014

169. Cuts the Family Tax Benefit A end-of-year supplement by 17% – 13 May 2014

168. Increases the fuel excise twice a year by indexing it to CPI – 13 May 2014

167. Forces students to repay their debt earlier by lowering the wage they need to earn before payments kick in – 13 May 2014

166. Increases debt for students by increasing the interest on their fees – 13 May 2014

165. Makes it harder for retirees to access the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card – 13 May 2014

164. Guts the Australia Council and Screen Australia by cutting $87 million for the Arts – 13 May 2014

163. Forces people under 30 to work for the dole if they want to receive any financial support after a waiting period of six months with no financial support – 13 May 2014

162. Imposes a six month wait for people under 30s to receive unemployment benefits – 13 May 2014

161. Cuts the Family Tax Benefit Part B – 13 May 2014

160. Cuts the old age pension by indexing it to CPI instead of wages – 13 May 2014

159. Increases the pension age to 70 from 2035 – 13 May 2014

158. Imposes a $5 increase on the cost of all medicines available under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (80c for concession card holders) – 13 May 2014

157. Cuts the ‘Tools for the Trade’ program which helped apprentices buy their tools, and replacing it with a loan scheme apprentices will have to repay – 13 May 2014

156. Caps the amount of money workers can recoup in entitlements if their employer becomes insolvent or bankrupt to 16 weeks – 13 May 2014

155. Breaks a promise to only cut the foreign aid budget by $4.5 billion and cuts it by $7.9 billion instead – 13 May 2014

154. Axes funding to the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, the national peak body for young people- 13 May 2014

153. Slashes Disability Support Pensions by indexing to inflation – 13 May 2014

152. Abolishes the highly successful Youth Connections program that supports young people who have not completed, or are at risk of not completing Year 12 or equivalent qualifications also costing hundreds of community sector jobs – 13 May 2014

151. Breaks a promise of “no new taxes” by introducing a fuel levy – 13 May 2014

150. Announces the sacking of 16,500 public sector workers as whole Departments are abolished despite promising only 12,000 job losses – 13 May 2014

149. Cuts $500 million from indigenous programs over five years – 13 May 2014

148. Breaks a promise of “no new taxes” by introducing a deficit tax rise of two percentage points for people earning more than $180,000 a year – 13 May 2014

147. Scrapping a net $1.2 billion in tuition subsidies for universities – 13 May 2014

146. Scraps the Australia Network, Australia’s international television service broadcast across our region that provides news and current affairs from an Australian perspective – 13 May 2014

145. Breaks promise of “no cuts to the ABC or SBS” by cutting $43.5 million from the ABC and SBS – 13 May 2014

144. Undermines Medicare by imposing a $7 fee increase for GP visits – 13 May 2014

143. Tears up the Federal Government’s agreement with states and territories to help fund increasing health costs – 13 May 2014

142. Scraps caps on university fees, meaning universities will be able to charge whatever they like for degrees – 13 May 2014

141. Abolishes the COAG Reform Council — which provides information to Governments so they can track the performance of their programs – 13 May 2014

140. Sacks the National People with Disability and Carers Council — which pushed for and then helped build the NDIS – 13 May 2014

139. Releases the Commission of Audit report which recommends savage budget cuts that would negatively affect every Australian – 1 May 2014

138. Breaks a promise to introduce the paid parental leave scheme he took to the election – 30 April 2014

137. Spends $12.4 billion on new fighter jets whilst claiming a budget “emergency” and preparing to make big cuts to health and welfare – 23 April 2014

136. Abolishes the research and development tax incentives board – 11 April 2014

135. Begins dismantling GP Super clinics – 8 April 2014

134. Cuts 480 jobs from the Environment Department who are responsible for protecting places such as Kakadu, Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef – 7 April 2014

133. Forbids public servants from making political comments online, even anonymously, and instructs them to report on colleagues who do – 6 April 2014

132. Establishes a secret, publicly funded “hit squad” to target political opponents led by the man who provided a “chaff bag” for Alan Jones to auction at a Young Liberal fundraiser – 1 April 2014

131. Imposes fees and charges on people who become bankrupt – 1 April 2014

130. Axes free legal assistance for asylum seekers – 31 March 2014

129. Defunds Ethical Clothing Australia that worked with industry to protect outworkers in the textile and clothing industry from exploitation and abandons the Governments ethical procurement guidelines – 30 March 2014

128. Opposes a UN resolution to conduct war crimes inquiry in Sri Lanka – 28 March 2014

127. Closes all Medicare offices on Saturdays – 26 March 2014

126. Brings back the awards of knights and dames which were abolished in 1986 – 25 March 2014

125. Cuts 400 jobs from the industry department – 25 March 2014

124. Ensures a human rights enquiry into the Manus Island detention centre is shut down and human rights lawyers are denied access to the centre – 23 March 2014

123. Abolishes one third of the jobs in Treasury costing approximately 300 jobs – 21 March 2014

122. Cuts welfare payments to orphans of soldiers – 16 March 2014

121. Moves to deny funding to artists or events that refuse corporate sponsorship for ethical reasons – 15 March 2014

120. Cuts hundreds of jobs at the CSIRO – 14 March 2014

119. Reopens 457 visa loophole to allow employers to hire an unlimited number of workers without scrutiny – 12 March 2014

118. Overturns a ban on cattle grazing in the Victorian Alpine National Park – 6 March 2014

117. Frustrated and defeated an attempt at the UN to highlight the humanitarian consequences of nuclear war – 5 March 2014

116. Axes funding earmarked to save the Sumatran rhinoceros from extinction – 28 February 2014

115. Introduces legislation to allow people aged between 17-24 years old to work for half the minimum wage and be exempted from all other work rights including health and safety laws and protections should they be injured at work – 26 February 2014

114. Axes funding to Aboriginal Early Childhood Support and Learning Incorporated, the only Indigenous peak body advising on early childhood issues for Indigenous people in NSW – 25 February, 2014

113. Misleads the Australian public about what occurred on Manus Island when asylum seekers were attacked killing one person and injuring seventy-seven. Once the information was known to be untrue, waited five days to correct the record – 25 February 2014

112. Contravenes 113 years of established practice by moving to release the previous Government’s confidential cabinet papers to the Royal Commission into the Pink Batts scheme – 22 February 2014

111. Scraps food grants program for small farmers – 21 February 2014

110. Pressured SPC Ardmona to cut the pay and conditions for workers in return for Government money – 20 February 2014

109. Blames carbon pricing for the close of Alcoa smelters and rolling mills and the loss of nearly 1000 jobs, despite the fact the company states it had no bearing on their decision – 19 February 2014

108. Breaches the privacy and puts in danger around 10, 000 asylum seekers and their families by releasing their personal details on the Department of Immigration website – 19 February 2014

107. Fails to ensure the safety of asylum seekers in our care on Manus Island who were subjected to a vicious attack, which left one person dead and seventy-seven seriously injured – 18 February 2014

106. Reverses the previous government’s decision to care for refugee children who are without an adult family member (ie unaccompanied minors) in the community and sends them to detention centres in Nauru – 17 February 2014

105. Removes poverty reduction from the goals of the foreign affairs budget –February 17, 2014

104. Appoints a climate change skeptic to head a review of our renewable energy target – 17 February 2014

103. Pays hundreds of indigenous workers in his Department up to $19 000 less than non-indigenous workers doing the same job and cuts the budget for the representative body the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples causing two-thirds of the staff to lose their jobs – 15 February 2014

102. Breaks a promise to provide fibre-to-the-premises for all Tasmanians for the National Broadband Network – 13 February 2014

101. Unemployment rate jumps to highest in more than 10 years – 13 February 2014

100. Lies to the Australian public about the reasons Toyota gave for their decision to close in order to blame the workers and their union – 12 February 2014

99. Takes down a website providing information to the Australian public on the ingredients and nutritional content of foods. It is later revealed that the person in the Minister’s office who gave this directive is married to a lobbyist from the junk food industry and was still a share holder in their lobbying company – 11 February 2014

98. Destroys the Australian car manufacturing industry by refusing to provide any industry assistance leading to the decision of Toyota to shut costing up to 30 000 jobs – 10 February 2014

97. Launches a Royal Commission into unions – 10 February 2014

96. Attempts to reintroduce temporary visas for asylum seekers found to be fleeing persecution preventing them ever settling in Australia and retrospectively applies them to 20 000 people. This is stopped in the Senate twice by the ALP and The Greens – 7 February 2014

95. Supports a reduction of penalty rates and other Award minimums in a submission to the Fair Work Commission’s review of all Awards – 4 February 2014

94. Lies to the Australian public about the wages and working conditions of factory workers at SPC Ardmona in Shepparton and uses this incorrect information to blame them for their job insecurity – 4 February 2014

93. Launches an “efficiency study” into ABC and the SBS – 30 January 2014

92. Cuts the wages of Australian troops deployed overseas by almost $20 000 per solider – 29 January 2014

91. Intervenes on the side of Toyota to support cutting Australian workers wages and conditions – 28 January 2014

90. Privatises the 104 year old Australian Valuation Office costing nearly 200 jobs – 24 January 2014

89. Seeks to wind back the World Heritage listing of Tasmania’s forests – 23 January 2014

88. Withdraws funding from Operation Newstart, an early intervention program to help vulnerable young people – 22 January 2014

87. Exempts Western Australia from national environment laws to facilitate shark culling – 21 January 2014

86. Defunds all international environmental programs, the International Labour Organisation and cuts funding to a range of international aid programs run by NGOs such as Save the Children, Oxfam, CARE Australia and Caritas – 18 January 2014

85. Violates Indonesia’s territorial sovereignty while turning back asylum seeker boats – 17 January 2014

84. Politicises the national school curriculum by appointing a former Liberal staffer and a Coalition supporter, both critics of the current curriculum to conduct a review – 10 January 2014.

83. Directs that people already found to be refugees who arrived by boat be given the lowest priority for family reunion – 8 January 2014

82. Fails to contradict or take any action against a member of his government, Senator Cory Bernardi, who makes divisive statements about: abortion, “non-traditional” families and their children, same sex couples, couples who use IVF and calls for parts of WorkChoices to be reintroduced – 6 January 2014

81. Scraps funding from the Jewish Holocaust Centre –January 3, 2014

80. Devastates Australia’s contribution to overseas aid by cutting $4.5 billion from the budget, causing vital programs supporting those in extreme poverty in our region to collapse - 1 January 2014

79. Drastically reduces tax breaks for small business and fails to publicise it – 1 January 2014

78. Appoints Tim Wilson, a Liberal Party member and Policy Director of a right-wing think tank to the position of Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission even though this think tank argued for the Commission to be abolished – 23 December 2013

77. Approves private health fund premium increases of an average 6.2% a year – 23 December 2013

76. Breaks his promise to provide the promised customs vessel to monitor whaling operations in the Southern Ocean – 23 December 2013

75. Requests the delisting of World Heritage status for Tasmanian forests – 21 December 2013

74. Cuts funding to the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Programme which makes it mandatory for large energy using businesses to improve their efficiency –17 December, 2013

73. Breaks a promise to make no cuts to health by cutting $150 million from hospital and health services – 17 December 2013.

72. Scraps the Home Energy Saver Scheme which helps struggling low income households cut their electricity bills – 17 December 2013

71. Defunds the Public Interest Advocacy Centre whose objectives are to work for a fair, just and democratic society by taking up legal cases public interest issues – 17 December 2013

70. Defunds the Environmental Defenders Office which is a network of community legal centres providing free advice on environmental law – 17 December 2013

69. Axes funding for animal welfare – 17 December 2013

68. Breaks his election promise of no cuts to education by cutting funding for trade training centres in schools – 17 December 2013

67. Abolishes the AusAID graduate program costing 38 jobs – 17 December 2013

66. Cuts Indigenous legal services by $13.4 million. This includes $3.5 million from front line domestic violence support services, defunding the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and abolishing all policy and law reform positions across the country – 17 December 2013

65. Abolishes the position of co-ordinator-general for remote indigenous services – 17 December 2013

64. Breaks his promise to unequivocally support the NDIS by changing the name of NDIS “launch sites” to “trial sites” and flags cuts to funding – 17 December 2013

63. Abolishes the National Office for Live Music along with the live music ambassadors – 17 December 2013

62. Cuts $2.5 million from community radio – 17 December 2013

61. Weakens the ministerial code of conduct to let ministers keep shares in companies – 16 December 2013

60. Disbands the independent Immigration Health Advisory Group for asylum seekers – 16 December 2013

59. Dumps the National Occupational Licensing Scheme which was designed to increase productivity by making it easier for skilled workers to work interstate – 14 December 2013

58. Axes $4.5 million from charities and community groups for the Building Multicultural Communities Program – 13 December 2013

57. Starts dismantling Australia’s world leading marine protection system – 13 December 2013

56. Scraps the COAG Standing Council on Environment and Water – 13 December 2013

55. Breaks his NBN election promise of giving all Australians access to 25 megabits per second download speeds by 2016 – 12 December 2013

54. Overturns the “critically endangered” listing of the Murray Darling Basin – 11 December 2013

53. Dares Holden to leave Australia. Holden responds by announcing its closure which costs Australians tens of thousands of jobs – 11 December 2013

52. Approves Clive Palmer’s mega coal mine in the Galilee Basin which opponents say will severely damage Great Barrier Reef – 11 December 2013

51. Demands that the few childcare workers who got pay rises “hand them back” – 10 December 2013

50. Approves the largest coal port in the world in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area – 10 December 2013

49. Removes the community’s right to challenge decisions where the government has ignored expert advice on threatened species impacts – 9 December 2013

48. Downgrades national environment laws by giving approval powers to state premiers – 9 December 2013

47. Undermines Australia’s democracy by signing a free trade agreement with South Korea allowing corporations to sue the Australian Government – 6 December 2013

46. Damages our diplomatic relationship with our nearest neighbour East Timor – 5 December 2013

45. Repeals the pokie reform legislation which was designed to combat problem gambling – 4 December 2013

44. Suspends the Wage Connect program, despite it being proven to deliver good outcomes for unemployed people – 3 December 2013

43. Axes funding to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, forcing the 46 year old organisation to close. It is later revealed that a staffer in the Assistant Health Minister’s office had links to the Alcohol Industry – 27 November 2013

42. Breaks his promise to support Gonski and back flips three times – 25 November 2013

41. Shifts Australia’s position at the UN on Israeli settlements – 25 November 2013

40. Damages our diplomatic relationship with the Indonesian Government by refusing to apologise for tapping the phones of their President, his wife and senior Government officials – 23 November 2013

39. Converts crucial Start-Up Scholarships into loans, increasing the debt of 80,000 higher education students by $1.2 billion – 21 November 2013

38. Gifts two navy patrol boats to the Sri Lankan government to stop asylum seekers fleeing the Sri Lankan government – 17 November 2013

37. Introduces a Bill to impose on workers who are elected onto unpaid union committees huge financial penalties and jail terms for breeches of new compliance obligations – 14 November 2013

36. Condones torture by foreign governments by saying “sometimes in difficult circumstances, difficult things happen” – 14 November 2013

35. Hides information from the Parliament and the people about the government’s treatment of asylum seekers – 13 November 2013

34. Abandons Australia’s emission reduction targets – 12 November, 2013

33. Separates a refugee mother from her newborn baby – 10 November 2013

32. Cuts 600 jobs at the CSIRO – 8 November 2013

31. Abolishes Insurance Reform Advisory Group which provided a forum for industry and consumer bodies to discuss insurance industry reform – 8 November 2013

30. Abolishes the Maritime Workforce Development Forum which was an industry body working to build a sustainable skills base for the maritime industry – 8 November 2013

29. Abolishes the High Speed Rail Advisory Group whose job it was to advise Governments on the next steps on implementing high speed rail for eastern Australia – 8 November 2013

28. Abolishes the Advisory Panel on the Marketing in Australia of Infant Formula which for 21 years ensured companies comply with agreements on the advertising of infant formula – 8 November 2013

27. Abolishes the Antarctic Animal Ethics Committee who ensured research on animals in the Antarctic complies with Australian standards – 8 November 2013

26. Abolished the National Steering Committee on Corporate Wrongdoing that for 21 years worked to make sure the law was effectively enforced on corporate criminals – 8 November 2013

25. Abolishes the National Inter-country Adoption Advisory Council which provided expert advice on overseas adoption – 8 November 2013

24. Abolishes International Legal Services Advisory Council which was responsible for working to improve the international performance of Australia’s legal services – 8 November 2013

23. Abolishes the Commonwealth Firearms Advisory Council a group of experts in gun crime and firearms which was set up after the Port Arthur massacre – 8 November 2013

22. Abolishes Australian Animals Welfare Advisory Committee a diverse group of experts advising the Agriculture Minister on animal welfare issues – 8 November 2013

21. Abolishes the National Housing Supply Council which provided data and expert advice on housing demand, supply and affordability – 8 November 2013

20. Abolishes the Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, established to help address the challenges the country faces as the number of older Australians grows – 8 November 2013

19. Refuses to offer support to manufacturing in Tasmania, despite requests and warnings. Caterpillar announces the move of 200 jobs from Burnie to Thailand, costing around 1000 local jobs – 5 November 2013

18. Provides $2.2 million legal aid for farmers and miners to fight native title claims – 1 November 2013

17. Abolishes the 40 year old AusAID costing hundreds of jobs – 1 November 2013

16. Launches a successful High Court challenge which strikes down the ACT Marriage Equality laws invalidating the marriages of many people and ensuring discrimination against same-sex couples continues – 23 October 2013

15. Denies there is a link between climate change and more severe bush fires and accuses a senior UN official was “talking through their hat” – 23 October 2013

14. Appoints the head of the Business Council of Australia to a “Commission of Audit” to recommend cuts to public spending – 22 October 2013

13. Cuts compensation to the victims of bushfires – 21 October 2013

12. Instructs public servants and detention centre staff to call asylum seekers “illegals” – 20 October 2013

11. Appoints Howard era Australian Building & Construction Commission (ABCC) Director to help reinstate the ABCC with all its previous oppressive powers over construction workers – 17 October 2013

10. Axes the Major Cities Unit a Government agency with 10 staff which provided expert advice on urban issues in our 18 biggest cities – 24 September 2013

9. Breaks his promise to “stop the boats” – 23 September 2013

8. Scraps the Social Inclusion Board, which had been established to guide policy on the reduction of poverty in Australia – 19 September 2013

7. Abolishes the Climate Commission – 19 September 2013

6. Appoints himself Minister for Women – 16 September 2013

5. Appoints only one woman into his cabinet and blames the women for his decision, saying he appoints “on merit”– 16 September 2013

4. Abolishes key ministerial positions of climate change and science – 16 September 2013

3. Breaks his promise to spend his first week with an Aboriginal community -14 September 2012

2. Takes away pay rises for childcare workers – 13 September 2013

1. Takes away pay rises from aged care workers – 13 September 2013





The Broken Promise Count

1. Does not spend his first week as Prime Minister with an Aboriginal community – 14 September 2013. This promise was made in front of indigenous elders and participants at the Garma Festival on 10 August 2013, this is a live recording.

2. Fails to “stop the boats” – 23 September 2013. This promise was repeated so many times I can’t count. Here’s Abbott’s 2013 campaign launch speech.

3. Breaks his promise to support Gonski – 25 November 2013 and 13 May 2014. Fails to commit to future funding or to require States to match the Commonwealth funding commitment. See paragraph two from Christopher Pyne on 29 August 2013

4. Breaks its NBN election promise of giving all Australians access to 25 megabits per second download speeds by 2016 – 12 December 2013 This was the Coalition’s policy they took to the election first announced 9 April 2013.

5. Breaks his election promise of no cuts to education by cutting funding for trade training centres in schools on 17 December 2013. He made this promise at the National Press Club on 2 September 2013 and in writing on 5 September 2013 as part of their policy commitments.

6. Breaks a promise to make no cuts to health. He made this promise at the National Press Club on 2 September 2013 and in writing on 5 September 2013 as part of their policy commitments. This promise was first broken on 27 November 2013 when they cut funding to the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council

7. Breaks a promise to make no cuts to health on 17 December 2013 when they cut $150 million from hospitals and health services.

8. Fails to provide the promised customs vessel to monitor whaling operations in the Southern Ocean – 23 December 2013 Promise made by Greg Hunt – 9 April 2013

9. Breaks a promise to provide fibre-to-the-premises for all Tasmanians for the National Broadband Network. This promise was confirmed my Malcolm Turnbull on 17 August 2013 and confirmed as broken by the NBN Co executive chairman Ziggy Switkowski on 13 February 2014.

10. Breaks a promise to introduce the paid parental leave scheme he took to the election on 30 April 2014 by reducing the promised benefit for those earning above $100 000.

11. Breaks promise of “no cuts to the ABC or SBS” by cutting $43.5 million from the ABC and SBS.

12. Breaks a promise of “no new taxes” by introducing a deficit tax rise of two percentage points for people earning more than $180,000 a year.

13. Announced to sacking of 16,500 public sector workers as whole Departments are abolished despite promising only 12,000 job losses and through natural attrition.

14. Breaks a promise of “no new taxes” by introducing a fuel levy.

15. Reduction in foreign aid budget of $7.9 billion over five years despite promise to not exceed $4.5 billion and cut via indexation.

16. Increases the pension age to 70 from 2035 after promising no changes to pensions

17. Cuts to old age pension by indexing to CPI, while it was promised there would be no changes.

18. Scraps The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) which was set up to support new and emerging renewable technologies and in doing so breaks an election promise.

19. Tears up the Federal Government’s agreement with states and territories to help fund increasing health costs despite promise of no cuts to health.

20.  Breaks a promise to make no cuts to health with a $368 million cut from preventative health measures.

21. Reduces the Medicare benefit for optometry services and allows optometrists to charge more, despite promise to not cut health budget.

22.  Axes the Charles Sturt University’s dental and oral health clinics, despite promise to not cut health budget.

23. Abolishes Medicare locals, despite promise to not cut health budget.

24. Breaks a promise to spend $2.55 billion Emissions Reduction Fund by committing less than half this amount in the budget.

25. Breaks a promise to have one million more solar roofs across Australia and at least 25 solar towns.

26. Breaks a promise not to cuts funding to health by dramatically cutting hospital funding.

27. Breaks election promise and slashes funding to Landcare

28. Breaks promise that no public servants will be forced into redundancy after revelations that two public servants in the Department of Industry have been made involuntarily redundant since September.

29. Breaks promise that no public servants will be forced into redundancy as it is revealed that at least 30 staff in Treasury will be made involuntarily redundant.

30. Breaks a promise not to grant permanent permanent residency to people arriving by boat by granting a visa to a least one refugee

31. Breaks a promise to amend the race hate laws

32. Breaks a promise to “make no unexpected detrimental changes to superannuation” by killing the Low Income Super Contribution, the Superannuation Guarantee and delaying superannuation increases for seven years.

33. Breaks election promise to  build replacement submarines in South Australian shipyards, spending more than $20 billion on Japanese submarines instead.

34. Breaks an election promise to a publish a proposal for constitutional recognition for Indigenous people and establish a bipartisan process to try to bring about recognition as soon as possible within the first 12 months of Government.

35. Breaks promise to  achieve a surplus in the Governments’ first year in office, instead overseeing an estimated $51 billion deterioration in revenue.

nah cos Abbott wells up when he talks about the british,he can get fkd..nothing but bush..what a disrespectful ****! always was,always will be aboriginal land,
cutting funding to remote communities is a disgrace..he probly wants them out so his mates can dig the rest of the joint up..

Who said it was O.K?

I'm not debating the morality of it, I'm just saying that factually he was correct

of course he would take the white point of view..

British Bulldog Tony: Australia's white supremacist Prime Minister.

Natalie Cromb
independentaustraliadotnet
14 11 2014



Australia's possible dual British citizen PM Tony Abbott today described Australia as “nothing but bush” before the arrival of the First Fleet. First Nations’ representative Natalie Cromb responds.

Australia is a focus point in international politics this week as it plays host to the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane. International diplomats, representatives, staff, security and media have descended amidst a climate of tension and drama pertaining to Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s threats to “shirt-front” Russian President Vladamir Putin.

In this context of heightened international interest, speaking at the International Infrastructure Business Breakfast in Sydney this morning, Prime Minister Tony Abbott, in front of British Prime Minister David Cameron, took the opportunity to perpetuate the lie of terra nullius by describing Australia prior to colonisation as [IA emphasis]:

“… nothing but bush … the Marines, and the convicts and the sailors … must have thought they’d come almost to the Moon…. Everything would have seemed so extraordinarily basic and raw…”

Granted, these comments come as little surprise to the Indigenous population of this nation given he has previously credited British people with the first

    “... foreign investment … [in] the then unsettled or, um, scarcely settled, Great South Land…”

and stated that

    “… the First Fleet was the defining moment in the history of this continent.”

While not surprised by his comments, I am outraged.

I am outraged that a man of this unashamed racial intolerance holds the leadership position of this nation.

I am outraged that he uses this platform to manifestly attempt to rewrite history and decimate any progress made historically towards closing the gap, self-determination and reconciliation.

I am outraged that his entire platform of economic policy was based on scaremongering without any substance.

I am outraged that he so grossly underestimates the intelligence of the Australian people and that such underestimation, for a large portion of people, is well founded. How else can the fact he was elected be otherwise explained?

I realise it is facetious of me to expect the self-proclaimed “Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs” to consider the gravity of his words as they may be received by his alleged constituents — after all, a man holding the highest position in this land cannot possibly be expected to speak in a measured an accurate manner. Can he?

Of course not! He has proven time and time again that he is a simple man ‒ albeit an avid liar ‒ who has absolutely no sense of social justice. He has used his platform of leadership to decimate Australia in every capacity — socially, culturally, educationally, economically and environmentally.

Let me be clear, I do not hold Tony Abbott in high regard intellectually. I am not outraged at the views of a simple bigot.

I am outraged that we live in a country that has such an affinity with his views that he was elected into power to perpetuate his racist ideals with real policies that we, as Australians, are required to live with. These policies have real consequences and will reverberate for many years to come.

Australia is a racist country (cue gasps of horror and indignation). Are all Australians racist? No.

Let me explain.

This nation is one built on the lie that is terra nullius and the fact that there has been no meaningful attempt at reparation for the theft of an entire continent from the original inhabitants (“owners” for those of you who require capitalist terminology) demonstrates that we remain a racist nation.

At times, covert — but still racist.

Not only was an entire race of people dispossessed from their land, but they were subject to brutal massacres, slavery, disease, political policies of genocidal proportions and to deny this history and continue to benefit from it is the crux of the issue.

There is a wilful ignorance of many non-Indigenous Australians to the perspective of Indigenous Australians when it comes to discussing this history. There is a glazed look when this topic of discussion gets raised because there is no means in to empathise and there is a common misconception that Indigenous people want them to give up their homes and make claims that would directly impact them. This is not the case.

All too often you will hear discussions of this very issue and there are always comments of varying degrees of the same message:

    “It was in the past…. I didn’t personally do it, it was my ancestors …. get over it …. it’s not my problem …. I can’t be held responsible for events of the past …. haven’t we moved on?”

A large part of the destruction of Indigenous culture did occur in the past, however, the destruction continues today. The current generation Australians benefit from the actions of previous generations of Australians (and British) and continued denial of this fact perpetuates the myth that the damage was done and remains in the past.

This denial of history and the effects rippling through modern Australia is the accepted perspective of a large portion of the Australian community. A portion of the community that elected a leader so blatantly racist that he uses his leadership platform to dispense with covert methods and go straight to telling anyone who will listen about British superiority and our obligation to give thanks for “creating” Australia — all the while denying the truth of the Indigenous history of this nation.

I am aware that being so blunt as to label Australia as a racist country is tantamount to setting the cat amongst the pigeons, but spare me the outrage; having lived and experienced this racism first hand, this is just plain honesty.

So while Adam Goodes (who happens to be Australian of the Year) gets lambasted for speaking the truth in relation to Australia’s sordid history, I will undoubtedly get my share of  vitriol, Tony Abbott is free to send a clear message to the world that Australia is, was and always has been a British colony (truth is irrelevant).

You can follow Natalie on Twitter @NatalieCromb.

Context is everything. How do you interpret 'nothing but bush?' He was referring to Sydney. If you look at Sydney now and what the land was prior to the first fleet, is the comment really inaccurate? Especially when discussing infrastructure?

Sorry one of those times is the Liberal Party attempt to extinguish Aboriginasl history from the school ciriculum.

AFL HATES TA Rhino....if TA farted or slept with one eye opem he'd be on here complaining about it....OCD or vexatious may cover up the illness
Afl stick to something you are good at like guessing a 4 digit number to win big, that was a good one and congrats mate, I bet that was a time when nothing ever worried you, my suggestion relax mate all will be well, no point giving yourself a hear attack over a politician.....in the end the illuminati have got everything and YOU all under control

Why are they taking Aboriginal history off the school ciriculum?

Keep defending racisim like 3/4 of our population.

The cold hard fact was there was nothing here but....wait for it.....BUSH
lol

Maybe we should all f off where we were all bred from back a few generations or so and see how the indigenous would cope with no help....they are a lot better off with our presence, otherwise they would be a third world country

btw I AM NOT RACIST...I treat each and every person with respect....I'd even buy AFL a beer given the chance

bottom line is Abbott appears to be reaching the point of Billy McMahon-style self-humiliation. He's making  a **** of himself and a figure of  ridicule.

nd it's BEAUTIFUL to watch

lol rhino

and just when I though it was nap time at the asylum , AFL comes back

For the record ,I am not racist

I am happy to help anyway of any race anytime

Just think Afl if we hadn't arrived where would the Aboriginals be now?....still living off the land that has since the beginning of time had to endure countless droughts etc
For sure past generations have not treated them well and this is in itself disgraceful.
but please don't tell me they would be better off without out presence

What a fukin imbecile

Fkn whinging  black bastards

that's disgusting and should be reported AFL SHAME ON YOU

A Punter's Guide To Not Getting Defensive About Adam Goodes' Truth Bombs
By Chris Graham
newmatilda.com.au

Keywords:
adam goodes
racism

Understanding why Australia's First Peoples are so angry starts with an open mind, and an education. So here's some help getting started.

Earlier this week, Australian of the Year Adam Goodes, told BBC radio that this nation’s past is one of racism and denial.

Unsurprisingly, it’s sparked a backlash back home.

The fundamental point that Goodes was making was that education is the key to understanding the Aboriginal perspective. It comes at a time when the Abbott Government, for example, is trying shut down teaching of the Aboriginal perspective in the National School Curriculum.

So in that spirit, here’s a quick, simple guide that might help eduate, with one important caveat. While non-Aboriginal people can try and empathise, we will never entirely understand what it’s like to live the Aboriginal experience in Australia. But effort counts… so read on.



Australia Day is the greatest day on earth

From a non Aboriginal perspective, Australia Day celebrates the arrival of the British.

From the Aboriginal perspective, it celebrates the day they lost their land, their children, their wages, many aspects of their culture, their freedom. In short, it celebrates a day of widespread death and dispossession.

How can anyone possibly expect a race of people to celebrate that?

How would you feel, for example, if, every year on November 11, the Turkish community in Australia held a ‘We Kicked Their Arse Day’, replete with a national holiday and people draping themselves in the Turkish flag.

Ask yourself this simple question: If you really do believe in a ‘day all Australians can celebrate’, do you really believe that January 26 is appropriate?



If we didn’t invade, someone else would have.

This old chestnut has a lot of currency in Australia. It’s predicated on the notion that the British were somehow less brutal than say, the Indonesians might have been.

It’s a matter of historical record that Aboriginal people in the Top End traded with Indonesians peacefully for hundreds of years.

But set that aside: the argument is like saying, ‘I stole all your stuff, raped and killed your women, but you should be grateful it was me. It could have been that other guy over there, and he’s a real ****.’

The point being, if you’re the victim – or your ancestors are the victims – it doesn’t matter who the perpetrator is. What matters is what happened.

Ask yourself these simple questions: If Australia was invaded tomorrow, when would you give up fighting? And would you expect your grandkids to abandon your fight?



They’ve got land rights, what more do they want?

Some Aboriginal people in some jurisdictions of Australia do have some land rights. But those rights are always under threat, and they always give way to white interests where the interest are seen to conflict.

NSW, for example, has what many regard (including the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Rights, James Anaya) as the best land rights legislation on earth.

So let’s look at what it has delivered so far.

At one time, over 200 years ago, Aboriginal people were the custodians of 100 percent of the land now considered NSW. Today, NSW land rights legislation (introduced more than 30 years ago) has delivered less than 0.01 percent of the total NSW land mass back to Aboriginal hands. That’s less than one tenth of one tenth of one percent (ie. less than a hundredth of one percent). Does that sound fair?

And we don’t even want them to have that. The NSW Aboriginal Land Rights legislation was the subject of an attack by the NSW Government only last week, and remains under threat today.

Nationally, in the Mabo High Court case, Australian law found that Aboriginal people did have rights to land – ie. Aboriginal people proved under our law that they still had rights to land. Rights which had been denied them for more than 200 years.

And so what was our response? We simply changed the law. If that was done to you, how would you feel? And remember, the law was changed less than two decades ago. It is not something ‘from the past’.

Land is at the heart of every Australian’s economic base. Why do you think it shouldn’t be at the heart of the Aboriginal economic base? And if you deny Aboriginal people that economic base, are you surprised they’re mired in poverty?

Ask yourself this simple question: if land is so important to non Aboriginal Australians (and it obviously is, given our reaction against land rights) then why on earth would you think it’s not also important to Aboriginal people?



They took the children away… for their own good

This is one of the great myths of Australian history. It’s promoted by people like Andrew Bolt and John Howard. It is false.

The truth of the Stolen Generations is littered throughout Australian archives, much as we try to deny it.

Over more than a century, Aboriginal people were forced onto missions and reserves on the fringes of Australian towns. They were denied the same basic rights as everyone else, and their access to things like employment and health care were either withheld or severely restricted.

South Africa’s Apartheid system is modeled on the Queensland Protection Acts, a fact little known in Australia.

There is, of course, only one possible outcome of laws like this: abject poverty.

So having forced Aboriginal people into poverty, our governments then stepped in and said, ‘Look they can’t care for their kids’. And then they took them away.

None of this, of course, takes into account the stated, deliberate policies of numerous governments that the plan was to ‘breed out the black’, who was regarded as a dying race.

Ask yourself this simple question: If your family suffered the same fate, how would feel about the government who did it today?



How many times do we have to say sorry?

Sure. And how many times do we have to say thanks. Let’s cancel Anzac ceremonies from this point forward, and tell the diggers and their descendants to ‘move on’.

Let’s also pretend that the policies for which we apologised – for example, forced child removal – are not still continuing… even though today, the rates of Aboriginal child removal are substantially greater than they were decades ago.

Ask yourself this simple question: Are Aboriginal people still asking you to say sorry, or are they asking that we all respect and acknowledge our true history?



Stolen wages, what stolen wages?

One of the most unrecognized parts of Australia’s past is our slave history. While America abolished slavery hundreds of years ago, it was still well entrenched in this nation 50 years ago.

In a bi-partisan report handed down in Federal Parliament in 2008, both major parties acknowledged the practice of stealing Aboriginal peoples’ wages.

Young black men and women were forced into servitude, and then had their wages and savings controlled by government, only for that money to disappear into state coffers.

In Queensland, for example, they used Aboriginal wages and savings to build infrastructure like hospitals, which Aboriginal people were then prevented from accessing.

Thousands and thousands of claimants who had their money stolen are still alive today.

Ask yourself these simple questions: Where do you think you would be today if your ancestors had been denied the opportunity to build generational wealth? Do you think you’d be richer or poorer today as a result?

That was all in the past

The first major act of Australian Parliament after Federation in 1901 was a piece of legislation called the ‘Immigration Restriction Act’. It’s also known as the ‘White Australia Policy’, which wasn’t formally abolished until 1976. Anyone aged over 38 today lived under it.

In 1986, Aboriginal government workers in Queensland were still paid less than non-Aboriginal workers for the same duties. 1986 was two years before our bi-centenary. Anyone aged 28 or over was alive when this policy was in place.

Australia’s jailing rate of Indigenous peoples in 1991, at the height of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody was one of the worst on earth. Today, it is much, much worse.

In 2014, Western Australia jails black males at a rate at least eight and a half times greater than South Africa did in the dying days of Apartheid. There is no state or territory in Australia that jails black males at a rate less than Apartheid South Africa.

Some of the tragedies of this nation are in the past. But many are not. Many are still occurring, and they are the inevitable result of two centuries of brutal dispossession and control.

Ask yourself these simple questions: If these things were done to you, or to your mother and father, by the Australian Government where do you think you would be today? Would you support the Australian state?



I had nothing to do with it

It’s true that many Australians alive today had nothing to do with the brutal policies forced on Aboriginal people. But many Australians alive, like John Howard for example, did.

When Aboriginal people were still not paid award wages, John Howard had been in federal parliament for more than a decade. Tony Abbott had been a member of the Liberal Party for several decades, and Bill Shorten was already active in the union movement for over a decade.

As child removals increased, Julia Gillard was already an active member of the Labor Party. Kevin Rudd was rising the ranks of the public service.

Even so, you might not personally have anything to do with the atrocities of our past. But here’s the problem: They were done in your name, so that you could access the rights and privileges you enjoy today.

You might not have ‘done it’, but you sure as hell have benefitted from it.

So ask yourself this simple question: If I am the beneficiary of something terrible done to other people, do I owe those people, at the very least, an acknowledgement of the truth of what occurred?



It’s time to move on

Of all the silly things Australians say about Aboriginal people and our past, this is the silliest.

How can Aboriginal people be expected to move on when their legitimate grievances have never been addressed?

A good example is Tony Abbott’s comments in 2012, while the Aboriginal Tent Embassy was celebrating its 40th anniversary in Canberra.

Abbott suggested that things had improved, and it was ‘time to move on’. Of course, the Tent Embassy was established to fight for treaty, sovereignty and national land rights. None of these things have ever been delivered. They are still ignored, with the current push for ‘constitutional recognition’ within a constitution that denies their very existence.

So why should Embassy activists move on? And why should Aboriginal people more generally simply move on?

Every other nation on earth in this situation – such as New Zealand, America and Canada – have signed treaties with their First Peoples. That’s not to suggest things are perfect in those countries – they aren’t. But here in Australia, things are much worse.

Aboriginal Australians have one of the worst life expectancies on earth; Aboriginal Australians have the highest recorded rates of rheumatic heart disease on earth (a disease which can be stopped with government investment); Aboriginal children and adults still suffer from trachoma, a third world disease eradicated in most third world nations; Aboriginal people in Australia have the highest Indigenous jailing rate on earth.

Ask yourself these simple questions: If these were my life statistics, would i just 'move on'? Where do I 'move on' to? And if my land was taken, would I think a treaty was an unreasonable thing to ask for? And if you're the beneficiary as opposed to the victim, do you really think you get to decide when it's time to 'move on'?



These are just some of the truths of our past and our present. They’re the same truths that Adam Goodes, and many others, have come to understand, and are asking you to at least acknowledge.

But when Adam Goodes and others try to speak of them, they’re howled down.

This explains precisely why Goodes, and many others, are so angry.

We can face up to this past honestly, or we can continue to ignore it. But sooner or later, the truth will come out.

One final question: Do you want your generation to be the one that does the hard work and faces the truths of our past, or are you content to leave it to other generations to resolve?

If you want to change things, then do what Goodes says – educate yourself, and stop denying our collective past.

* New Matilda relies primarily on reader subscriptions for its survival. If you want to help fund independent Australian journalism, you can subscribe here. Or simply share this story on social media.