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Surprise! Robb’s nod to another broken promise

A Cabinet member has openly stated the government has broken a key election promise to be a “no surprises, no excuses” government.

Trade Minister Andrew Robb said the government didn’t “till the soil” before the election by disclosing many of the tougher measures the government later enacted.

RN Breakfast host Fran Kelly asked Mr Robb whether the NSW election result was an “unmistakeable lesson” for the Abbott Government about being “up front with the people” about tough decisions.

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“I do concede we did come out with surprises, reforms that we perhaps hadn’t tilled the soil with, and we hadn’t really alerted the community to the full nature of the problem. And that has cost us politically,” Mr Robb said.

Mr Robb also said that the government was up front about its boat turnback policy, which it then enacted.

But among the now broken promises not to cut the funding to education, to the ABC and SBS, to health, to pensions or changes to the GST, one bigger catch-all promise stands out.

“We will be a no surprises, no excuses government, because you are sick of nasty surprises and lame excuses from people that you have trusted with your future,” Tony Abbott said as opposition leader on August 25, 2013 in a Brisbane campaign speech.

The new tax discussion paper to be released Monday will query whether changes to the GST are necessary.

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