“…Howard is the first truthful Prime Minister since Gorton…”, Leo Lane, 10 April 2007

Honest John playback - Part 1

JH May 1995: "No, there's no way that a GST will ever be part of our policy."?
Journalist: "Never ever?"?J
ohn Howard: "Never ever. It's dead. It was killed by the voters in the last election".?

JH February 1996: "It is our policy, without qualification, to retain Medicare . . . Not only does Medicare stay but so does bulk billing…Medicare will be retained in its entirety."?Health Minister Abbott November 2003: "No-one can guarantee bulk billing. No-one can guarantee bulk billing without conscripting the medical profession. Medicare has never been universal bulk billing-never . . ."?
Truth: Bulk billing rates have declined and dental plan abolished.

JH 2001 election: My Government's policies would "lead to reduced premiums" for health insurance.
Truth: Since 2001, the Government has regularly approved massive increases in premiums.

JH October 1999: "I can guarantee we're not going to have $100,000 university degree courses."?Truth: About 20 different degrees now cost well over $100,000.
JH October 1999: "Well, it means that we'll not have deregulated fees…the Government will always maintain a control over what the level of the fee is."
JH September 2003: "We do need more money in our universities . . . and some of it should come outside the budget through a managed and sensible deregulation of the system."

Kerry O'Brien February 1996: " So for the next three years, not even a one cent increase on cigarettes or beer or wine or petrol, no other indirect tax increase, no tax increase of any kind?"
JH: "That promise is quite explicit."?
Truth: By 30 September 2002, Howard had introduced legislation for 130 new taxes or tax increases.

Alan Jones August 1998: "Will the number of pages in the Tax Act be reduced by the introduction of a GST? "?
Prime Minister: "Yes it will".
Truth: The Tax Act has grown from 3,000 to over 9,000 pages.

Honest John Tapes Part 2 (Dedicated to Leo Lane)

Question to JH September 2002: "Prime Minister, was the government contacted by the major Australian producer of ethanol or by any representative of his company or the Industry Association before its decision to impose fuel excise on ethanol?"
JH: "Speaking for myself, I did not personally have any discussions, from recollection, with any of them."?
Truth: On 1 August JH met Dick Honan, the head of Manildra Group which makes 87% of our ethanol to discuss how to help the ethanol industry.

JH February 1996: "Well, we're certainly going to maintain the existing level of funding for labour market programs."
JH August 1996: "Well, it is true that we are not spending as much money on labour market programs".

JH November 2001: "…We were advised by Defence that children were thrown overboard, we made those allegations on the basis of that advice, and until I get Defence advice to the contrary I will maintain that position".?
Truth Mike Scrafton: "I left him in no doubt that there was no evidence, that there were no children thrown overboard."

JH February 2003: "The Australian Government knows that Iraq still has chemical and biological weapons and that Iraq wants to develop nuclear weapons."?
JH July 2003: "We entered the war in Iraq based upon the failure of the Iraqi government at the time to comply with United Nations' resolutions . . ."?

JH February 1996: "Our plans. . . will involve not replacing. . . up to 2,500 positions over the first term of a Coalition Government - a process of natural attrition with no forced redundances."?
Truth: In the first term of the Howard Government, 32,400 jobs were cut.

JH October 2001: "I want to re-state the assurances I have previously given . . . nobody's benefit will be cut as a result of changes to the social security system".
Truth: In 2002 Howard announced that it would cut the pensions of 200,000 people with disabilities, and later cut the allowances of 30,000 parents caring for children with a disability.

FrnkGol, I'm impressed that you can go back to 1996 and cover JH through 2007. Says a lot in favour of the mans political career and the faith the average Ozzie has for him and his government. Now pick a politician from the left who has had an equal length in office and highlight their decisions and political waffling. See anything to parade in front of we OLO readers as inclusive political truths or is it just JH and his government. Or have you just taken up the farmers axiom of making hay while the sun shines?

Frank, I have already complimented you on your format of facts, now all you have to work on is the content. Scurrilous left wing garbage will not do.

I have already detailed the disgraceful nature of the children overboard campaign by the left. The criminal actions of the illegal alien parents, or their associates, caused the children to be thrown into the water, from the sinking boat which they had sabotaged.

The left put their own definition on “thrown overboard” and had various stooges deny that the parents physically threw the children into the ocean, as if anyone cared. Their actions put their children in the ocean, which was obvious enough, to sufficient voters.

This campaign of lies had an effect on Howard, in tarnishing his image, but not in costing him votes. I do not intend to analyse all your other examples. I know what I would find. More of the same.

Howard is an honest man, continually attacked in a grubby manner, by people whose outstanding characteristic is their spiteful negativity. Fortunately, he remains in office.

The handling of the Hicks affair by him and Ruddock has been most effective. The pressure has all gone now, and future efforts by the Hicks supporters, to cause mischief for the government, will gain no traction.

Thanks FrankGol, handy list of some of Howards bigger lies. Question is, should we try him locally for domestic crimes (theft by privatisation, swindle by cheap credit bait'n'switch, treason by Free Trade Agreement..) or send him to The Hague with Cheney, Bush & Blair?

Leo, I despair of you. Where have you been? Even John Howard now admits there were never ever any children overboard. Quote: ‘the children overboard claim was incorrect…But I do know that the belief at the time was that it had happened. We were told that and that is why I made the claim.’ (The Age August 18, 2004). Retrospective truth.

Notwithstanding the many instances I was able to cite within in the OLO word limit, you say ‘Howard is an honest man, continually attacked in a grubby manner, by people whose outstanding characteristic is their spiteful negativity.’

Who are these grubby, spiteful attackers? Well, last post I gave you Howard’s own words. You don’t believe him?

Well how about the Liberal Party President, Shane Stone, who told Howard in 2001 that his Queensland Liberal parliamentarians thought he was ‘mean, tricky, out of touch, and not listening’. Tricky! His own colleagues.

Then there’s his Deputy, Peter Costello, who last year publicly confirmed Howard was lying about the agreement they had made about the leadership. Only one of them was telling the truth and Costello knew it wasn’t Honest John. Spiteful man the Treasurer, thinks a man should stick to his word and tell the truth.

You say, “The handling of the Hicks affair by him and Ruddock has been most effective. The pressure has all gone now…’ Leo, if you believe that you’ve been smoking something for the past five years.

Apart from the many documented specific lies Howard has told, it’s a more insidious and hypocritical form of dishonesty that I find really scurrilous. Howard constantly uses words like “egalitarian”, “fair play”, “compassion”, “choice” and “tolerance” when in fact his policies and actions are aimed at taking Australia in the opposite direction.

Julian Burnside asks us to imagine, in 2001, Howard saying:

"I know the asylum seekers did not throw their children overboard - they were just doing what any decent parent would do - they were trying to save them from the Taliban, or Saddam Hussein."

Now that’s compassion - and that the truth.