Headline v Substance

The Dom Post has a headline and lead para of:

PM still backs Aussie plan of asylum seeker centre

Prime Minister John Key is still backing a proposed international detention centre for asylum seekers, despite Australian plans to base it in East Timor being in tatters.

Wow that sounds like the PM has come out strongly in favour of it, even after East Timor said “not here”. So what exactly did  he say:

A spokesman for Mr Key, who was sounded out about the plan in a 10-minute phone call from Ms Gillard while on an official trip to Asia, said he would continue discussions despite the East Timor vote.

“As we said last week, we are happy to have discussions with the Australians on the idea of a regional processing centre, but Mr Key has not spoken further with Julia Gillard on this issue.”

So in fact he said well nothing at all. His spokesperson merely said his position remains he is happy to have discussions, but in fact none have occurred since the initial call.