Abbott On D-Day Anniversary: Now Can We Get Rid Of The Carbon And Mining Tax?

By Darryl Mason

Australia's PM Tony Abbott, or 'Toxic Tony' as he is becoming known, used the 70th anniversary of D-Day landings in Europe during World War 2 to talk up his agenda of cutting the carbon tax and mining tax. And he used images of Australian World War 2 veterans to do it.

This is a media release issued around midday on Sunday, June 1, 2014:

Here's the transcript of the above:

A Message From The Prime Minister - 70th Anniversary Of The D-Day Landings

June 1, 2014

"This week the world will commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings.

The D-Day landings changed the course of human history.

As part of the commemoration, I will join join seven Australians who were there 70 years ago.

Over 5000 Australians were involved - including 2500 air force personnel who provided air support for the Allied landings.

Following the D-Day commemorations, I will be traveling to Canada and France and will be joined by Australian business leaders.

My message to overseas investors is that Australia is open for business.

The Government's Economic Action Strategy to lower tax, cut red tape and encourage trade will improve the competitiveness of business - so that we can build a stronger Australia.

We welcome investment and we are making investment more attractive by scrapping the carbon tax and the mining tax, cutting 50,000 pages of red tape, and ending the 'analysis paralysis' on major projects.

Our international partners can see that our Budget is again under control, we are tackling debt and deficits and we are serious about building a strong and prosperous economy.

This year Australia hosts the G20 summit to encourage growth around the world and I will be advancing that cause during this trip.

The United States, Canada and France are long standing friends. We stood together at D-Day, we trade every day and we have always shared a commitment to democracy, to enterprise and to people's right to be free."

See the way Abbott has used World War 2 bravery and sacrifice to set up the next part of the media release? This is called 'activating emotional triggers.' Mention World War 2, trigger emotions, then deliver your political agenda.

It's demented.

And this is the re-issued press release....

....note it has backdated to May 31, to give the impression that this was the intended media release, to fit in with Abbott government MPs now trying to claim the 'D-Day To Carbon Tax' release was "just a draft." The reissue has been stripped of his blatant anti-carbon tax and anti-mining tax agenda items and business-related rhetoric.

The original media release was not "just a draft", it was issued to 1000s of journalists and other media around the world, direct from the Prime Minister's Office.

The other proof it wasn't "just a draft" is the fact that PM Abbott actually recorded a YouTube video of his media release, and it included historic photos of World War 2 veterans, before switching over to his political agenda and right-wing propaganda.

That video, also titled 'A Message From The Prime Minister - The 70th Anniversary Of The D-Day Landings' was posted and made public, and links publicising it were sent out on Twitter and Facebook. It was only after Twitter lit up in shock and disgust, the video was retitled and then finally pulled.

The title was changed to 'A Visit To France...' but the original title remained the redo, as seen above, and in Google search, and archives. Here's a copy of that original video:



The original media release is a perfect example of tawdry, cheap and cynical exploitation of World War 2 and its veterans by the prime minister. Our Australian veterans. That the Prime Minister's Office is trying to spin Abbott's way out of this disgusting use of veterans to push his political agenda just makes the whole thing even worse.

I spent every Saturday for almost three years, with a wonderful, kind man who was at the D-Day landings, and all this makes me feel extremely ill. He's gone now, but I can only imagine his reaction at seeing Australia's prime minister exploit his sacrifice and the sacrifice of his friends and colleagues in this crude, tacky way.

If you still don't get it, Abbott was using words and imagery of brave men from World War 2 to trigger an emotional reaction in the reader, and viewer, of his written and video media release.

This is an ugly, utterly cynical PR technique to soften you up with emotional triggers, so that what follows - his agenda relating to the axing of the carbon and mining taxes, cutting of red tape and "open for business" propaganda - will lock into your emotions, will etch his messages into your thoughts and memory. This is why the 'D-Day To The Carbon Tax' media release begins and ends with lines about the D-Day landings and World War 2.

The veterans got 5 lines, his right wing, IPA think-tank propaganda got six paragraphs, in a release headlined '70th Anniversary Of The D-Day Landings.'

It was an attempt to purposely link events from World War 2 with his current agenda, and make you feel less opposed to his plans, and his Budget. And also to pressure his political opponents to dropping their opposition to his policies.

It wasn't a "blunder."

It was extremely purposeful.

They did exactly what they intended to do, Abbott read it all aloud in a video, and his office only changed it all around when people were literally repulsed and sickened.

Think about the political agenda, the PR techniques, the emotional triggering, behind all this the next time a politician tries to use past wars to ram through whatever the people are currently opposed to. It's a foul, odious and downright dirty trick. Exploiting war veterans to push unpopular political agendas has been used before, and no doubt it will be used again, as long as politicians aren't held to account and made to pay for this kind of emotional abuse.

It's hard to believe Tony Abbott hasn't announced his resignation.

Instead, he's going to tour World War 2 cemeteries and memorials in Europe, and pose with veterans for photos and hold media conferences to cash-in further, to further plunder the D-Day anniversary for his political ends.

'This is the way it's always been,' some might say, 'this is what politicians do.' That doesn't make it right.

They will stop doing it, when the public says, "Enough."

(Images and screengrabs via Twitter)


From The Orstrahyun Archive....

Tony Abbott's Gruesome Attack On A Dying Man

Tony Abbott: What A Scumbag Part One

Tony Abbott: What A Scumbag Part Two

Abbott Threatens "Very Dire Consequences" For Australians If They Don't Vote Howard

Abbott Attacks Australians For Demanding The Very Best From Their Politicians

Gruesome Racism Of Christian Mission Propaganda

It's still hard to believe PR films like the one linked below, from 2.30 minutes in, were made to pave over the heartbreak and lifelong misery dealt out to Aboriginals over the stealing of their land and their children. The narration of is practically gleeful, and these kind of films were shown in cinemas, in schools, in government offices to staff, across Australia and England from the 1930s to the 1960s. Such films were made to convince those concerned by the purposeful destruction of Aboriginal culture and heritage and families that it was done "for their own good."

'Happy HalfCaste Girls In The Orphanage'

The counterpoint of an Aboriginal man detailing their rich lives and cultural lifestyles before the stealing of land and children began is jarring.


Here's the transcript, via The Australian Screen Office :

This clip shows black-and-white archival footage of Indigenous Australians engaged in traditional ceremonial activities, building a shelter, fishing with spears and collecting food. This footage includes narration by Aboriginal activist Mick Miller, who details the treatment of Indigenous people since Australia was colonised by the British in 1788. The second half of the clip shows footage of Indigenous people on a Christian mission in the 1930s. The original narration, included with this footage, claims that the missions are giving Indigenous people 'the benefits of civilisation’ and includes the intertitle 'Happy halfcaste girls in the orphanage’.

Mick Miller, narrator When the British, to use their word, “discovered” Australia, we had already been here for at least 60,000 years. Our culture was rich and complex. Based on a deep spiritual affinity for the land. The land is our mother. It is the source of all life and meaning to us. We were on the continent in small clan groups. We had no need for houses of parliament, or cathedrals, paved roads or fences, but the white man took that as evidence of our backwardness. They called us savages, subhumans. We were shot, poisoned, kept in chains. Our women were raped. They drove us from our land, and they desecrated it. Later, they decided to civilise us, to make us like themselves.

Original narration from Christian mission footage The Australian blacks are a vanishing race no longer. Earnest efforts by those who know and understand them are today bettering the condition of the Aborigines. The blacks are encouraged to live the old free life, but they are given the benefits of civilisation as well. And one big benefit is regular meals. Rations are issued to all who apply, and there’s no reluctance to apply. Some are reluctant to go. Along with the bucks and the youngsters, the women get their food the new way, but they still carry their babies the old way. The piccaninnies take their exercise seriously, even if some of them take it a bit out of time. “Well, how do you like this fella (inaudible), Mary? Too much altogether walkabout (inaudible).” So the good work of the Sacred Heart missionaries turns a primitive people into a happy, healthy community.

Mick Miller In less than 150 years, our ancient civilisation had been destroyed. It was accepted that we were doomed to extinction. We had become marginal people in our own country. Our land was now their land. 

John Pilger's Utopia Hits Home

John Pilger's extraordinary, jaw-dropping, heart-breaking but totally eye-opening documentary Utopia screened across Australia on SBS tonight. Utopia is one of the most important films ever made in Australia, about Australia, about its secret past, and its secret present.


Although mostly ignored by mainstream media, and unable to even get a distribution deal, initially, Utopia was still seen by more than 100,000 people in parks, churches, school halls and community halls across Australia, in dozens of communities.

The reaction on Twitter to Utopia airing on SBS was intense.

For a few minutes, a documentary about Aboriginals topped the Twitter trending topics for Australia. Shortly after, it locked in between AFL and NRL trending topics. If you know the volume of celebrity and sports and boy pop band related tweets that usually result in a subject trending, you will understand just how massive the public reaction to Utopia on SBS was. And it was on SBS, not on a commercial channel.

Tens of thousands of tweets were posted, quoting from the documentary, airing feels of shock, dismay, anger but almost overall a sense of betrayal. Not just betrayal by Aboriginals on social media still waiting for justice, but from people all over the country who had never been told most of the information in Utopia, by teachers, by the media, by history books. How did we not know all this? How can so much be hidden?



Films can change societies, and for now at least, it feels like Utopia will help Aboriginals in their fight for justice, and full recognition. It certainly got people talking. And that's a start, isn't it? At least people know more than they did a few years ago.




Here are photos from the first screening of John Pilger's Utopia, at 'The Block' in Redfern. More than 4000 people turned out to watch the documentary, and Aboriginals traveled from across Australia to be there, and to speak, passionately, about the stories of Aboriginal heroes and their battles for justice featured in the film. I'm haunted to this day by the cries of pain and anguish from some of the Aboriginal men and women in the crowd, when they saw images of dead friends, or relatives, or stolen children from their ancestral lands. I doubt I will ever go to another film screening where emotions were so raw, and the joy at truth finally being told was so overwhelming.

You can buy a DVD of Utopia here. It's archival footage, alone, is worth keeping a permanent copy of, but the story in total is something you should share with people who don't know, including your children, or your grandchildren. It is the truth of Australia.