When I reflect on what I have written this year it is abundantly clear that the center of my attention has concentrated on two issues. Firstly the subject of lying, or more accurately the Prime Ministers lying, and secondly the state of our democracy. But of course the two go hand in hand.

On the first issue I am wholeheartedly sick of writing an ongoing commentary on the lying of Tony Abbott. I have become frustrated and aggravated by the consistency of his untruth. But it must be revealed.

In the past few weeks he has resorted to telling lies about lies already told in a manner in which one has to question whether he is actually conversing in English or just corrupting it.

In the first instance the best way to turn the profession of politics on its head in this country and create a new democracy would be to demand they tell the truth.
You can shape truth by telling lies for your own benefit and you can use the contrivance of omission to create another lie.

However, the ability to admit you are wrong is an absolute pre requisite to discernment and knowledge. It requires truthfulness. If we are to progress as a country we must accept that there can be much pain in admitting we were wrong but there is no harm in it.
And if humility is the basis by which intellectual advancement is made then it is only on the basis of truth that we attain human progress. Telling the truth should not be delayed simply because we are not sure how people might react to it. It is far better to be comforted by truth than to be controlled by lies.

It is often difficult in politics to distinguish a broken promise from the convenience of a change of mind, but with Abbott there are no shades of hue. It takes courage to change one’s mind for the greater good. It requires the telling of truth. I see no capacity for it in our Prime Minister.

It seems so ingrained in his persona that distinguishing between truth and lies is beyond his private and public morality. He has little trouble merging his faith into his political philosophy but eliminates a cornerstone of his faith, ‘’truth’’, when applied to his politics.

Some recent examples.

Prior to writing this I was watching the ABCs morning news service. The PM was asked about his changes to his Medicare policy.

‘’Did you consult with doctors before making the changes’’

Without blinking (or was that winking) the PM answered ‘’Yes of course’’

It turns out that they were told of 20 minutes prior to the announcement.

But let’s take a step back in time.

In an astonishing feat of deceit and denial Tony Abbott insulted the intelligence of every Australian voter by insisting his GP Tax was not a broken promise.

Tony Abbott – ABC AM – 8 December 2014

Abbott: Well the GP co-payment was very extensively talked about in the lead up to the Budget.

Uhlmann: Not before the election.

Abbott: Well look it certainly wasn’t ruled out before the election.

In fact the GP Tax, and every other tax increase was specifically ruled out by Tony Abbott on numerous occasions.

“The only party that will raise taxes after the election is the Labor Party.”

Tony Abbott – Sydney – 11 August 2013

Even when news leaked the Government was considering the GP Tax Tony Abbott continued to lie, to deceive voters in both the Griffith by-election and the Western Australian Senate election re-run.

Journalist: Mr Abbott, can you guarantee there won’t be a Medicare co-payment?

Tony Abbott: Michelle, nothing is being considered, nothing has been proposed, and nothing is planned.

Tony Abbott – Doorstop – 1 February 2014

Tony Abbott now insists his repeated denials he was planning a GP Tax are evidence it was “extensively talked about”.

At other times he stands before the camera and unequivocally tells the people that every family has benefited by $550 of their power bills with the repeal of the carbon tax knowing that it is a blatant lie.

The other method of lying of course is not to tell, or to lie by omission. The government before the election gave a promise that they would be more open and transparent. A decent leader shouldn’t have to promise something that should be an enshrined component of any democracy’s moral compass.

Not so. Instead of being open about what our politicians spend they are refusing to release ministerial travel costs because it could damage our international standing.
Yes that’s right. The Abbott government is refusing to release documents detailing the cost and purpose of overseas travel by Coalition ministers, claiming they could “cause damage to Australia’s international relations” if made public.

That sounds like an admittance of guilt.

And of course it is pressing ahead with changes to the Freedom of Information regime that will make it much more difficult to access government information.

On top of that the government is now authorised to secretly collect vast amounts of information about its citizens under the new data retention laws passed this year.

And to finish, we find that Christopher Pyne was planning an advertising campaign in support of deregulation of university fees since October. Christopher Pyne says it was a suggestion of John Madigan. Madigan refutes it. Who would you believe? The ad is full of lies or at best misleading information.

If all this means I am saying the Prime Minister and his ministers are pathological liars then so be it. I am. It’s not a nice thing to say about people but we are dealing with truth here. It’s not so much that the PM is a serial offender, he is. I think the electorate has finally woken up. It shows up in the polling. It is why his polling is so poor.

The fact that he lies is easily supported by volumes of readily available, irrefutable evidence. (I can provide it if need be).
And after a long period of protection from the main stream media (the so-called fourth estate) the supposed people’s custodian of truth, it could be that some have seen the light of truthful examination. Could it be that they have realised that telling the truth and reporting it should be more important than creating a narrative where controversy matters more.

In any worthwhile and truly representative democracy truth should, together with governance for the common good, be a first order principle. In fact the first priority in the restoration of democracy in this country should be to insist that our politicians tell the truth.

I would like to think that this is the last piece I will write on this subject but I know it won’t be.
And that’s the truth of it.

Having said that if you believe the polls 48% of the population would still vote for his party and him as leader.