Achievements Of The Abbott-Turnbull Government To Date

The Abbott-Turnbull government has been in power for 1027 days. This page contains a list of most of what they have done so far.

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Had UNESCO censor a report on climate change to remove all mentions of Australia and the Great Barrier Reef. Large sections of the reef have already been bleached because of climate change.

Sacked 74 scientists in Antartica.

Locked up a dying New Zealander who wants to go to New Zealand. The man has had 20 heart attacks, and is close to death. He has finished serving a jail sentence, yet remains imprisoned.

Refused to release 5 year old taxi receipts to assist in a fraud case, on the grounds that terrorists could use travel information from 5 years ago to help plan an attack against the minister in question.

Accidentally leaked the contact information of thousands of women in a confidential database.

Changed the operation of Australia’s rape and domestic violence hotline so that counsellors no longer need three years of experience and a tertiary qualification in psychology or social work, and so that victims must now disclose their abuse story to twice as many people before getting help.

Cut all funding for Australia’s only eating disorder helpline.

Claimed that refugees simultaneously are taking our jobs whilst also taking our welfare.

Cut $20 million from the National Library, resulting in 28 job losses and the halting of all document digitisation.

Provided no workers compensation for Australian staff injured in offshore detention centres.

Refused to publicly release a video of illegal whaling.

Claimed that Australia’s largest coal mine – which will export more coal than our entire nation consumes – will not contribute to climate change.

Proposed a government funded internship scheme where companies are paid lots of money to hire short term interns for $4 per hour with no award protections.

Gave permission to a shipping company operating only in Australian waters to sack their Australian crew and hire foreigners for $2 an hour.

Proposed blocking students from going to university if their ATAR is too low, even if the course has spare spaces and is happy with their ATAR.

Proposed forcing students to pay back HECS earlier if they have parents or a long term partner with an income over a threshold.

Waited 22 hours before air-lifting a critically ill refugee to an adequately equipped hospital. He died the next day.

Rejected an offer from New Zealand to take 150 asylum seekers who are currently being illegally held in Australian detention centres.

Spent $300,000 on a single lunch, for business mates.

Cut $650 million in bulk billing incentives for pathology.

Spent $39 billion on new submarines, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Proposed new powers for job agencies so that they can fine unemployed people, without any oversight, and with minimal avenues for recourse.

Offered an indigenous organisation half the pay rise offered to most other public sector organisations. The pay rise is below inflation, so amounts to a pay cut.

Proposed the abolition of the independent organisation that sets the minimum wage for truck drivers.

Cut all funding to Australia’s only youth-led sexual health organisation.

Ran out of money to pay Army Reserves.

Failed to conduct a cost benefit analysis for the $1.2 billion Perth Freight Link. The government previously claimed that major infrastructure projects lacking cost benefit analysis are “reckless” and “detracts from Australia’s wellbeing”.

Proposed using government funds allocated for climate change action to build a 1.2GW coal plant.

Tried to reintroduce a construction industry watchdog to tackle corruption, but the watchdog will not have jurisdiction over corruption issues.

Lied about releasing all children from immigration detention.

Spent $3.3 million on another study into ‘wind turbine syndrome’, even though their own senate inquiries have shown there’s no such thing.

Prohibited people who owe money to Centerlink from leaving the country, regardless of how small the debt is or how soon they will return.

Spent $45,000 replacing lost and stolen devices for just one department.

Reneged on their promise to accept 12,000 refugees from Syria, instead accepting 26.

Spent $55 million to resettle just two refugees in Cambodia.

Cut domestic violence leave for public servants.

Scrapped the “Safe Schools” anti-bullying program, on the National Day of Action Against Bullying.

Spent $10,000 to fly the family of 2 ministers to a tropical island for a weekend holiday.

Claimed that scrapping negative gearing would simultaneously increase and decrease house prices.

Spent $15.4 million on research into globally damaging an increasingly unprofitable fossil fuels.

Requested in inquiry into an anti-bullying program which focused on fostering tolerance for queer youth.

Spent $1.3 million on CCTV surveillance for an impoverished indigenous community who are desperately in need of more funding for education, health, housing and welfare.

Cut funding for research missions by a world class marine science ship, instead renting out the ship to foreign fossil fuel companies looking for oil and gas in Australian waters.

Voted against a motion asking the Housing Affordability Inquiry to update the senate on how they are progressing with the recommendations the government supported.

Proposed new broad powers for the Attorney-General so that the government can demand that telcos do unspecified “things”, which could include filtering the internet, tracking everyone’s browsing history and more.

Attempted to exempt telcos and law enforcement agencies from laws requiring users to be notified if their personal information has been breached.

Rejected an inquiry which recommended that citizens accused of tax fraud be treated as innocent until proven guilty.

Cut the pension for 35,000 public service retirees.

Spent $1.3 million on medals for Border Force staff, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Increased the cost of pap smears.

Told myGov users to downgrade the security on their account when travelling overseas, which is when security risks are highest.

Refused to allow the family of a terminally ill man to temporarily enter Australia to see their son one last time before he died.

Paid Telstra $80 million to fix the copper network which Telstra sold to the government.

Proposed an exemption so that internet providers and some other companies are not required to inform customers when their data is stolen by malicious third parties.

Spent almost $6000 to fly a minister’s family to a coastal holiday.

Violated international law by illegally conducting war in Syria.

Refused to give citizenship to eligible permanent residents, years after their refugee claims were accepted.

Spent $1770 on 3 bean bags.

Paid $1.5 billion for the East West Link far earlier than necessary, so that it would fall into Labor’s financial year, to make them look worse.

Started regularly strip searching innocent females on Nauru, with only male staff present.

Spent $30,000 on a private jet to fly one minister and their partner from Perth to Canberra – instead of catching a normal plane – because a non-business event ran overtime. This is despite the alleged budget emergency.

Banned zoo visits for children in detention, deeming them “inappropriate”, and ruling that they must remain imprisoned instead.

Made refugees work with deadly friable asbestos without any training and almost no equipment.

Appointed a Windfarm Commissioner, who is paid $205,000 per year, for the part-time job.

Refused to investigate, prosecute or do anything to a foreign company who built a large port and cut down large areas of forest home to endangered species, without environmental approval.

Introduced cashless welfare cards to reduce the autonomy and control that support recipients have over their spending.

Removed the requirements that crews on ships operating for months between Australian ports get paid Australian-level wages.

Voted against increasing transparency about how much tax large corporations pay.

Spent $1.3 billion on replacements for Defence Force Land Rovers, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Funded ethnic cleansing and war crimes in PNG.

Tried to remove exclusion zones around abortion clinics which are designed to protect patients from harassment.

Voted against a motion which called for independent investigation of the bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan by the USA, which is a war crime.

Refused to give counselling to a pregnant woman prior to an abortion. The woman was raped whilst in our asylum seeker prisons.

Violated parliamentary anti-corruption rules by not declaring a substantial loan for almost 2 years.

Spent $18.5 million on a facial recognition program to log and spy on every Australian, store social media photos and potentially conduct live tracking of all citizens.

Spent $80,000 on catering for a week long trip to Cape York and Torres Strait, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Forced an asylum seeker to pay for medicine to treat an injury they got when a government employee physically assaulted them.

Laughed and joked about the pacific islands whose very existence is threatened by climate change sea rises.

Scrapped the requirement that the board members of the National Disability Insurance Scheme have actual experience with disabilities (either personally, or through someone close).

Started advertising the jobs of the National Disability Insurance Scheme board without notifying the current board.

Lied about how many refugees we take.

Cited ‘the boats have stopped’ as evidence that the economy is doing well.

Told an Australian company to sack their Australian employees and hire foreigners, in order to remain competitive under the government’s new shipping deregulation rules.

Spent $24,000 on koala hire for a G20 photo opportunity, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Spent over $100,000 on flags for the G20 summit, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Broke an election promise to cut the company tax rate by 1.5%.

Broke an election promise to introduce a new paid parental scheme.

Broke an election promise to conduct and publish a cost benefit analysis for all infrastructure projects over $100 million.

Broke an election promise to not change GST, by removing the exemption for online purchases.

Did not attempt to conduct privacy impact assessments for 90% of their terror bills.

Lifted a ban on the import of a particular shotgun which has a fast firing rate and seven shot magazine capacity.

Spent $24.6 million on an advertising campaign to spruik the benefits of a trade deal (whose content is secret), despite the alleged budget emergency.

Illegally gave approval to an environmentally damaging mine. They then criticised those who pointed out the crime, and tried to change the law so that environmentalists cannot take legal action against illegal mines.

Refused to offer treatment and support to an asylum seeker who was raped on Nauru.

Lied about banning certain muesli bars and other products on Manus Island which have ‘Freedom’ in the brand name.

Proposed a plan to prioritise the applications of refugees who pay the government large sums of money over less fortunate refugees. (a.k.a. a bribe.)

Spent over $20,000 in a legal fight in order to hide modelling for the impact of university fee deregulation.

Spent $14.4 million to get support for outdated and insecure software, instead of using current versions.

Waited 3 months before giving medication to a toddler with tuberculosis (a potentially fatal illness).

Spent thousands of government dollars on taxi rides to the Opera in just 8 days. The government claims that the expenditure is reasonable because the minister didn’t pay for the tickets either.

Spent thousands of government dollars on limousine rides, and fudged the declaration paperwork to say they were taxi rides.

Incorrectly described the number of points on a star on the national flag, whilst sitting in front of 10 of them.

Spent $10,000 trying to chase down someone who leaked information to the media about how the Prime Minister deliberately and knowingly used false information to justify opposition to a defence force pay rise.

Held innocent asylum seekers in the same facilities as convicted rapists and murderers.

Spent $90,000 to send The Speaker to Europe for a fortnight so that she could apply for a job.

Spent $5,000 on a helicopter so that Bronwyn Bishop wouldn’t have to travel 1 hour by car to get to a Liberal fundraising event.

Spent $27,000 on travel expenses for politicians to attend free sports events.

Spent $500,000 on Australian flags in just 6 months, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Banned the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) from investing in wind power and small scale solar power.

Banned telcos from seeing warrants for metadata access requests issued to chase down journalists s, thereby undermining the purpose of the warrant system.

Removed the requirement for skills assessments of foreign electricians working under a Temporary Work visa.

Voted against a royal commission into corruption and misconduct in the financial service industry, following a series of scandals.

Used classified ASIO documents as props during a photo shoot.

Broke an election promise by scrapping Medicare locals.

Denied asylum seekers the right to make Freedom of Information requests for information the government has about them.

Admitted that an innocent senator was spied on by government employees whilst performing her job. The government initially labelled the senator an “embarrassment to this country” because they said the claims were “complete nonsense”, despite knowing they were true.

Incorrectly claimed that the Lindt Cafe gunman was linked with ISIS.

Reaped $1000 per month of government money to pay for Joe Hockey to stay in his wife’s house.

Illegally paid people smugglers money to turn boats around, in order to disrupt their business model.

Cut $13 million from the Australia Council and Screen Australia.

Cut $105 million from the Australian Council for the Arts without bothering to consult anyone in the arts industry.

Introduced 2 year jail sentences for doctors who disclose government wrongdoing and the high rates of health problems in immigration jails, even if the disclosures are in the public interest.

Proposed an exemption so that Australia’s richest companies no longer have to publish basic information about how much tax they are paying.

Refused to offer any assistance to thousands of innocent refugees stranded offshore in our region.

Proposed new powers to banish Australians suspected of terrorism, possessing a `thing’ related to terrorism, downloading a single file related to terrorism, vandalising commonwealth property or entering a ‘no-go zone’ country even for innocent purposes. Each guilty verdict would be made by a minister, not a court. The government does not have to prove the suspects are guilty. The new laws may contravene the 1961 United Nations Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.

Cut funding for an anti-deaths in custody service, the creation of which was recommended by the 1991 Deaths in Custody Royal Commission.

Granted the Immigration Department the power to search through the stored metadata of all citizens (and they won’t need a warrant).

Tried to pass off all responsibility for “matters of national environmental significance” to the states, who have weaker environmental protections.

Proposed `ag-gag’ laws, under which activists who expose illegal animal cruelty can be imprisoned if they take more than 48 hours to go to the police.

Chose to leave the Minister’s Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention empty.

Asked the Nauru government to block access to Facebook.

Cut all funding for The Conversation, a website which allows academics to promote and explain their research to a broader audience.

Censored data revealing shockingly high rates of mental illness amongst immigration detainees.

Spent $200,000 per year on gardening at Kirribilli House.

Spent $700,000 to rebrand “NBN Co” to “nbn TM”.

Lied about the cost of the price on Carbon.

Scrapped the domestic violence education program in schools.

Failed to name the leader of ISIS on the day they sent 330 troops to a war against ISIS.

Spent $4 million for the ‘Australian Consensus Centre’, a climate denial center to be run by someone with no qualifications in science or economics. The government had already cut all funding for the Australian Climate Commission, citing a lack of funds.

Withdrew from Australia’s commitment to limit global temperature rises to two degrees.

Granted immigration detention centre staff greater immunity against repercussions for inappropriate uses of force. They now have greater immunity than police officers.

Scrapped a public inquiry into law enforcement agencies access to journalists’ telecommunications data, for the purposes of identifying journalists’ s.

Spent $6 million on a movie which is supposed to deter people from fleeing genocide, war crimes, torture and other persecution. No english dubs or subtitles are available.

Prevented the release of a ‘name and shame’ list of multinational tax dodging corporations.

Closed the school inside the Nauru detention centre, so that the space can be converted into offices, a staff gym and a staff recreational area.

Prohibited detention centre workers from joining certain political parties, churches and protests even when not identifiable as employees. They can also be fired if an asylum seeker follows them on Twitter without their knowledge.

Accidentally leaked the personal details of 31 world leaders, and chose not to notify them. They still claim your metadata will be safe though.

Proposed taxing all bank deposits.

Scrapped the National Produce Monitoring System, which monitors domestic food for dangerous chemicals.

Breached the criminal code of conduct by offering the independently appointed Human Rights Commissioner a new job if she resigned.

Tried to pass multiple bills to halve the backpay of intellectually disabled workers who earned only $1 per hour in wages.

Kicked 10 Save The Children workers off Nauru, despite the government having no evidence to support their allegations of sexual and physical assault by the workers against detainees.

Flew across the country on a taxpayer funded private jet to attend the private birthday party of a millionaire who has made large donations to the Liberal party.

Rejected the crowdfunded offer of free solar panels with free installation for Kirribilli House.

Stripped 8000 public servants of their rights against unfair dismissal.

Prosecuted a white hat hacker who exposed serious security vulnerabilities of the ISPs who will be storing sensitive data of all Australians if the metadata retention scheme is passed.

Closed 150 remote Indigenous communities.

Breached the international convention against torture.

Proposed scrapping the census.

Defended the use of the War Memorial to hold corporate events for foreign arms manufacturers.

Cut funding to Blind Citizens Australia, Deaf Australia and Down Syndrome Australia.

Refused to publish cost estimates for the data-retention policy which were provided by the industry.

Exempted Gmail, Skype and Facebook from their data-retention scheme, thereby significantly reducing its effectiveness. They are exempted because they are not Australian. Hence, Australian email providers will be forced to pay for data retention servers, while competing with non-Australian companies who don’t.

Accused the Human Rights Commissioner of bias, because she published a report into children in detention, finding 233 incidents of assault against children, inside the government’s immigration camps.

Voted to keep the text of the China Free Trade deal secret from the public.

Abolished the $10,000 limit on political donations.

Spent $17 million on a social media internet filter, allegedly to stop terrorist propaganda. The government believes that peaceful environmental protestors can be “terrorists”.

Claimed “good government starts today”, after 18 months of governing.

Referred journalists to the police after they reported on immigration matters, including the illegal breaches of Indonesia’s borders.

Lied about the use of weapons by peaceful protesters on Manus Island, when their camp was flooded with armed guards in riot gear.

Chose not to do any modelling whatsoever to determine whether the Emissions Reduction Fund will reduce emissions by the amount they claim it will.

Spent over $80,000 on kitchen appliances.

Knighted Prince Phillip, a non-Australian who asked Indigenous leaders “Do you still throw spears at each other?”.

Broke the law by missing the deadline for publishing the Intergenerational Report, as stipulated by the Charter of Budget Honesty Act.

Applied to withdraw from a UN convention to protect migratory sharks, 2 months after agreeing to the convention.

Awarded a $6.3 million contract for armored cars for politicians to a foreign company, even though the company did not bid for the tender and an Australian company did.

Criminalised some discussions about cryptography by crytographic academics.

Spent more money per student on homeopathy, flower essence therapy and naturopathy tertiary courses than law, economics, languages and humanities.

Proposed the loosening of 457 work visas, allowing foreigners to work in Australia for 12 months, without passing English tests, without the need to look for local workers first.

Spent $88,000 on yoga workshops to improve the emotional intelligence of Immigration Department workers.

Used veto powers to block a UN resolution calling to the end of Israel’s occupation of Palestine.

Spent over $15 million on an advertisement campaign to make university fee deregulation more palatable.

Violated the principle of non-refoulement again, by sending a refugee back to Afghanistan, where he was subsequently tortured for trying to escape.

Scrapped a plan to make coursework masters students eligible for income support.

Cut $44 million over 4 years from the Skills for Education and Employment program which helps jobseekers improve their reading, writing and maths.

Cut $66 million over 3 years from a program which supplements the income of adult apprentices earning less than minimum wage.

Introduced a $900 NBN fee for all new houses.

Cut all funding of homelessness and community housing programs, except the ones they are legally required to fund.

Refused to give visas to refugees who were found to have a well founded fear of persecution, came by plane, passed health checks and passed security checks.

Appointed a climate change denier as parliamentary secretary to the minister of the environment.

Appointed who said he has “no interest in defence issues” as Minister for Defence.

Cut foreign aid a third time, this time by $3.7 billion.

Spent $120,000 monitoring the media for mentions of the Immigration Department.

Legislated to override all non-refoulement obligations. The government can now send refugees back to countries even if they know for certain that the refugees will be tortured or killed upon return.

Withdrew from the UN Refugee Convention.

Gave millions of dollars to subsidise the training of priests and other religious workers, using the money cut from public, secular universities.

Forced indigenous welfare recipients to work for full time, for 52 weeks a year, to get $5 per hour.

Claimed that virtual private networks (VPNs) would be exempt from their internet filter, then voted against an amendment to exempt VPNs from the internet filter.

Introduced an internet filter. Consumers and rights groups will not be able to contest blockages. The filter will cost customers $130,000 per year. Village Roadshow Studios donate over $300,000 to the Liberals each year, as do many other studios.

Gave the Immigration Minister the power to deny or revoke citizenship because someone has a mental illness.

Refused to grant asylum to anyone waiting in refugee camps in Indonesia.

Started another senate inquiry into wind farms, to look at the effect of wind power on power bills, even though the government’s own reviews have already shown that wind power reduces power bills.

Started an online petition to stop job losses at the ABC, just 36 hours after cutting ABC funding by 5%.

Gave permission to Chinese companies to sue the Australian government if it implements laws which reduce the corporation’s profits. Australian companies can’t even do the same to the Chinese government. The actual text of the legislation is being kept secret.

Perpetuated the lie of `Terra Nullius’.

Chose to not investigate claims of torture and rape by staff in the Manus Island detention centre, because the accused corporation investigated the claims themselves and concluded that they were not guilty. The investigation was done completely internally by Transfield, without any involvement with the Immigration Department.

Contracted out the managing of the Do Not Call Register to a marketing company.

Tried to remove the requirement that telecommunications companies disclose how many times they voluntarily handed customer’s data to law enforcement agencies without a warrant.

Bribed murder witnesses with the offer of the rights that they are currently being denied, to make them withdraw their statements about the death of someone who was murdered by the government’s contractors.

Disobeyed Commonwealth value-for-money rules by forcing the Australian Tax Office to spend millions on new offices without making a business case for it or doing a cost benefit analysis.

Secretly and retrospectively changed the official record of what was said in parliament.

Refused to fulfill a senate order to explain the reasons behind a ban on accepting any refugees from ebola infected countries. No such ban exists for normal immigrants.

Tried to remove the requirement that all free to air TV stations have captions from 6am to midnight.

Illegally refused to grant permanent visas to people found to be genuine refugees, despite their own department and the United Nations Human Rights Council telling them it is illegal.

Appointed 2 Liberal mates to the Migration Review Tribunal even though they were not shortlisted by the selection committee.

Chose not to tell asylum seekers that sensitive information about their asylum claims, mental health problems and more was stolen again. The data was left on a hard-drive without password protection, outside of the lockable store-rooms.

Reduced the number of charities and aid organisations allowed into the G20 summit from 75 to 3.

Reduced leave allowances for defence force personnel and reduced wage increases to below the inflation rate, just a few days after declaring war.

Introduced laws to allow ASIO to secretly detain people without charge, without any contact to the outside world, and allow them to conduct “coercive questioning” even when less extreme measures are available. Refusal to answer ASIO’s questions would be a crime punishable by imprisonment.

Gave ASIO the power to read, delete and modify anything and everything on the entire internet, with only one warrant. No one can sue them if they use that information or power illegally. If a journalist reports such abuse, they will be jailed for 10 years.

Broke an election promise by cutting ABC funding again ($120 million this time).

Refused to send the Prime Minister to a UN climate summit with 125 other heads of state, even though the Prime Minister was attending another UN summit in the same city the next day.

Joined the Iraq war 3.0 by recklessly running in with guns blazing without a clear, public and testable objective, without a proposed timeline, without any explanation of why we won’t fail just like the last time and without debating the matter in parliament. The government is calling the war a “humanitarian mission”, even though they cut all foreign aid to Iraq just a few months prior.

Spent $12 million trying to convince Sri Lanka to accept 2 boatloads of asylum seekers.

Spent $900,000 in just 2 months on private jet flights for ministers.

Forced all community TV stations off the air, claiming that moving online will be better for stations and viewers. Meanwhile they continue to fervently defend foreign corporate stations like HBO, who stubbornly refuse to make content accessible online.

Raised the terror threat level to “high”, despite receiving no specific intelligence since claiming that the threat level “has not changed”.

Refused to give medical treatment to an asylum seeker with a cut on his foot, who later died because of an infection.

Rejected visa applications for unionists who wanted to attend a conference, because they didn’t have enough “personal wealth”.

Tried to introduce WorkChoices again. The changes will make it legal for employers to pay workers in pizza instead of money. Some workers will get less pay while taking annual leave. Employers will be able to veto industrial action. Unions will be stripped of their right to enter a workplace to discuss things will employees during unpaid breaks. Workers will no longer be paid extra for weekend work and overnight work.

Scrapped funding for the Red Cross asylum seeker support program. 500 jobs were lost.

Removed the requirement for ASIO to get a warrant before using tracking devices.

Legislated to permit ASIO operatives and associates to commit torture, and any other crime aside from murder, serious injury infliction, sexual assault and property damage.

Legislated so that courts must accept illegally obtained evidence.

Privatised Australian Hearing.

Increased intelligence agency funding by $630 million, and fought for the power to stop Australians from travelling to Middle Eastern countries, even though the risk of terrorism “has not changed” at the time. Australians who travel to those countries will be guilty until proven innocent. They will face up to 10 years of imprisonment.

Scrapped the Countering Violent Extremists Program, which involved grants to community programs.

Censored doctors’ reports showing that 1/3 of all detainees suffer from mental illness, and that self harm amongst children is common.

Axed the Schools Business Community Partnership Brokers program, which has saved thousands of students from dropping out of school.

Introduced Work-For-The-Dole despite their own data showing that such programs are the least effective way of helping people find jobs.

Cut the $16 per patient per day supplement for aged care providers.

Rewrote counterterrorism laws so that Australian tourists returning from Syria and Iraq will be guilty of terrorism until they prove they’re innocent.

Broke an election promise by allowing the new multi billion dollar batch of Navy submarines to be built overseas, despite high levels of unemployment amongst our manufacturing sector.

Spent $330,000 renovating a single room which has never been used. Including $800 on a single door knob. The cost of leaving it unused but on standby comes to $100,000 per year.

Forced the unemployed to apply for 40 jobs per month. This will bombard businesses with over 1,000,000 applications per day. There’s currently about 1 job availability for every 10 unemployed people, so a lack of job applications is not the problem.

Introduced mandatory meta-data retention schemes for all internet providers. The government admits the changes are not necessary, and that there is no evidence to show that it will improve law enforcement. Warrants will not be required to access the data. The cost of implementing the schemes will come to about another $100 per customer per year. It will be used to punish illegal downloaders.

Finally admitted that “There’s no crisis at all in the Australian economy”, despite centering their election campaign on the alleged budget emergency.

Introduced new laws which mean Edward Snowden type leaks are punishable by up to 10 years of prison. No exemptions are made for anti-corruption leaks. If journalists report on anyone (including innocent bystanders) being killed accidentally or deliberately by security personnel, they will be jailed for up to 10 years.

Spent $50,000 on upgrades of curtains and upholstery for the Prime Minister’s office.

Falsely claimed that nations around the world are scrapping emissions trading schemes, even though there is currently a net increase in adoption of such schemes.

Remained unapologetic about 10 mothers trying to commit suicide. The mothers hoped that their orphan children would be freed from torturous asylum seeker prisons and cared for.

Forcefully handed over 41 innocent asylum seekers to a genocidal government, despite being aware that many had already been tortured before fleeing. This violates international laws and our own domestic laws.

Incorrectly explained the mechanics of their own Carbon Price repeal.

Committed maritime piracy by storming boats in international waters at gunpoint, kidnapping and then imprisoning innocent passengers. Maritime piracy constitutes crimes against humanity.

Claimed pre-First Fleet Australia was “unsettled or, um, scarcely settled”, and called British colonisation a form of foreign investment.

Cut $44 million from homelessness services.

Removed all mentions of climate change from their extreme weather website.

Moved to strip environmental organisations from charity status.

Refused to refer to East Jerusalem as “occupied”, even though the Israeli military has met the specific criteria which constitute the legal definition of occupation, and even though Israel’s own highest court ruled that the region is occupied, and even though the Israelis have built a wall twice as tall as the Berlin Wall to separate the region from the rest of Palestine.

Introduced legislation to allow the government to send asylum seekers back to the country they fled from, even if there is up to a 49% chance that they will be killed or tortured upon return. This violates the principle of non-refoulement, which constitutes human rights abuse.

Moved to abolish the role of freedom of information commissioner, abolish the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner and charge $800 for reviews of Freedom of Information Request denials.

Refused to publish any submissions it received for or against the proposed changes to the Racial Discrimination Act, even though the government says the changes are to protect free speech. They refused to state what proportion of submissions supported the changes. The government defended this secrecy by claiming that all submissions were made with the expectation of confidentiality. This is false. The Senate Inquiry Submission Guidelines state that to make a Senate Inquiry Submission confidential, you must explicitly justify a request for confidentiality, and that such requests are generally denied.

Tried to remove the laws that require financial advisors to act in the best interest of their clients, and the requirement that they provide clients with a statement of the fees they’ll be charged each year.

Refused to let Leo Seemanpillai’s parents come to Australia temporarily for his funeral. He burned himself to death because the Australian Government wanted to send him back to proven genocide in Sri Lanka. His parents have been living in a refugee camp for 2 decades. 2 other people tried to commit suicide the same way within a month of Leo’s death, to avoid being sent back to Sri Lanka.

Scrapped the annual $5 million grant to the Red Cross.

Defended the $4.8 million salary of the head of Australia Post, immediately after he cut 900 postal worker jobs to save money.

Lied by claiming asylum claims were being processed in the lead up to the Manus Island riots.

Cancelled meetings with the head of the International Monetary Fund and the president of the World Bank because Mr. Abbott would be told that the government’s support for fossil fuels will heavily damage our economy in the long run.

Failed to model the impact on hospital emergency room waiting times due to the proposed GP fee.

Cut a further $600 million from Indigenous programs, in addition to the $534 million cuts in the 2014 budget.

Claimed that removing the upper limit on university fees will cause fees to decrease.

Lied about the Australian Federal Police advising Tony Abbott not to visit Deakin University for safety reasons.

Blamed everyone but themselves for the murder of an innocent person during the Manus Island riots. Contractors, locals and even the victims were blamed. The report identified at least one of the murderers, but he has not been charged with murder.

Slashed $560,000 from the Refugee Council of Australia.

Supported Japan’s moves to remove the pacifist parts of their constitution, claiming that the creation of an offensive Japanese military force will help regional stability and peace. (Japan only has a self defence force.)

Offered money to Manus Island detainees if they voluntarily returned to the war crimes, genocide, torture and persecution that they originally fled from. When in opposition the government opposed these same payments.

Refused to comment about American drone strikes which killed 2 Australians.

Funded PNG’s defence against a legal challenge to the Manus Island detention centre.

Redirected $4 million from the Child Sex Abuse Royal Commission to the Home Insulation Inquiry.

Gave the Minister for Infrastructure the power to silence Infrastructure Australia (an independent body) without justification. (See section 5A(2) of the link.)

Tried to scrap the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency.

Confiscated medication from asylum seeker detainees. A 3 year old consequently suffered repeated seizures.

Deliberately hid the cost of the $4.45 million renovations on The Lodge.

Tried to introduce a $7 fee for each time you go to see a GP. They claimed $7 is simultaneously large enough to act as a deterrent (thereby saving money), and small enough that it won’t deter poor, sick people from getting help.

Spent $50,000 on one dinner for 60 G20 guests, including food specially flown to Washington from all over Australia.

Lied about the presence of a full time psychiatrist on Manus Island.

Cut over $900 million from local council funding.

Scrapped tax breaks for people with a dependent spouse.

Voted against the creation of a federal anti-corruption watchdog.

Scrapped The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.

Cut $170 million from the Research Training Scheme, which supported research students.

Spent $12 million to investigate whether to sell off a department for $6 billion, when it makes $0.538 billion per year.

Cut $15 million from Charles Sturt University’s dental health program and oral clinic.

Cut $2.5 billion from aged care programs, such as Meals On Wheels.

Removed financial rewards which encouraged Universities to enroll disadvantaged students.

Scrapped the National Rental Affordability Scheme.

Cut Sunday penalty rates for casual restaurant workers.

Cut $16 million from ANSTO, Australia’s only nuclear research facility, and our only of medical isotopes.

Slashed $1.1 million used to fight against animal abuse.

Made $110 million of broad-sweeping cuts to the Arts. The only organisation to receive more funding ($1 million more) is coincidentally chaired by the daughter of Rupert Murdoch.

Cut $28.2 million from the Australia Council, which provides grants for the arts.

Cut $38 million from Australian television and film funding.

Scrapped the National Water Commission.

Scrapped the National Preventive Health Agency’s $2.9 million National Tobacco Campaign.

Broke an election promise to have over one million roofs with solar panels.

Broke an election promise by cutting billions from school funding and committing to even less of the Gonski reforms than they did at the election.

Scrapped a program to encourage graduates to take up work in places of need.

Cut $1.3 billion from seniors concessions funding.

Scrapped the Community Food Safety campaign.

Cut $2.3 million from contributions to the World Health Organization.

Scrapped a program which encouraged Australian video game development.

Tried to deregulate university fees, thereby allowing Universities to charge what they want. Students would end up with American levels of crippling debt. Many of the politicians behind this policy received their degrees for free. Average student debt is expected to rise to $100,000, even though Abbott himself said “it is irresponsible to saddle Australians with $25,000 of debt”. OECD figures show that the public benefits from tertiary qualifications twice as much as the individual.

Scrapped the Women’s leadership program.

Broke an election promise by cutting well over $15 billion per year from health funding.

Scrapped the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Authority, which has helped increase organ donation rates.

Tightened eligibility and lowered indexation for support for injured Veterans.

Scrapped the Commonwealth Human Rights Education Program.

Scrapped the Education Department’s Online Diagnostic Tools Program, which helped improve teachers’ productivity.

Cut $4.4 million from job interview workshop programs.

Scrapped the Office of Water Science research program.

Reduced the Medicare optometry rebate.

Spent $480 million merging the Department of Immigration and Customs into Border Force, which won’t have to follow public service or Defence Force laws and protocols of conduct.

Simultaneously increased the cost of petrol and cut funding for public transport. The government argued that disadvantaged people can’t afford cars anyway, so they won’t be hurt by the changes.

Scrapped Youth Connections, a program which helped disengaged youth reconnect with work and education.

Removed family tax benefits for children older than 6, and drastically reduced the income threshold for its eligibility and froze it below interest rates.

Cut $845.6 million from programs which fund innovative start-ups.

Stopped giving under 25s Newstart. The Joint Committee on Human Rights said that this will violate our human rights obligations.

Spent $218 million upgrading Christmas Island’s asylum seeker operations, so that we can whisk off vulnerable people out of side quicker before we start abusing them.

Halved the $2.55 billion emissions reduction fund.

Cut $2 billion from Australian Renewable Energy Agency, Landcare and other environmental agencies.

Cut over half a billion from Indigenous spending.

Cut 16,500 public service jobs, despite promising to create one million new jobs.

Cut the Exotic Diseases program.

Ended the Get Reading! program.

Scrapped the Centre for Quality Teaching.

Cut $111 million from the CSIRO.

Cut $120 million from ethanol and biofuel programs.

Cut all funding to NICTA, a peak ICT technology research company. Coincidentally, NICTA publicly criticised the Coalition’s NBN only a few weeks earlier, claiming fibre-to-node is an inferior option.

Cut welfare for young people, so they have to survive on $0 per week for 6 months, before being put on a welfare scheme which is below the poverty line anyway. The Joint Committee on Human Rights said that this breaches our human rights obligations.

Set aside $245 million for religious chaplains in schools. Secular schools were stripped of the option of hiring a secular equivalent. No guarantees have been made about preventing heterosexist teachings that will make queer students feel sinful and ashamed. (Queer students are 6 times more likely to commit suicide than their peers.) Hundreds of secular social workers will lose their jobs.

Scrapped the First Home Buyer’s Account scheme, which provided sorely needed assistance for young people to buy homes.

Broke an election promise by tightening disability pension eligibility and financially penalising anyone who spends at least 4 weeks overseas.

Broke an election promise by changing age pension indexation, and eligibility age, and the threshold.

Abolished the position of disability commissioner, then created the position of wind farm commissioner.

Cut all funding to the government’s only dedicated disability website.

Broke an election promise by cutting $40 million from the SBS and ABC.

Cut foreign aid, again. This time by $7.6 billion.

Started charging interest on HECS. OECD figures show that the public benefits from tertiary qualifications twice as much as the individual.

Reduced the income threshold where graduates start to pay back HECS.

Cut $138 million from the Australian Federal Police, resulting in 335 job losses.

Scrapped a loan scheme which helped apprentices buy the tools they need to learn and work.

Claimed asylum seekers are safe on Nauru, even after an unexploded wartime shell was found inside the compound.

Claimed asylum seekers are safe on Nauru, even after it was leaked that some guards physically and verbally assault children regularly.

Failed to provide adequate medical treatment to asylum seekers on Manus Island who were shot and bashed by locals that invaded the camp and rioted.

Went $1 million (67%) over budget on the Commision of Audit, an investigation into how taxpayer money can be spent more prudently.

Cut $15 million from Flinders Hospital, then spent $10 million upgrading the field for the Manly Rugby League team.

Broke an election promise to not cut ABC funding, by cutting all funding to the Australia Network (part of the ABC).

Described wind farms as “utterly offensive” and “a blight on the landscape”.

Spent $20 million on an international campaign to discourage people from fleeing war crimes, genocide and other persecution.

Broke an election promise by proposing a deficit tax.

Chose not to debrief any Manus Island detention centre staff after the riots by PNG locals which resulted in the death of one asylum seeker and the hospitalisation of dozens more.

Paid people $1500 per person per day to recommend spending cuts.

Deliberately ignored desperate and repeated pleas by security personnel on Manus Island and the commander of Operation Sovereign Borders requesting stronger fencing, CCTV cameras and better lighting. These requests were made months before locals broke down the fences, shot, stabbed and bashed detainees, none of which was caught on CCTV footage.

Tried to abolish the independent national charity regulation body, which would mean the government would regulate charities, possibly resulting in less impartial regulation. For example, environmental groups stripped of charity status because they oppose government policies.

Removed climate change from the agenda of the 2014 international G20 summit.

Spent about $2 million for Prince William and Kate’s 14 day royal visit, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Spent $3 billion on new drones to patrol our borders, despite the alleged budget emergency.

Spent $7.5 million on life boats to send back asylum seekers in. Allegedly the motivation behind the government’s asylum seeker policy is to stop people drowning when travelling from neighbouring countries to Australia in unsafe vessels. Despite this, much of the safety equipment was removed from the boats before sending asylum seekers back into the ocean.

Prevented internet supplier TPG from installing fibre all the way to customers. The arbitrary bureaucratic hurdles have increased the cost of fibre to premise by 15%.

Broke an election promise by no longer guaranteeing NBN speeds higher than what ADSL can provide.

Retroactively introduced legislation to classify someone born in Australia as an “unauthorised maritime arrival” because their parents haven’t had their asylum claims processed yet.

Scrapped a body which provides advice on over $1 billion in tax breaks that are designed to encourage Research and Development, despite promising during the election to improve incentives for Research and Development investment.

Claimed a 2.5% reduction in funding every year for the ABC is not a funding cut.

Cut over 300 jobs (about 1 in 3) in the Treasury department.

Cut 400 jobs in the Department of Industry.

Removed anti-sweatshop laws and cut all funding to Ethical Clothing Australia.

Closed all Medicare offices on Saturdays.

Ceased legal assistance for people exercising their right to make a claim for asylum.

Cut 250 jobs from the Federal Environment Department.

Increased the fee for lodging Freedom of Information requests.

Increased the eligibility age for the pension.

Claimed that the average electricity bill will be $200 per year lower without the price on carbon, despite relevant power companies rejecting the magnitude of this figure.

Implemented a policy which dictates that public servants should be sacked if they criticise the government in social media, even if their profile does not mention the their employment, and even if the profile is completely anonymous.

Chose not to give 300 children almost any schooling during 9 months of detention.

Threatened staff against speaking out about the mismanagement of the Manus Island detention centre and the attacks against it’s inmates by locals and staff.

Detained people in conditions so inhumane and horrid that three pregnant women asked for abortions, to stop their children suffering in detention indefinitely. The Government has refused to comment.

Chose not to process any claims for asylum from people detained on Manus Island.

Claimed that all social media is anonymous.

Chose to keep secret the interim report into the riots inside the Manus Island detention centre.

Paid a public relations company $97,000 for 3 weeks of work to help improve the Education Department’s image, then refused to release the report that came of it.

Claimed the government will be $13.7 billion better off if the Mining Tax is scrapped, even though the scrapping the tax itself would actually result in a net loss If $3.7 billion. The only savings would be through other cuts hidden in the repeal bill. The biggest of which is the Schoolkids Bonus (an initiative which was never associated with the Mining Tax). The government claims the average household will be better off, but the average household will be $3500 worse off due to repealed subsidies and tax breaks.

Interfered with the judicial process by transferring asylum seekers to a remote detention centre the day before they started a court case against the Australian Government. The case was about how the government endangered them and their families by accidentally publishing personal details about their asylum claims online.

Spent more money on detention centres than it would cost to house asylum seekers in Sydney’s most expensive 5 star hotels (per asylum seeker per day).

Started charging people who put in bankruptcy applications, and increased the levy on money earned post-bankruptcy.

Broke international laws by arbitrarily imprisoning children.

Scrapped a program to give asylum seekers free advice on how to navigate Australia’s immigration bureaucracy when exercising their right to seek asylum. The justification for this scrapping was based on the false claim that asylum seekers are illegal.

Tried to reintroduce temporary protection visas.

Ignored an order from the United Nations Human Rights Committee to release some asylum seekers who are being illegally held without proof or judicial protection, in cruel, inhumane or degrading circumstance.

Reintroduced the British system of knights and dames, only 3 months after saying they would not do so.

Spent $211,000 on public relations staff to make the Medibank Private sale more palatable to the public.

Sold Medibank Private for $4 billion, even though that means the government will lose up to $0.5 billion per year of income from dividends.

Claimed that all Australians have the “right to be a bigot”.

Refused to grant a human rights lawyer access to the Manus Island detention centre.

Backed PNG’s decision to cancel a human rights inquiry into the Manus Island detention centre.

Issued Manus island detention centre guards with knives designed for noose cutting, because they frequently need to cut down people who try to hang themselves because of the horrid conditions.

Tried to exempt loggers in Tasmania’s World Heritage forests from the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, so they won’t have to worry about killing threatened species.

Claimed that the majority of asylum seekers on Manus island won’t be given refugee status, even though more than 90% of all asylum seekers who’ve come to Australia since mid 2009 were eventually found to be genuine refugees, fleeing torture, rape, genocide and persecution.

Vowed to revive a part of WorkChoices which means construction Industry Enterprise Bargaining Agreements don’t apply to subcontractors doing Commonwealth work.

Refused to support a UN proposal to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka. If such crimes been committed, the Abbott government will be guilty of crimes against humanity for forcefully sending refugees back to Sri Lanka, and for actively helping the Sri Lankan military stop people from fleeing their rape, torture and genocide. A Sri Lankan Tribunal has already proven that the Sri Lankan government is guilty of genocide.

Failed to provide running water to some toilets in the detention centre on Manus Island.

Spent $25 million extending the contracts of the crew on one ship so they could be part of Operation Sovereign Borders.

Provided no soap in the Manus Island detention centre and regularly gave asylum seekers worm infested food.

Proposed amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act so that people who “offend” or “insult” someone because of their “race, colour or national or ethnic origin” will not be legally required to pay compensation.

Gave $100 million to Australia’s 2 most profitable mining companies, to build a mine which isn’t even in Australia, despite claiming “the age of entitlement is over”, and despite refusing to give corporate welfare to struggling companies who have to sack hundreds of workers.

Prevented journalists from interviewing asylum seekers injured in the Manus Island riots.

Lied thrice in one BBC interview by claiming that the Abbott government is considering settling asylum seekers in Australia, and claiming that children in detention go to school, and claiming that asylum seekers on Manus Island are having their claims processed. None of these claims are true.

Cut all welfare ($260,000) for orphans of defence force casualties.

Gave state governments an ultimatum: sell off government assets before a certain deadline, (regardless of whether the people or the state government want to) or miss out on billions of dollars of funding. This includes selling NSW’s ‘poles and wires’ for only $3-5 billion, even though they generate over $1.5 billion per year for the government. The states would not be allowed to use the money from the sales to pay off debt. Reluctant states were told they could still access federal funds through environmental programs that the Federal Government is trying to scrap.

Justified the logging of forests currently on the world heritage list because Christianity supposedly tells us “the environment is meant for man”.

Ripped $140 billion out of Australians’ superannuation accounts through loosening of consumer protection rules regarding financial planning.

Deported the mother of a 4 year old Australian citizen, thereby separating the child permanently from her only remaining guardian.

Stopped collecting data on gender equality in the workplace.

Threatened to block government funding from arts groups who refuse sponsorship from corporations the artists deem unethical.

Lied to the United Nations about the quality of the Tasmanian forests they want removed from the world heritage list.

Claimed no Sri Lankan asylum seekers have been sent back into danger, despite being in possession of documents which prove at least one asylum seeker was tortured after being forcefully sent back. A Sri Lankan tribunal recently proved that the Sri Lankan government was guilty of genocide. The United Nations Human Rights Commission is currently investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sri Lanka.

Suggested most existing major roads should introduce tolls.

Spent $24 billion on new, spontaneously combusting fighter jets, already years behind schedule, which aren’t going to be built in Australia. The jets can’t run off warm fuel from a truck which has been sitting in the sun (since the fuel tank is used as a heat sink). The software for firing the guns won’t be ready until 3 years after deployment. Each plane holds less than 3 seconds of ammunition for the guns.

Failed to supply enough food to asylum seekers inside the detention centre on Manus Island.

Secretly defeated an international nuclear disarmament treaty, arguing against a sentence in the treaty which stated that it is in the interests of humanity that nuclear weapons never be used again “under any circumstances”. Australia argued that a disarmament treaty would be less effective at reducing proliferation than having no disarmament treaty.

Kept secret the taxpayer funded 900 page Audit commission report which recommended tightening eligibility for seniors health cards.

Tried to scrap the price on carbon, even though the emissions of relevant companies have dropped by 7% due to the price.

Declined an offer from the Uniting Church to care for unaccompanied refugee children currently in detention centres. The church offered to feed house and clothe them free of charge.

Ridiculed the notion that the minister for women should identify as a feminist.

Started 5 audits of the NBN within the first 7 months of being in power.

Proposed the scrapping of regulation which prevents media monopolies and duopolies.

Claimed that loggers are “the ultimate conservationists” during a speech about why the government will not create more national parks. In the same speech Abbott lamented that we have “too much locked up forest”. There are currently over 1000 innocent children locked up in detention centres, presumably this is not “too much”.

Blamed Qantas job losses on the carbon tax, even though a Qantas spokesman said “Qantas’ current issues are not related to carbon pricing”.

Finally admitted that “Operation Sovereign Borders” is a civilian operation not a military one.

Spent over $15,000 on a custom made bookcase to replace a $7,000 custom bookcase which holds $13,000 worth of taxpayer funded books and magazines in senator Brandis’ office.

Spent $22,000 taxpayer dollars buying new cutlery and crockery for the ministerial wing of parliament.

Spent over $8 million each year on salaries alone for 95 media staff for the department of Immigration, despite the fact that the department tells the media almost nothing. Those same staff spent over $9,000 in just 2 months monitoring the media for transcripts of their own minister’s press conferences.

Proposed a “green army” comprised of young people paid less than half of minimum wage without normal workplace protections.

Cut $3 million in funding for a program to save an endangered rhino species of which there are only 100 left.

Referred to our humanitarian immigration program as “Operation Sovereign Murders”.

Defended spending $3.5 million on a tent kitchen on Manus Island.

Sent asylum seekers back to Indonesia, 3 of which later died trying to cross a river in the jungle they landed next to.

Defended the Manus Island scheme during a press conference about the man who was shot dead in our detention centres by claiming the government is “ending the deaths” of asylum seekers.

Chose not to send any representatives to the Partnership for Market Readiness assembly, a conference which Australia helped fund which is about market mechanisms to curb emissions.

Appointed someone to head the investigation into the Manus Island riots who claimed that rape victims in Manus Island detention centres receive better treatment than Australians.

Planned a doubling of the defence force’s annual budget, increasing it by $24 billion, despite the supposed budget emergency and after the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defied legislation by not appointing the Climate Change Authority to run the investigation into the Renewable Energy Target.

Blamed electricity price rises on the renewable energy target, despite their own modelling predicting that is will reduce electricity prices in the long term, and Energy Australia stating that it has suppressed prices since it was created.

Forced Manus Island staffers to lie to detainees.

Placed an ex-officer of the Sri Lanka army in charge of the Manus Island detention centre, which holds people fleeing the Sri Lanka army’s war crimes and genocide.

Spent $13.3 million on floating hotels for detention centre staff on Manus island.

Admitted the information given about the Manus detention centre riots was drastically wrong.

Convinced Cambodia (one of the poorest countries in our region) to take in some of the refugees currently in our detention centres. Serious human rights abuse continue to be committed regularly under the Cambodian government and military.

Purchased 8 new Poseidon aircraft totalling $4 billion despite the “budget emergency”.

Guarded the body of a dead asylum seeker using guards who were possibly the ones that shot him. Those same guards confiscated a camera from a journalist on site then deleted all his photos.

Blamed the Carbon Tax for job losses at Alcoa’s aluminium smelter, despite Alcoa being 94.5% exempt from the tax, and despite Alcoa explicitly stating that “the carbon tax was not a factor in the decision”.

Accidentally published personal details about almost 10,000 asylum seekers and their claims, thereby putting all their lives in danger. Regardless of whether the original asylum claims were genuine, if those asylum seekers are returned to their country of origin, they and their family may be imprisoned, tortured or killed because governments and militias in their country of origin will know they sought asylum. After discovering the blunder, the government took 13 days to remove the information from public view. As part of a press release about the accidental leak, the government made public further information about where to find the still life threatening document.

Eventually admitted that Navy ships “inadvertently” crossed into Indonesian waters despite using high tech GPS navigation, then they made the exact same mistake again 5 times. The government chose to not even interview any crew members of one such ship when writing a report on the matter.

Removed poverty reduction from the goals of the foreign affairs department, which manages foreign aid.

Paid their own indigenous employees substantially less than non-indigenous co-workers despite promising to help “close the gap”.

Deleted negative comments on the Department of Immigration’s Facebook page, but left objectively false comments, such as claims that asylum seeking is illegal.

Denied responsibility after Manus Island detention centre guards let in a mob of locals, resulting in an asylum seeker being shot and dozens more injured. Injuries included slit throats, machete wounds and eyes hanging from sockets.

Chose not to mention a $882 million payout to News Corp. when outlining a $16.8 billion budget black hole. The payout was the single biggest item in the black hole.

Annoyed the Navy by having the immigration minister tour naval bases like a defence minister would.

Promised to continue with their NBN plan even if a cost-benefit analysis (which is yet to be done) shows it does not give a worthwhile return on investment.

Chose a climate change denier to lead a review of the renewable energy target.

Denied any link between droughts and climate change.

Spent $4.3 million on market research to gauge public opinion on social media and other outlets about government policies.

Proposed greater government control over the internet, including the power to order ISPs to block specific sites.

Granted the Environment Minister retrospective legal immunity against court challenges alleging he failed to consider expert environmental advice before approving damaging mining projects. i.e. They are undermining the Rule of Law and legislating to allow the Environment Minister to literally ignore the environment.

Exempted Western Australia from federal laws protecting endangered species to allow a shark cull, despite evidence culls do not reduce the frequency of attacks on humans.

Spread propaganda to potential asylum seekers which deliberately make Australia look like a villainous, incompassionate country. The propaganda completely ignores the violence, torture, rape and persecution that causes people to seek asylum.

Disbanded an asylum seeker health panel of 12 experts from a range of fields, replacing it with one military surgeon. The government has refused to comment on the matter.

Alleged that Edward Snowden endangered lives and claimed that Australia does not need any surveillance reform.

Denied any wrongdoing after a government aid married to the head of a junk food lobby pulled down a government website providing simplified nutritional information within hours of its launch.

Cut 500 jobs from the Australian Tax Office.

Violated Youtube’s policies regarding deceptive content, resulting in the suspension of Abbott’s whole channel.

Lied about NSW signing on with their independent schools deal.

Proposed the conversion of one quarter of public schools to independent schools.

Claimed “the age of entitlement is over” whilst continuing to give mining companies billions of dollars of subsidies and tax concessions.

Lied about the working conditions at SPC factories to justify declining financial assistance.

Arbitrarily denied many asylum seekers the right to a lawyer during the interviews where they make their asylum claim.

Withheld asylum seeker arrival numbers to avoid being a “shipping news service for people smugglers”, despite literally advertising those same numbers on a billboard while in opposition.

Dismissed out of hand serious allegations that Navy personnel assaulted asylum seekers, based on the supposed moral perfection of those personnel. A recent investigation proved that some of those personnel had sexually assaulted other crew by inserting objects up their arses. The Defence Force and the Immigration Department didn’t even bother interviewing the asylum seekers who made the claims.

Embarrassed Australia on the world stage by oversimplifying the Syrian conflict as “goodies vs baddies”.

Appointed yet another straight, white cisgendered male as Governor General.

Called Edward Snowden a traitor.

Criticised the ABC because they aren’t biased towards the Government.

Accepted a claim for asylum not because of the merit of the claim but because Cricket Australia wanted the man in their team.

Violated international convention by criticising Labor on the Global stage.

Stole crucial evidence from an Australian lawyer representing East Timor in an international tribunal against Australia relating to our illegal spying on East Timor’s oil deal.

Shut down the 113 year old Australian Valuation Office, thereby making 200 jobs disappear.

Provoked Indonesia so much that they put their air force on standby at the border.

Crossed into Indonesian waters without authorisation again, then abandoned a boat without enough fuel to get to shore, forcing asylum seekers to swim for an hour to get to shore.

Defeated moves to cease the recital of the (Christian) Lord’s prayer at the start of each sitting day of (secular) federal parliament.

Cut all funding from all international environmental programs.

Closed mainland detention centres and moves detainees offshore, citing budget savings as the motivation, even though offshore processing costing almost twice as much as onshore processing.

Authorised the Navy to fire over the bows of asylum seeker boats.

Refused to comment on 4 attempted suicides, hunger strikes and many self harm attempts happening simultaneously in detention centres.

Exempted Navy personnel of workplace safety obligations to treat asylum seekers safely, and gave them legal immunity for criminal acts which are committed by order of the government.

Rewrote the school curriculum to make it more right wing. The previous curriculum was developed over many years with extensive consultation. The new curriculum is being written by two people. One thinks “abos” are “human rubbish tips”, called a sexual assault victim a “worthless slut”, and laments that Australia has too many “Mussies” and “Chinky-Poos”. The other has questioned whether migrants and women are disadvantaged, and suggested homosexuality is “unnatural”.

Refused to respond to questions from the United Nations about boat tow-backs.

Likened our humanitarian immigration program to war.

Directed that asylum seeker families shall be given the lowest priority for processing, even those who’ve lived in Australia for years.

Spent over $120,000 on Kirribilli House, including $13,000 on an imported luxury rug, paid for by the taxpayer.

Endangered lives, committed maritime piracy and broke other international laws by turning around a boat whose passengers have the right to seek asylum in Australia. The government refused to comment on the matter. Lives were endangered as a result of this move, because the boat ran out of fuel and became stranded.

Tried to deport a gay refugee to Pakistan, where he would be imprisoned for life for his sexuality. In doing so the government would have committed human rights abuse by violating the principle of non-refoulement. The man has never lived in Pakistan.

Threatened to withhold food from families if children don’t stand still for 6 hours per day queuing for food. The food is sometimes served with hands not utensils.

Forced women to queue for a whole day just to get a tampon or pad, only to queue again when they need a fresh one, because they are a fire hazard. The government refused to comment.

Scrapped the Building Multicultural Communities Program. 400 community organizations will now miss out on the promised funding they have already budgeted for.

Cut all funding to Jewish Holocaust Centre ($7,700).

Tried to silence the media to stop them criticising the upcoming private jet deal for politicians.

Quietly reduced instant asset write-off tax breaks for small businesses despite championing themselves as pro-small-business.

Criticised the ABC for not “advancing Australia’s broad and enduring interests in the Asian region”, without actually accusing the ABC of any specific wrongdoing or poor judgement.

Scrapped the National Intercountry Adoption Advisory Group then 2 months later created the interdepartmental working group on overseas adoption, a body which serves an identical purpose.

Stopped weekly press conferences on asylum seekers. Declined further comment on the matter.

Approved a 6.2% increase in health insurance premiums.

Deliberately omitted 23 questions asked of the immigration minister in a press conference. They have refused to comment further on why those questions were omitted.

Refused requests for medical treatment from a pregnant women in detention who subsequently had a miscarriage. She probably would have had a normal birth had she received the treatment she asked for. The government declined to comment further.

Broke an election promise to send a boat to monitor whaling by instead promising to only send an aircraft. The government subsequently broke that second promise too, allowing whalers to kill endangered whales without any Australian monitoring.

Broke an election promise by renaming the NDIS, making it “DisablityCare” and renaming the “launch” a “trial”, thereby casting doubt on whether they will even commit to the scheme fully.

Scrapped the AusAid graduate program, requiring the sacking of the newest batch of graduates.

Axed the position of coordinator-general for remote indigenous services.

Approved the construction of gargantuan coal mines in the Galilee Basin, including one in the habitat of an endangered species. If all projects go ahead the emissions released from that coal annually will amount to 130% of what our entire nation currently emits annually.

Appointed Tim Wilson as human rights commissioner – someone who has personally advocated for the abolition of the human rights commission, and who’s new 6 figure salary is so large that the commission will have to cut education and anti-bullying programs to fund it.

Scrapped the Biodiversity fund.

Cut funding for the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, a body of elected representatives of the indigenous people.

Handed $16 million to Cadbury, but refused to give subsidies to Holden, Qantas and SPC Ardmona. Cadbury is owned by a multinational firm whose profits rose by 64% to $74.9 million last year. Coincidentally the Cadbury factory is located in a marginal electorate.

Axed the home energy saver scheme, which successfully helped struggling households cut down high electricity bills.

Dismantled the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, the Low Carbon Communities Program and the Caring for our Country Program.

Cut $43.1 Million in legal aid funding, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, community legal services, the UNSW Indigenous Legal Centre and the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services.

Cut funding for the Energy Efficiency Program (which was compulsory for large electricity consumers).

Slashed all funding (over $10 million) from the Environmental Defender’s Offices.

Broke an election promise by cutting $150 million from NSW hospitals.

Axed a scheme to improve the wages of aged care workers.

Scrapped the Wage Connect Program (a scheme which encouraged employers to hire long-term unemployed people).

Broke an election promise for a 25Mbi/s National Broadband Network, and announced that it will cost more than they promised.

Broke an election promise to return to surplus by 2016-2017.

Undermined the rule of law by proposing a “code of conduct” for refugees living in Australia, despite the fact refugees commit fewer crimes per person than the national average.

Failed to take any action in response to Snowden’s leaks showing that the Australian Government is helping the USA spy on all Australians.

Repealed poker machine laws designed to address gambling addiction.

Planned the unwinding of the World Heritage protection of Tasmanian forests despite opposition from the Forest Industries Association of Tasmania.

Changed the ministerial code of conduct so ministers no longer have to sell shares which create a conflict of interest.

Threatened queer detainees in PNG by saying they will be reported to local police if they engage in homosexual acts. Homosexuality is illegal in PNG. Such threats mean refugees fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation are not able to make their asylum claim without fear of arrest. This counts as human rights abuse because it violates the principle of non-refoulement and strips people of their right to safely make a claim for asylum. The government has refused to comment further.

Terminated their deal with the Salvation Army to provide humanitarian assistance with those on Manus Island and Nauru. Consequently 300 people lost their job. The government has refused to comment further.

Disbanded IHAG, a group that provides advice about the health of asylum seeker detainees, which helps combat the rising rates of mental illness and self harm. The government has refused to comment further.

Approved the expansions for Abbott Point coal port, which requires dumping 3 million tonnes of dredge spoil onto the Great Barrier Reef, thereby threatening the Queensland’s entire tourism industry and hospitality industry, and the reef’s heritage status.

Removed the Murray Darling from the list of threatened ecological communities.

Signed a trade agreement with South Korea that allows foreign companies to sue the Australian government if it implements policies which adversely affect their business (e.g. for environmental or anti-sweatshop reasons).

Removed the requirement for the government to consider advice about the protection of endangered species when approving projects.

Detained innocent asylum seekers in conditions so horrible they amount to torture according to Amnesty International. 500ml of water per person per day, in a shadeless tropical island, with mental illness rates of over 30% and no soap despite rampant gastro.

Made Orwellian threats about cutting ABC funding because the government didn’t like one of their stories, and because their quality of journalism is too high, thereby creating competition which threatens the corporate newspaper duopoly (who are now floundering because they didn’t see the internet coming).

Incorrectly defined meta-data as billing data only, when it actually includes email subject headings, location data, financial transaction details and more.

Called for privatisation of electricity networks, despite evidence showing it does not lower power bills.

Cut $3 billion in welfare for students, the elderly and families.

Scrapped the Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, despite the fact our population is aging.

Secretly changed voting position at the UN regarding the Israel and Palestine issue without telling anyone.

Abandoned Gonski agreements with states and committed to 3 fewer years of Gonski than their pre-election promise.

Broke an election promise by scrapping the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia. The government spent $1 million on administrative costs to do so, even though the council only received $1.6 million in funding per year.

Cut $4.5 billion in foreign aid.

Tried to scrap the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corp, even though it provides $110 million per year in net revenue to the government.

Disbanded AusAid (the foreign aid body), merging the remainder into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Ceased reporting births and clinical depression in detention centers. Downgraded self harm.

Forcefully and unapologetically separated a mother and her newborn child.

Cut $300 million from child care staff subsidies.

Introduced a bill which allows for unpaid union officials in elected roles to be jailed for up to 5 years and fined up to $340,000.

Cut $2.3 billion from higher education, and removed start-up scholarships (thereby significantly increasing the debt of the poorest students) and removed the 10% HECS discount for paying up-front.

Increased superannuation tax for the poor, and decreased it for the rich.

Tried to scrap the school kids tax concession (thereby increasing the cost of living for families by $16,000 per school child over their education).

Withdraw all Commonwealth funding for Commonwealth supported places at University.

Scrapped the Australian Animals Welfare Advisory Committee, Commonwealth Firearms Advisory Council, International Legal Services Advisory Council, National Steering Committee on Corporate Wrongdoing, Antarctic Animal Ethics Committee, Advisory Panel on the Marketing in Australia of Infant Formula, High Speed Rail Advisory Group, Maritime Workforce Development Forum, Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, Insurance Reform Advisory Group and National Housing Supply Council (all in one day).

Provided $2.2 million for miners and farmers to fight against native title claims.

Cut $435 million from the Renewable Energy Agency.

Unwound same sex marriage laws in ACT.

Scrapped the Social Inclusion Board (an anti-poverty advisory group).

Used Wikipedia as a to support a claim which was actually contradicted by Wikipedia.

Declared bushfires unrelated to climate change.

Mandated that all public servants should incorrectly refer to boat arrivals as “illegal”.

Sent no one important to the international climate summit. The people who did go went in tee-shirts, giggled and were so insensitive and disrespectful that there was a walkout by other countries.

Proposed privatising HECS.

Tried to raise the debt ceiling by $200 billion.

Moved to protect companies from boycotts against them (e.g. for using slave labour or destroying the environment) thereby undermining the foundation of capitalism by reducing consumer power.

Kept Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations secret, even though it threatens the very foundations of our democracy. The leaked agreement would allow international companies to sue governments if their profits are diminished by environmental, indigenous land rights or anti-child-sweatshop laws. The TPP would give corporations many of the same rights that individuals have. There is no expiration date or separation clause, so once signed, it’s here forever.

Broke an election promise by trying to scrap the 2020 emissions target.

Scrapped the Climate coalition.

Cut 600 CSIRO staff.

Donated $2 million worth of patrol boats to help Sri Lanka stop people fleeing proven genocide, human rights abuse, war crimes and extra judicial killings.

Excused torture in Sri Lanka.

Chose not to appoint a minister for science, for the first time in half a century.

Appointed a man as minister for women who said “I don’t support womens’ causes”.

Chose a cabinet with 18 men and only 1 woman.

Broke an election promise that Abbott would spend his first week in an Aboriginal community.

“I think you’d be best off voting Green.”

– Tony Abbott (last election day)

That’s a total of 596 dot points in 1027 days. Averaging 0.8 dot points per business day.



Source,

MATTHEW DAVIS

Matthew Davis is an independent writer and political reporter. He has previously written for the publication Tharunka, and is currently completing a bachelor of Engineering at the University of New South Wales.