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But I’m not alone in thinking this way.
Bob Ellis recently wrote a piece for Independent Australia which suggested that we may be entering an age where greater access to information means that although it remains just as easy to lie, it is now harder to hide the truth for very long.
And on the ABC's Drum, Greg Jericho recently posted an article which, like all his contributions was heavily supported by data and evidence. The encouraging point that Greg made was that research has shown that slogans, simplistic lies, and often repeated messages do influence the way people think and what they believe. But what is more powerful is fact checking. For those who are sufficiently interested, namely the swinging voters, being exposed to facts, evidence and the truth has the ability to change the minds of those who have been misled.Given the recent and dramatic turn-around in the opinion polls, time will tell if the carefully constructed Coalition smokescreen on so many issues is beginning to be seen through... and if the truth is starting to see the light of day.
The message is, regardless of what line is being run by politicians or the media, seek out the truth, have access to reliable and independent sources of information and give those facts voice at every possible opportunity. And in the end, the truth will prevail.
To borrow from Greg Jericho, what follows is a sample of some of the common and popular lies which have been circulated in recent times, and how they compare with the facts.
Productivity
The lies:
Coalition MP Josh Frydenburg - industrial relations needs to be back on the agenda because the IR changes since 2007 have seen "productivity slump and costs rise".
Member of the Liberal Party's "productivity working group" Steve Ciobo - productivity had been in "rapid decline" under the Rudd/Gillard governments.
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Recent national accounts show that annual productivity growth is at its highest level for a decade.
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The Lies :
Tony Abbott - I mean in the end this whole thing is a question of fact, not faith, or it should be a question of fact not faith and we can discover whether the planet is warming or not by measurement. And it seems that notwithstanding the dramatic increases in man-made CO2 emissions over the last decade, the world’s warming has stopped. Now admittedly we are still pretty warm by recent historical standards but there doesn’t appear to have been any appreciable warming since the late 1990s.
Warren Truss - (in response to the recent devastating bushfires) I guess there'll be more CO2 emissions from these fires than there will be from coal-fired power stations for decades.
The Fact - the bushfires will create the equivalent of one week of Australia's man-made emissions
If you're interested in having even more Coalition and Murdoch media lies debunked... check out Greg Jericho's article.
As the year progresses, as we move closer to an election, as the attention and tscrutiny increases, more Coalition lies will continue to unravel. While Tony Abbott has only the truth to fear, those who have over the past few years worried that the truth won't be revealed should fear no more.
As I gaze into my crystal ball I see the revelations which are still to come.. the truth about the Craig Thomson and Peter Slipper affairs, the truth about Tony Abbott's slush fund, the truth about the Coalition's economic credentials, the truth about the success of the NBN, the truth about the MRRT, the truth about the effectiveness of the price on Carbon. Beyond that my crystal ball gets a little foggy.
But still.... very interesting times ahead.