All politicians lie. They twist the truth, exaggerate and spin.
In May 2021, Crikey published A Dossier of Lies and Falsehoods. Compiled by Crikey’s political editor Bernard Keane, the dossier was an uncomfortable but important investigation that exposed Australia’s prime minister as a systemic, consistent and unremitting public liar.
The response we had to the dossier was overwhelming. It seems that the public approves of public interest journalism, pure and simple.
The next step naturally, was for Bernard Keane to combine Crikey’s eye-opening dossier of Scott Morrison’s documented lies with an insightful take on why deceivers dominate in the new era of politics.
On the eve of the launch of the book, Crikey’s Janine Perrett chatted with the author Bernard Keane and the Executive Director of The Ethics Centre Dr Simon Longstaff about the investigation, the current state of honesty in politics and how we can improve the quality and trustworthiness of public debate.
This book is the first in The Crikey Read series by Crikey and Hardie Grant Books; a series that brings an unflinching and truly independent eye to the issues of the day in Australia and the world.