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Lies and Falsehoods: The Morrison Government and the New Culture of Deceit
Lies and The Morrison Government and The New Culture of Deceit by well-known political journalist Bernard Keane combines Crikey's eye-opening dossier of Scott Morrison's documented lies with Keane's insightful take on why deceivers dominate in the new era of politics. This book is the first in The Crikey Read series by Crikey and Hardie Grant Books.All politicians lie. They twist the truth, exaggerate and spin. But blatant lying has now become a standard part of political discourse, led by Donald Trump and carried on by Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison. Combine this with an all-out assault on the truth in public debate along with the biggest communications revolution since the printing press, and you have a disaster in real a sea of fake news, hyper-partisanship and polarisation.No society or democracy can function without trust, and the consequences of this profound shift are clear. The first step to a remedy is in understanding both the liars and the environments in which they lie. Lies and Falsehoods does exactly that, in this highly readable and incisive account of how we found ourselves in this fractured post-truth world, and how we might get out.From Crikey and Hardie Grant Books, The Crikey Read is a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.
- GenresNonfictionPolitics
122 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 17, 2021
9 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Bernard Keane
4 books8 followersBernard Keane is the politics editor for Crikey and is a former senior public servant.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 21, 2021
Excellent essay by Bernard Keane. I have now reached peak Scott for 2021 and can no longer read anything about him or his lies for the remainder of 2021.
January 10, 2022
I have been studying, teaching and working in Australian politics for nearly 50 years and I have never seen anything like Scott Morrison. While he is not as narcissistic or delusional as Donald Trump, Morrison lies like an 8 year old caught out doing something bad. Because his lies usually have the full support of Newscorp he gets away with a lot more than he should and his blatant falsehoods are not subject to the sort of scrutiny that they should be. The origins and nature of Morrison's culture of lying are documented in this book and compared to his contemporaries Trump and Boris Johnson. A well-researched and well-organised coverage of the record of the "liar from the Shire" including an appendix with three dozen examples of proven lies and falsehoods to support the claims in this book. A sad but worthy read about the parlous state of honesty in political life and the consequences if we allow it to continue. Poor fella my country!
December 1, 2021
Concise and clear-eyed analysis of the explosion in calculated lying in contemporary politics, focusing on Australia’s Scott Morrison, but also taking in the Big Daddy of the fibbers, Donald Trump, and the clownish UK fop, Boris Johnson.
This book began as a series on Morrison’s falsehoods in the political blog Crikey by journalist and former public servant Bernard Keane. And you can see pretty quickly that this is really not much more than attempt to pad that out.
Still, Keane has a better grip than most on the underlying causes and consequences of the epidemic of mendacity in our democracies. And he is at his best in these parts, rather than in the reciting of Morrison’s porkies.
I especially like the fact that he doesn’t pin all the blame on the politicians themselves, pointing out “the wicked problem” that a solid chunk of the Australian electorate aren’t particularly interested in verifiable facts unless those facts match up with their own in-group views.
It’s also refreshing that Keane doesn’t get bogged down in an examination of the individual failures of particular journalists or media organisations, noting instead that the slow demise of legacy media and public interest journalism has resulted in politicians now consistently getting away with telling the public that black is white.
Keane’s most pertinent observation, however, is linking the growth of truth-optional populism and the cynical scapegoating of minorities by populist leaders to the growth in economic insecurity. This insecurity in turn results from the expectations of neoliberalism and its unrelenting focus on individual achievement alienated from the support of community or government.
“Greater tribalism is an inevitable result as individuals discover they are deprived of a way to fulfil the identity imposed on them by economy. As a result, they turn to non-economic forums of identity, particularly related to race and ethnicity, but also sexuality and geography.”
Politicians are lying at an industrial level about everything, therefore, because the dominant economic system we live under and which they keep alive for the real elites is so oppressive that honesty is out of the question.
This book began as a series on Morrison’s falsehoods in the political blog Crikey by journalist and former public servant Bernard Keane. And you can see pretty quickly that this is really not much more than attempt to pad that out.
Still, Keane has a better grip than most on the underlying causes and consequences of the epidemic of mendacity in our democracies. And he is at his best in these parts, rather than in the reciting of Morrison’s porkies.
I especially like the fact that he doesn’t pin all the blame on the politicians themselves, pointing out “the wicked problem” that a solid chunk of the Australian electorate aren’t particularly interested in verifiable facts unless those facts match up with their own in-group views.
It’s also refreshing that Keane doesn’t get bogged down in an examination of the individual failures of particular journalists or media organisations, noting instead that the slow demise of legacy media and public interest journalism has resulted in politicians now consistently getting away with telling the public that black is white.
Keane’s most pertinent observation, however, is linking the growth of truth-optional populism and the cynical scapegoating of minorities by populist leaders to the growth in economic insecurity. This insecurity in turn results from the expectations of neoliberalism and its unrelenting focus on individual achievement alienated from the support of community or government.
“Greater tribalism is an inevitable result as individuals discover they are deprived of a way to fulfil the identity imposed on them by economy. As a result, they turn to non-economic forums of identity, particularly related to race and ethnicity, but also sexuality and geography.”
Politicians are lying at an industrial level about everything, therefore, because the dominant economic system we live under and which they keep alive for the real elites is so oppressive that honesty is out of the question.
November 19, 2021
Tad Short but honest.
Honestly liked the book, but could have been a bit longer. The protection that Morrison gains from the Murdoch empire and thus mainstream media despite his Trumpian attacks is astounding.
Honestly liked the book, but could have been a bit longer. The protection that Morrison gains from the Murdoch empire and thus mainstream media despite his Trumpian attacks is astounding.
February 6, 2022
All politicians lie. We, the public, seem to know this, to accept it, and to even expect it. As this book states: ‘Lying is an essential part of statecraft’.
But then, there are those lies that blatantly contradict known truths or that are clearly intended to deceive. Where they are used to assert to the public that black is white. This book is about such lies.
Focusing on Australia, but also looking further afield, it is a sad reflection that blatant lying seems to have become the norm across the world.
This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in public affairs, in politics or in journalism.
But then, there are those lies that blatantly contradict known truths or that are clearly intended to deceive. Where they are used to assert to the public that black is white. This book is about such lies.
Focusing on Australia, but also looking further afield, it is a sad reflection that blatant lying seems to have become the norm across the world.
This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in public affairs, in politics or in journalism.
March 29, 2022
our world sucks.
January 19, 2022
The opening line of this book is ‘The Prime Minister of Australia is a liar’ and then goes into excellent detail articulating how this statement is accurate. It’s a concise read, well planned and executed. The dossier at the end of all the lies and falsehoods that Scott Morrison has uttered and then Crikey has fact checked is just… excruciating. Not because the author is wrong. But because the author is right. And ScoMo is still the PM….
January 1, 2022
This aught to be mandatory reading for everyone who votes, and those teenagers that reached the ‘age of reason’ :). Reasons are presented on why many/some/all politicians lie, with the key thesis that they do so because we let them get away with it. Don’t! Ever! Morrison is in the same league as Trump, Johnson and Bolsinaro, but probably minor league.
December 18, 2022
4 ☆
Finished reading ... Lies and Falsehoods: The Morrison Government and the new culture of deceit / Bernard Keane ... 30 April 2022
ISBN: 9781743798355 119 pp.
While this book is written about the Australian situation, it has relevance for the UK and the US.
Starting at the end, this Crikey Read finishes with a dossier of 36 lies and falsehoods from the mouth of Morrison. The standards seem quite stringent. My gut feel is that the number is much higher. However, there is a dossier that is now up to 50 (as at 05/05/2022) at https://www.crikey.com.au/dossier-of-...
To begin with, there is some discussion about truth. Stating the obvious really but the obvious isn't much in evidence these days. No society can function without trust. … Lying dissolves the trust that glues us together as a functional society. (p.3) It then goes on to discuss Australian, UK and US leaders who are renowned for lying.
But is it really lying? The end point still destroys trust but the author makes a distinction between a bullshitter and a liar. He uses Tony Abbott as an example of a bullshitter – he says whatever suits his purpose at any given moment, he lies (has famously admitted it) and doesn't care who knows it. On the other hand, Keane describes Morrison as a liar – when caught out in a lie he denies it through outright denial (“I never said that.”), bluster and diversion. He has famously said he does not lie, has never told a lie in public life.
Further it discusses the media and lying, how we've got to the situation we're in, the problems with misinformation and the internet, and how the problem isn't only politicians and the media, it is us.
As for what can be done …. that's depressing. No quick fix and the long term is problematic.
Which leaves me thinking …. in the meantime, it seems that our best bet is to call out the lies when we hear them and don't vote for liars. A Herculean task.
This is a must read for all those who aren't interested in politics, or think politics is beneath them. If only - because they're the ones whose votes ultimately decide the composition and therefore the style of the governments we get.
Borrowed from my local library.
Finished reading ... Lies and Falsehoods: The Morrison Government and the new culture of deceit / Bernard Keane ... 30 April 2022
ISBN: 9781743798355 119 pp.
While this book is written about the Australian situation, it has relevance for the UK and the US.
Starting at the end, this Crikey Read finishes with a dossier of 36 lies and falsehoods from the mouth of Morrison. The standards seem quite stringent. My gut feel is that the number is much higher. However, there is a dossier that is now up to 50 (as at 05/05/2022) at https://www.crikey.com.au/dossier-of-...
To begin with, there is some discussion about truth. Stating the obvious really but the obvious isn't much in evidence these days. No society can function without trust. … Lying dissolves the trust that glues us together as a functional society. (p.3) It then goes on to discuss Australian, UK and US leaders who are renowned for lying.
But is it really lying? The end point still destroys trust but the author makes a distinction between a bullshitter and a liar. He uses Tony Abbott as an example of a bullshitter – he says whatever suits his purpose at any given moment, he lies (has famously admitted it) and doesn't care who knows it. On the other hand, Keane describes Morrison as a liar – when caught out in a lie he denies it through outright denial (“I never said that.”), bluster and diversion. He has famously said he does not lie, has never told a lie in public life.
Further it discusses the media and lying, how we've got to the situation we're in, the problems with misinformation and the internet, and how the problem isn't only politicians and the media, it is us.
As for what can be done …. that's depressing. No quick fix and the long term is problematic.
Which leaves me thinking …. in the meantime, it seems that our best bet is to call out the lies when we hear them and don't vote for liars. A Herculean task.
This is a must read for all those who aren't interested in politics, or think politics is beneath them. If only - because they're the ones whose votes ultimately decide the composition and therefore the style of the governments we get.
Borrowed from my local library.
November 24, 2021
The book starts well, exposing the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, as a liar. Unfortunately it does not live up to the promise. It appears that this began life as a good article for a weekend paper but, to justify its publication as a book, the author padded it out. He spends chapters talking about Trump and Johnson and even diverts to Bolsonaro and Modi among others. The result is that he obscures his message. In the end Morrison is depicted as just a typical example of a contemporary political leader.
December 25, 2021
Lies are blatant contradictions of what is known to be true; remarks that have a clear intention to deceive. Falsehoods where facts are denied or rejected; statements that clearly contradict previous statement so the listener is misled as to the facts. Both are intended to mislead; both should not be the modus operandum of prime ministers who use both to hide the incompetence of their leadership and their governments. This is true of Bolsanaro, Johnson, Trump, and of course Scott Morrison. A further distinction between liars like the above named, and bullshitters, like Tony Abbott, is that the truth doesn’t come into it and he doesn’t care if people know he is lying; whereas Morrison lies to conceal the truth, Abbott bullshits at random. After summarizing the usual sort of lying that politicians have always used, Scott Morrison is labelled liar-in-chief, with some samples, often to do with his passion for secrecy. Trump’s lies are addressed to what his base wants to hear. We then sample Boris Johnson, the media, the internet and social media, George W Bush who lied more than we seemed to realise starting with WMDs in Iraq, bringing in Blair and Howard, of war criminal status all of them. One chapter seems to be an attempt to shift the blame on to us. We blame Morrison for lying, but who do Morrison’s base blame? Us of course, So we need to cooperate and become one, not members of opposing bases. That assumes Albanese is as bad a liar as is Morrison when he is not, on any objective assessment. But Keane redeems himself in the last chapter ‘The Dossier’, consisting of 36 lies and falsehoods fully documented. Thank you Bernard. Trouble is half of us will cry ‘Horror! How can that man be returned as PM?’, the other half will ignore it or more likely never read such stuff about their daggy dad PM. The writing is a bit hurried, revealing its origins in a daily online magazine, but the importance of what is said is overwhelming, for democracy itself is at stake.
May 14, 2022
I despise Scott Morrison. He’s a liar and a bully, every word written about him is true. This book is correct in its assertions on that. However, this book is also terrible. And this isn’t a review on ScoMo, or on whether I agree with the book, it’s a review of the books quality.
It’s extensively padded for a book that’s actually less than 100 pages in the end. It’s almost entirely a rehash of well known talking points about Donald trump (and occasionally Boris Johnson) with a crude ‘and Australia is replicating that pattern too but different’ tacked on the end of each chapter. Ideas are poorly explained, there’s very little connection drawn between the information displayed and the claims being made about the new ‘era of deceit’ the two feel very separate. The first few chapters reference ‘The Assault on Truth’ by Peter Oborne so often I began to wonder whether I should just be reading that instead. The last chapters make constant reference to the writers previous book, including a whole chapter on internet culture that feels copied and pasted as the info in it ends up relating very little to the thesis statement of the book.
There’s plenty of content this book could’ve delved into, instead it stays in the shallow end and strained to fill 100 pages even when talking mostly about modern politics’ most commonly documented liar. Poorly executed, 1.5-2 stars on a good day
It’s extensively padded for a book that’s actually less than 100 pages in the end. It’s almost entirely a rehash of well known talking points about Donald trump (and occasionally Boris Johnson) with a crude ‘and Australia is replicating that pattern too but different’ tacked on the end of each chapter. Ideas are poorly explained, there’s very little connection drawn between the information displayed and the claims being made about the new ‘era of deceit’ the two feel very separate. The first few chapters reference ‘The Assault on Truth’ by Peter Oborne so often I began to wonder whether I should just be reading that instead. The last chapters make constant reference to the writers previous book, including a whole chapter on internet culture that feels copied and pasted as the info in it ends up relating very little to the thesis statement of the book.
There’s plenty of content this book could’ve delved into, instead it stays in the shallow end and strained to fill 100 pages even when talking mostly about modern politics’ most commonly documented liar. Poorly executed, 1.5-2 stars on a good day
August 16, 2023
A great read for anyone seriously into Australian politics…
Only a fairly short book (103 pages – more like a long essay or treatise), it looks in detail into the Liar from the Shire and his works…and considers this all from political, societal, media and communications viewpoints.
Very well written and easy to read, it also compares Scomo with other populist leaders such as Trump, Boris Johnson, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi of India and Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
Makes a lot of logical & philosophical connections in regard to truth in politics- and helps joins the political and social dots in the maelstrom of politics in the ‘post-truth’ era of the internet, social media and fake news.
I consider myself reaonably well versed with political matters – but this book still gave me a few ‘ahhhhh’ moments as the blocks fell nicely into place in examining how things ‘worked’ under Scomo’s watch…
I’d highly recommend this one together with ‘QAnon And On’ by Van Badham as a good combo cutting a fair swathe through the modern Anglophone political situation.
Only a fairly short book (103 pages – more like a long essay or treatise), it looks in detail into the Liar from the Shire and his works…and considers this all from political, societal, media and communications viewpoints.
Very well written and easy to read, it also compares Scomo with other populist leaders such as Trump, Boris Johnson, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi of India and Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
Makes a lot of logical & philosophical connections in regard to truth in politics- and helps joins the political and social dots in the maelstrom of politics in the ‘post-truth’ era of the internet, social media and fake news.
I consider myself reaonably well versed with political matters – but this book still gave me a few ‘ahhhhh’ moments as the blocks fell nicely into place in examining how things ‘worked’ under Scomo’s watch…
I’d highly recommend this one together with ‘QAnon And On’ by Van Badham as a good combo cutting a fair swathe through the modern Anglophone political situation.
December 18, 2022
I certainly wasn't a fan of Prime Minister Scott Morrison (anything but a fan), but did we really need a compilation of lies and falsehoods he told, accompanied by opinion and assertion, rather than original insight and research? Probably not. Nothing at all new and original here, and it was hard to see the point. Unfortunately this kind of book is becoming all too common as either publishers or the reading public grasp for opinion to consume rather than issues, principles, or research to grapple with.
The two stars are for some mildly entertaining writing in parts.
The two stars are for some mildly entertaining writing in parts.
March 30, 2022
3.5 stars
A disturbing but unsurprising account of the Australian prime minister’s political style and m.o.
Keane directly links Morrison’s falsehoods to trends already happening in the U.S. and U.K., specifically the terms of Trump and Boris Johnson. I kept wondering “why” and “how”, until I got to this: “A democracy is only as good as its electorate…” And I feel that the Australian voters have already abdicated their role to “keep the bastards honest” (Don Chipp, 1980)
A disturbing but unsurprising account of the Australian prime minister’s political style and m.o.
Keane directly links Morrison’s falsehoods to trends already happening in the U.S. and U.K., specifically the terms of Trump and Boris Johnson. I kept wondering “why” and “how”, until I got to this: “A democracy is only as good as its electorate…” And I feel that the Australian voters have already abdicated their role to “keep the bastards honest” (Don Chipp, 1980)
September 20, 2023
really enjoyed this! very witty/sarcastic writing, extremely accessible and not filled with jargon. really enjoyed the international comparisons of leaders, as well as the commentary on the acceptance of lying. it says a lot that lying doesn't hold candidates back from being leaders of countries. also appreciated analysis of how economic circumstances (ie. GFC) can increase populism and polarisation. worth the read
March 24, 2024
This was a bit less focused on the Morrison Government than I had anticipated, instead meandering over the well-trodden ground of Trump Nd Johnson and their lies.
That said, in 2024, the Morrison/COVID years are like a dream after eating too much cheese... did that really happen?
That said, in 2024, the Morrison/COVID years are like a dream after eating too much cheese... did that really happen?
March 10, 2023
The book is OK but I thought I would enjoy it more than what I did.
March 12, 2023
Cheerful little reminder.
October 15, 2022
Already slightly dated but that is the nature of politics - everything is yesterday’s news!!
But a damning indictment of the previous coalition government’s appalling, manipulative management of what they did, what they hid from the Australian public but equally what they didn’t do and the legacies it has left!!
Scott Morrison should rightly go down as THE worst PM this country has ever had and since this book has come out even more revelations have been revealed!!
But a damning indictment of the previous coalition government’s appalling, manipulative management of what they did, what they hid from the Australian public but equally what they didn’t do and the legacies it has left!!
Scott Morrison should rightly go down as THE worst PM this country has ever had and since this book has come out even more revelations have been revealed!!
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews