Cash for turnbacks makes world news

For all the wrong reasons. Yep, this is our glorious PM proceeding to further trash our already shredded international reputation. Is there any lower that the Abbott gov can go?

Australia’s global reputation has taken another drubbing this week. Reports far and wide have highlighted ‘bribery’, ‘democracy undermined’, ‘abandonment of good government’ and ‘Australia plumbing new depths’. 

‘Australia paid traffickers’ declared The Daily Star in distant Bangladesh. 

‘Pressure building on the Australian Government over alleged payoffs to traffickers’, claimed Mexico’s Sin Embargo. 

Similar negative reports have appeared as far away as Haiti, Argentina, Colombia, Kenya, Lebanon, Qatar, Tahiti, Slovakia, Russia, and Somalia. Critical coverage also appeared in the countries which routinely report Abbott’s gaffes and policy disasters: New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, France, the USA, Canada, Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Japan, China, India, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, Sweden and Indonesia. 

Those include virtually all Australia’s trade and security partners. more