Australian Government follows UK lead and deletes prior speeches from the internet

Only two weeks after news broke that the UK conservative led Government had deleted all archives of many of its prior speeches from the internet, it has emerged that the Australian conservative led Government has also deleted its archive of speeches by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.The deleted speeches cover some of his most controversial positions, including those on climate change and abortion rights.The speeches had been available online at www.tonyabbott.com.au, but the site now redirects users to the party’s liberal.org.au. Its archive only goes back to July 2010.“Despite Mr Abbott becoming opposition leader on December 1, 2009, all his speeches and media statements before July 2010 have disappeared. And at least two recent transcripts have also been expunged from the public record,” the Sydney Morning Herald said.A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott said: "The Liberal Party website is being updated to provide a single website to access media releases, speeches and policy documents released prior to the election of the Coalition government."The pages have however been stored independently by the National Library of Australia.ABC political analyst Latika Bourke criticised the coalition today for refusing to allow users to comment on political videos uploaded to Youtube.

PM Abbott's 'social' media strategy? Uploads YouTube vid(s) but disables comments: http://t.co/r9uguAYYVv

— Latika Bourke (@latikambourke) December 2, 2013