Tony Abbott has broken his campaign promise to spend the first week of his prime ministership with the Garma people in Arnhem Land, so News Corp is now pretending he never made it. Managing editor David Donovan reports.


LAST NIGHT, I was quietly sitting at home with my family watching a DVD when someone sent me an email:

Do I recall Tony Abbott promising during the recent election campaign that he would spend the first week of his term in office in an Aborigine community?  Is this a broken promise, or is my memory playing tricks?

It was an interesting message, because I also recalled hearing about this promise on ABC radio during the election campaign and, indeed, it receiving quite a bit of coverage in the media during the campaign. It was taken by many to show the vital importance Abbott puts on the issue of Indigenous affairs, something IA has had a significant amount of doubt about, as shown by this story, as well as this one.

As far as I am aware, Abbott has not spend the days since he was sworn in last week in an Indigenous community.

So, while watching the final episode of Breaking Bad (Series One), I sent out the following tweet:

Forgive if I recall incorrectly, but didn’t Abbott promise to spend his first week as PM in an Indigenous community?

— David Donovan (@davrosz) September 22, 2013

I was astonished to find that, within a minute, the editor of the News Corporation’s Sydney Sunday masthead, the Sunday Telegraph responding to me directly, denying Abbott had ever made this statement:

@davrosz @vanbadham no he promised to spend a week a year as PM — samantha maiden (@samanthamaiden) September 22, 2013

I was intrigued by this. I don’t follow Maiden and she doesn’t follow me. So why was she going into bat for Abbott — and why so precipitously?

Anyway, as I said, I remembered hearing about this promise many times, so I did a quick search on the internet and came up with the ABC story where I recall first hearing about it:

@samanthamaiden@vanbadham So, you are saying this report on ABC PM is incorrect? http://t.co/G8szkt6ygh

— David Donovan (@davrosz) September 22, 2013

Surprisingly, Maiden claimed that this ABC report never happened.

So, I tweeted her an excerpt from the transcript of ABC PM, which was as follows [IA emphasis]:

SARA EVERINGHAM: At the annual Garma Indigenous culture festival organised by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, he announced a new Indigenous advisory council headed by the former ALP national president Warren Mundine.

He also promised that if the Coalition wins the election he’ll spend his first week as prime minister with the Yolngu people in north-east Arnhem Land.

It seemed pretty clear cut to me: either Everingham lied or had it wrong – and no correction had ever been issued by Abbott or the ABC, as far as I was aware – or Abbott had made this promise and broken it.

Surprisingly, Maiden still tried to claim there was no reference, even though I had given her one and from a highly credible source, the national broadcaster.

..., he is an idiot. 

Did Abbott lie?

Yes about almost everything.

OR

Only when he opened his mouth.

Didn’t Abbott also say the first week of his Prime Ministership he would go to Indonesia. I hope Bambang Yudhoyono didn’t clear his diary to make time to see Abbott.

Did Abbott lie?

Yes about almost everything.

OR

Only when he opened his mouth.

cods wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2013 at 3:50pm:



that's correct.  And look at the f*ckups the Libs have achieved in so short a time!!

Would you like to buy an indonesian fishing boat?