You know when Howard made that "non-core" promise excuse?...

...except, as it turns out, HE NEVER DID! I am absolutely gobsmacked about this. How many years now has this been an uncontested part of Australia's political landscape and memory? How many times, especially in out "world class" media, has it been repeated as fact? And yet, buried away in The Australian's Cut & Paste section today is the truth. It started as a comment by Peter Costello that got twisted and then put into the mouth of John Howard by a Labour senator. Peter Costello's budget statement, August 20, 1996: BUDGET measures have focused on reducing waste and duplication, targeting expenditure on those activities that deliver the greatest benefit to the community and eliminating or scaling back non-core activities. The next day Labor's John Faulkner takes Costello's words and puts them in Howard's mouth: COULD Senator [Robert] Hill explain to the Senate why Mr Howard redefined the election promises that he did not intend to keep as "non-core" election commitments? Hartcher in The Sydney Morning Herald, November 8, 2007: HOWARD invented a new concept in evasiveness yesterday to add to his other creations, the "non-core" promise and the "two-night" promise. Indeed, what part did our "world class" media play is propagating and spreading the meme? Follow the link, there's more.