Politics is persuasion and "to be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible" wrote the American journalist Edward R Murrow.
It is Alice in Wonderland territory, Orwellian almost, for any government of any political persuasion to seek to come along and try to rewrite the lexicon.
There is no love lost between them, although they are of the same political party persuasion and have similar federalist views.
"I know the argument that you persuade Auntie Doris to take her life because then you inherit the money, but you've got to have two doctors to certify that you are mentally competent and you are making a rational, well-informed decision on your own, without persuasion," he says.
Do we assume that the views we hold are ones that, with enough persuasion, everyone will come to adopt?
He may believe that his own powers of persuasion can overcome decades of history; his rebellious MPs – especially after a Ukip kicking – may not agree.
With the unions in retreat, Murray did not possess the powers of persuasion to lead a strong counter campaign.
It is Alice in Wonderland territory, Orwellian almost, for any government of any political persuasion to seek to come along and try to rewrite the political lexicon".
Brandis sparked a heated debate the previous evening when he stated that no Australian government of either political persuasion "acknowledges or accepts" the use of the word occupied.
Such an atrocity, had it been committed by any Arab or Iranian, or indeed a Muslim of any persuasion, would have brought down instant punishment, or even war.
Without the persuasion of the public, via the media, that Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat, could there have been an Iraq invasion?
