Argument lost.

When the Liberal Opposition frontbench behave in this way, it is no wonder that their supporters feel they too can argue against facts, and use their own, or repeated, mistruths in political discussions. A recent comment on my blog is a great illustration of this type of empty rhetoric.

‘The usual rantings of the entitlement society left wing. Gillard is the worst PM since Whitlam, and her failed policies have increased Australia’s debt by many billions. Pink bats, NBN, illegals arriving by the boatload, the lies of the global warming scam – all propped up by the marxist greens. Hardly a success.’

It’s really difficult to respond to a comment like this.

When someone is in complete denial of facts, and is living on Bullshit Mountain, there’s no point trying to have a respectful discussion with them.

When the Leader of the Opposition is constantly calling asylum seekers ‘illegals’; when the Shadow Treasurer paints the best performing economy in the developed world as a debt catastrophe; and when climate change deniers are repeatedly given mainstream media credibility, it’s no wonder Liberal supporters feel justified in living in a deluded fact-free world.

http://www.independentaustralia.net/2012/politics/living-on-bullshit-mountain/

Malcolm Turnbull thinks that it has never been easier to get away with a glib one-liner. Ben Eltham rates that claim "half true".

"Opinion is free, but facts are sacred," wrote long-time editor of the Manchester Guardian, CP Scott, in 1921.

Scott's epistle is often-quoted but little-read, despite being instantly available on the web. Perhaps that's an apt metaphor for the state of the public sphere in 2012. Facts have never been as easy to verify; on the other hand, news and journalism has never seemed so skewed by the opinions of those writing it.

Over the silly season, Liberal front-bencher Malcolm Turnbull waded into this morass. He gave a speech at the Woodford Folk Festival after Christmas, in which he criticised the rapidly intensifying media cycle for failing to scrutinise politicians telling fibs.

"It has never been easier to get away with the glib one-liner," he told festival-goers.

The Member for Wentworth called on Australian entrepreneurs to establish an online fact-checking service, similar to US examples like Politifact or FactCheck.org.

There has already been some interesting commentary about his remarks, from both bloggersand the mainstream media. But what about fact-checking Turnbull himself? Is the Australian media really as gullible as he claims?

Using Politifact's sliding scale of truthfulness, I'd rate that claim "half-true". Some of what Turnbull had to say at Woodford was bang-on. Some of it was clearly exaggerated.

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/4448492.html?WT.svl=theDrum

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has attacked the Coalition's broadband internet policy, declaring that many parts of Australia will become "economic backwaters" under Tony Abbott's plan. 

Mr Rudd has used a wide-ranging speech to the Urban Development Institute in Melbourne to defend Labor's legacy of infrastructure investment and education spending, arguing it will help Australia take advantage of new opportunities in Asia. 

He says the economic benefits of the multi-billion dollar National Broadband Network (NBN) will be "mind blowing", but would be put at risk by a future Coalition government. 

"Over 12 years in office, there was something like 12 Coalition plans to roll out broadband across Australia. They all failed," Mr Rudd told the audience. 

"And Mr Abbott's plan for the future appears to be the same again.

"This will render our major cities and our regional centres absolute economic backwaters compared to the rest of the world, which is heading in exactly the reverse direction." 

Under the Coalition's broadband plan, fibre optic cable would be connected to neighbourhood 'nodes' instead of individual homes, which would reduce the rollout time and cut back the cost. 

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-03-07/coalition-broadband-plan-would-create-27economic-backwaters27/4558124