Don’t blame me, they just put my signature on the letters. That pretty much was the Tony Abbott reaction to criticism that a Liberal Party email sent in his name which criticised the government’s flood recovery tax/levy ended with a link: “Click to donate to help our campaign against Labor’s flood tax”. He told a press gathering “the donation information was added by the Liberal Party and it’s quite standard practice for political parties to add this sort of information to their communications with supporters.” Why, even the Labor Party, he argued, had donations information on a flood-related email it sent out to its own supporters last week.
Perhaps the best thing for The Stump to do is let readers make up their own mind.
First of all the Julia Gillard flood relief letter:
And now the Tony Abbott contribution:
The appeal for funds by the Liberal Party is easy enough to spot but you need more of an eagle eye to spot Labor’s, hidden away as it is with all those other donation addresses for flood relief funds. So here it is – the little $ symbol at the top of the email:
5 Comments
For Abbott to say wtte “Labor seeks donations in their newsletters” is pure Abbott obfuscation. It won’t work for him this time.
* The ALP newsletter clearly and unambiguously directs the reader to where he/she can donate to the FLOOD APPEAL. Their link to invite people to donate to the party is not prominent nor obvious.
* The clear intention of the ALP Newsletter is to encourage readers to donate to the FLOOD APPEAL.
* The Liberal Newsletter is clearly and unambiguously designed to promote an ANTI-FLOOD LEVY political position. It then goes on to clearly and unambiguously invite the reader to donate to help the Liberal campaign against the “Flood Tax”
Abbott has seriously over-reached this time and exposed the dead heart of the Liberal party for all to see. He had the opportunity apologise for the email in a press conference this afternoon. He chose instead to try to say that there was nothing wrong with asking for donations for party political campaigns in this way.Abbott thus demonstrated that he doesn’t think he’s done anything wrong.
Do we really want our leaders picking over the misery and devastation of the floods like vultures, and trying to divert much needed money to promote their own sordid and amoral activities?
I am absolutely disgusted with this black caricature of a man and the heartless party he leads. Shame…Shame…Shame on you Mr Abbott.
I wonder how LNP supporters in Queensland are feeling about this. They can’t be all that happy with someone who opposes a levy to rebuild their state yet has no alternative solutions to offer.
This actually makes me a little uncomfortable.
I took (and returned fire!), a bit of ‘negative feedback’ for expressing concern that other global traumas were largely being ignored-namely Pakistan floods (where the Mater comes from).
BK has taken a walloping for criticising the levy.
My point?
It’s one hell of an emotive/emotional issue isn’t it?
‘Make your own judgment’: I won’t get Brownie points for seeing Gillards letter as utterly reeking of emotional blackmail!
She knew she could get away with this for precisely the reasons I’ve described. In an honourable endeavour for us to support fellow Australians, most of us have missed this.
It is not at all popular to acknowledge it.
Given the nature of Gillards letter,- the entreaty to donate, the obvious and appropriate thing would have been to remove that link.
Making it less obvious is open to two interpretations. If her letter is open and transparent,-then continue the ‘open’ format: make the donate link equally open! Or remove the bloody thing!
……………..sigh, I’ll say this yet again. I was born a Socialist; I’ll die a Socialist.
But I find the odious Abbott letter ‘preferable’. What utter heresy eh?.
Look what we do when we feel strongly! Gillard has played that like a fiddle. The Abbott makes some valid points, but because we are generous giving Australians we ignore them.
Gillard know full well that very many of us would. She knew it. She used it to the hilt.
Abbott DID NOT ask for people to divert their flood appeal donations to the Liberal Party to fight the levy. Read again.
ALL politicians have rat cunning-Abbott is at the head of that. So WHY has he put a donation link and its reason so openly displayed?
Not a popular view for me to express, is it?
What is clearly displayed on this blog should at the very least cause some question of Labor/Gillard tactics, but it seems it will not because we must be seen as loyal to this particular cause.
Gillard has absolutely milked that.
Elan, for those of us who donated to the Pakistani floods (and regarding the Australian government donation), do you know if the money is being used to help people yet?
From what I can read, I gather that most unhomed people are still in that state, and many are without clean water, food or basic shelter, let alone being able to recover from the disaster. And that worries me greatly, yet I can’t see what I can do about it.
In fact there is no problem, when they include names and or signature over any donations, giveaways or anything in cash or in kind. But if you are politics, though you have no other intentions but to help those who needs, this is something that can make difference on political name, some says these are just “black propaganda”.
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