Ms Gillard, he declared over and over regarding the carbon tax promise, was a liar.

If that were so, then so now is he.

Leaving aside for the moment the changes that have occurred and those foreshadowed to education, health and pensions, plus the recent call for a debate on the GST, the cuts announced on Wednesday to the ABC and SBS, which come on top of earlier funding reductions, are perfectly explicit broken election promises.

Abbott, his Treasurer, Joe Hockey, and his Communications Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, can do no more than hope that the lie in retrospect about what would happen to the two public broadcasters is not as potent across the electorate as the carbon tax proved to be.

Their problem, however, is twofold: the fact that the Abbott government has broken other promises, and the perception that it has broken many more, even if it hasn't quite yet.