Dear Shadow Minister,

You wrote;

“Don't put words in my mouth. I said they are headed for a surplus, I did not claim nor mean this year.”

Utter tosh. You are worse than a Liberal assistant treasurer at an ICAC hearing.

These were your words;

“It looks like Queensland and Victoria under the Liberals are headed for the first surplus budgets in more than a decade. How incompetent and corrupt was Labor.“

The only deficit in the past decade in Victoria was under a Liberal government. You were totally incorrect, probably wilfully so.

“There is not a labor government that has not left a pile of debt, and the liberal governments seem to be the only ones trying to fix it.”

No mate, again the Libs were not left a pile of debt in Victoria. Labour maintained a surplus ever year they were in power since Kennett. It was the Liberals who managed to dive the state into debt and this one is intent screwing over the general public and sending those savings toward big corporations.

Not that it is any of your business but I did employ my sister in one of my own businesses and when I sold it she has continued in that role for many years now. But that is not the point. All families are given assistance from the government. Single parents are given a greater amount in recognition of their circumstance. You seem to be saying all that assistance to all those families are handouts? Rubbish!

Anyway the only reason you keep bringing this up is to deflect from having your pants pulled down. You have come on to this forum and posted utter garbage. After it has been revealed as such you have tried to squirm and slither your way out of it rather than admitting you stuffed up. Is it a sad measure of you as a man or seemingly a typical standard being constantly set by those of your political persuasion? The rare exception being Barry O'Farrell who at least took it on the chin.

Shame Sir Shame!

Post-truth politics has just entered a whole new orbit. I’ve written before about how political debate seems increasingly unhitched from a normal, factual understanding of the concept of truth. But in defending its 2014 budget the Coalition has finally severed the link entirely, with truthfulness and lying becoming just another question of strategy.

The fact that the budget breaks pre-election promises about not raising taxes and not cutting funding for health, education, pensions and the ABC is really beyond dispute in most people’s understanding of truthfulness.

Do politicians lie? Of course they do, including, of course, Prime Minister Tony Abbott. Whether it's the manufacturing of a budget "crisis", or the systematic trashing of election promises, or pretending that taxes are anything-but-taxes, or lying about spying, or lying about lying, Abbott has demonstrated his disdain for the truth.

There is no need to go into detail here since Mike Carlton has already documented much of the fibbing, ably assisted by Annabel Crabb and Laurie Oakes and Bernard Keane and ... well, pretty much every political commentator who isn't a Liberal Party shill.

And Tony Abbott is not alone. The Prime Minister leads a fine cabinet of companion liars, including the Minister for the Destruction of Education, Christopher Pyne. A "unity ticket" on the Gonski education reforms? Nope, just some airbrushing of history and yet another lie.

Malcolm Turnbull is not a team player, which is partly why he's so popular