Mendaxocracy, Kakistocracy, Murdochracy & Corporatocracy Australia: Lazy ABC Grossly Undercounts Gaza Genocide
By Dr Gideon Polya
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (the ABC, Australia’s taxpayer-funded equivalent of the UK BBC) has an appalling record of under-counting Indigenous deaths in US wars. When a Palestinian activist referred to 680,000 Gaza deaths the ABC responded to complaints and offered 65,000 deaths. In reality Gaza deaths from violence and deprivation after 2 years of the Gaza Genocide and Gaza Holocaust now total 873,000 based on data in The Lancet.
In a July 2025 article Richard Hil and Gideon Polya, “Skewering History: The Odious Politics of Counting Gaza’s Dead”, Arena, 11 July 2025: https://arena.org.au/politics-of-counting-gazas-dead/ reported 680,000 Gaza “deaths from violence and deprivation” (Google this phrase) by 25 April 2025 as determined from data published by expert epidemiologists in the leading medical journal The Lancet. In short, these experts estimated 64,260 violent deaths by 30 June 2024 (Day 269 of the killing) which translates to 136,000 violent deaths by 25 April 2025 (Day 569 of the killing). They “conservatively” estimated 4 non-violent deaths from deprivation (indirect deaths) for every violent death (direct death), this indicating 544,000 indirect deaths, and hence a total of 680,000 deaths by 25 April 2025.
A post on X by Middle East Monitor about this article (indicating 680,000 Gaza deaths by 25 April 2025 based on data from expert epidemiologists published in the leading medical journal The Lancet) has now acquired 654,400 views: Middle East Monitor, “680,000 dead”, X, 13 September 2025: https://x.com/MiddleEastMnt/status/1966532981058605192 .
There have now been over 2 years of the Gaza Massacre, Gaza Genocide and Gaza Holocaust, and it is now estimated that in 2 years (731 days) about 873,000 Gazans have been killed by violence and deprivation (for details and exhaustive documentation see Gideon Polya, “Open Letter to Humanity re 680,000 Gaza deaths: End Israeli Occupation by SANCTIONS NOW”, Countercurrents, 29 September 2025: https://countercurrents.org/2025/09/open-letter-to-humanity-re-680000-gaza-deaths-end-israeli-occupation-by-sanctions-now/ ).
However the lazy ABC rejects this: “ABC NEWS | News Breakfast | Death toll in Gaza | 23 September 2025 | Resolved. Two audience members raised a concern that a guest interviewed on News Breakfast said that 680,000 people have been killed in Gaza which was not challenged by the presenters. That figure is unverified and no context about the source was provided in the interview. To address the concern, during the live program on 24 September 2025, News Breakfast made an on-air clarification stating that: “And we just want to clarify something said on the program yesterday. We invited Reem Burrows from the Palestine Australia Relief and Action Group on the program to discuss Australia's recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN. During that interview, she said it's reported over 680,000 people have been killed in Gaza, the current death toll from Gaza's Ministry of Health is more than 65,000" (ABC, Resolved complaint, 24 September 2025: https://www.abc.net.au/about/ombudsman/complaints/resolved/news-breakfast-death-toll-in-gaza/105810286 ).
My exhaustively referenced response to the lazy ABC takes the form of a quote from Gideon Polya, “Unforgivable 2-Year Gaza Massacre, Gaza Genocide & Gaza Holocaust By 50 Appalling Numbers”, Countercurrents, 14 October 2025: https://countercurrents.org/2025/10/unforgivable-2-year-gaza-massacre-gaza-genocide-gaza-holocaust-by-50-appalling-numbers/ (the numbers in square brackets refer to references in the 115-long list of references):
“(29). 872,000 Gaza “deaths from violence, 174,000, and deprivation, 698,000, by 7 October 2025 versus Mainstream reported “67,173” [38].
Reuters: “The latest detailed breakdown released by the Palestinian Ministry of Health on October 7[2025] showed 67,173 killed, including 20,179 children, accounting for 30% of the total… The numbers do not necessarily reflect all victims, as the + estimates several thousand bodies are under rubble and it does not count the 460 malnutrition-related deaths it has recorded amid a famine in North Gaza. Official Palestinian tallies of direct deaths likely undercounted the number of casualties by around 40% in the first nine months of the war as Gaza’s healthcare infrastructure disintegrated, according to a peer-reviewed study published in The Lancet journal in January. The U.N. human rights office also says the Palestinian authorities’ figure is probably an undercount” [38]. This is a 13-fold under-count that ignores (a) upwardly revised estimates of violent deaths to 174,625 after 2 years ([39] see also [40-42]) and (b) “Indirect deaths (non-violent deaths from deprivation) that are “conservatively” estimated as 4 times greater than Direct deaths (violent deaths) [43, 44].
An international team of expert epidemiologists published in The Lancet found that 64,260 Gazans had been killed violently by 30 June 2024 (Day 269 of the Gaza Genocide) [39]. Assuming the same rate of killing, this translates to 174,625 Direct (violent) deaths by 7 October 2025 (Day 731 i.e. after 2 years) [39-41]. However other expert epidemiologists published in The Lancet and elsewhere have “conservatively” estimated that deaths from deprivation (Indirect deaths) are 4 times the Direct deaths [43, 44], this implying 174,625 x 4 = 698,500 Indirect deaths and a total of 873,125 “deaths from violence and deprivation” (Google this phrase) by 7 October 2025 [40-42]. Euro-Med Monitor: “ The Israeli army killed 42,510 Palestinians over the course of the 200-day attack, 38,621 of whom were civilians, including 10,091 women and 15,780 children” [44]. Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has thus estimated that of deaths reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health the breakdown was 37.1% (children), 23.7% (women) and 39.1% (men) [45] (see also [46]) . Conservatively assuming that these proportions apply to the total of 873,000 Gaza deaths (and in particular ignoring the extreme vulnerability of infants [47]) indicates deaths of 324,000 children, 207,000 women and 341,000 men after 2 years of the Gaza Genocide [39-41] (for related articles see [48-81]).”
The ABC has an extremely bad record when it comes to reporting the Indigenous death toll in US wars. Thus on the occasion of the (incomplete) US withdrawal from Iraq in 2011, the ABC reported that “The withdrawal ends a war that left tens of thousands of Iraqis and nearly 4,500 American soldiers dead”. However the horrible reality is otherwise: 2.7 million Iraqi deaths from violence and deprivation in the 2003-2011 Iraqi Genocide and Iraqi Holocaust (Gideon Polya, “US-imposed Post-9/11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide”). There are 5 million orphans in Iraq - go figure.
Al Jazeera quotes the documented concerns of responsible and ethical ABC journalists: ““We’re worried the language we’re using in our coverage is askew, favoring the Israeli narrative over objective reporting. This is evident in our reluctance to use words such as ‘War crimes’, ‘Genocide”, ‘Ethnic cleansing’, ‘Apartheid’ and ‘Occupation’ to describe the various aspects of the Israeli practices in Gaza and the West Bank, even when the words are attributed to respectable organisations and sources,” staff said in the document, which is signed “Concerned ABC journalists and staff” and addressed to “managers and colleagues”. “Meanwhile, we’re quick to use ‘terrorist’, ‘barbaric’, ‘savage’ and ‘massacre’ when describing the October 7th attacks. Similarly, we regularly quote sources referring to highly contested claims made by Israel, but not those made by Palestinians and their supporters” (Lyndal Rowlands, Erin Hale and John Power, “ABC Australia staff’s concerns over pro-Israel bias revealed”, Al Jazeera, 26 March 2024: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/26/australias-abc-staffs-concerns-over-gaza-bias-revealed ).
The ABC Management re use of the words “genocide” and “apartheid” when covering the “conflict” in Gaza: “When it comes to the use of those terms, the ABC won’t report using them ourselves. What we do is report other people using them”(Calum Jasper, “Not our place to use terms like genocide and apartheid, says ABC boss”, Sydney Morning Herald, 17 November 2024: https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/not-our-place-to-use-terms-like-genocide-and-apartheid-says-abc-boss-20231117-p5ekrx.html . )
Mendaxocracy, Kakistocracy, Murdochracy, Kleptocracy, Plutocracy, Corporatocracy, Lobbyocracy and Dollarocracy Australia. The ABC is taxpayer-funded and is required to provided “balance” in its reporting. However the taxpayer-funded ABC operates in a neoliberal-, US-, Apartheid Israel- and Zionist-perverted, “look-the-other-way” Australia that is a:
(1). Mendaxocracy: Australia is ruled by pathological liars. Thus the ruling Centre-Right Labor Government and the Right-Far Right Coalition Opposition have made Australia complicit in the Gaza Genocide in 20 ways and lie for Apartheid Israel in 35 ways.
(2). Kakistocracy: Australia is ruled by the least competent. Thus Australia and the World are existentially threatened by nuclear weapons and climate change. However the US lackey Labor Government backed by the Coalition Opposition will provide bases for US soldiers, US electronic spying, American nuclear-armed B52 bombers and nuclear-armed submarines (this making Australia a prime nuclear target) and huge coal, gas and iron ore exports have put Australia among the world’s leading climate criminal countries. “Cack” means excrement.
(3). Murdochracy: The Far Right, king-making, US Murdoch media empire has 70% of the Australian city daily newspaper readership and has an enormous, malignant, Trumpist and Far Right political influence.
(4). Kleptocracy: The remorseless corporate neoliberals who are raping the Australian and global environment pay little or no tax on their gigantic profits made at the expense of future generations.
(5). Plutocracy: Australia is destructively dominated by the super-wealthy and the wealth inequality is steadily growing. As acutely observed by Thomas Piketty (“Capital in the Twenty-First Century”) huge wealth inequity is bad for the economy (the poor cannot afford to buy the goods and services they produce, like housing) and bad for democracy (Big Money purchases public perception of reality and hence gets more votes and more power).
(6) Corporatocracy, Lobbyocracy and Dollarocracy: Big Money corporations, lobbyists and super-wealthy have huge political power.
The core ethos of decent Humanity is Kindness and Truth. Being properly informed is crucial for a decent democracy. The consequences for Australian democracy of the presently dominant ruthless greed and mendacity are illustrated by the following Letters recently individually addressed to numerous major Australian Mainstream media but extremely unlikely to be published (see “Australian mainstream media lying & censorship”: https://sites.google.com/site/mainstreammedialying/australian-mainstream-media-lying-censorshp ):
23 October 2025. Eminent human rights lawyer Greg Barns commented “Albanese and Rudd sold out freedom of the press this week” over the exclusion of John Lyons (the ABC’s head journalist in Washington) from the important Albanese-Trump press conference. Overlapping a lengthy scientific career, for several decades I have been researching “deaths from violence and deprivation” (Google the phrase) in wars, occupations and hegemony, with my shocking findings published in a thousand huge and exhaustively referenced articles and 9 huge books but resolutely ignored by Mainstream media and politicians. I am proud that although rendered “invisible” in Australia I have defended in print (necessarily overseas) about 40 truth-telling Australian writers variously importuned in mendaxocracy (rule by liars) and kakistocracy Australia (ruled by the least competent). Indeed I was kindly praised in “History of Civil Liberties in Australia” for following my father Dr John Polya in resolutely exercising free speech. There should be zero tolerance for democracy-violating lying by commission and omission. However the only punishment for such lying should simply be the ignominy of public exposure and its political consequences. Labor and the Coalition are complicit in the Gaza Genocide in 20 ways and lie for Apartheid Israel in 35 ways.
22 October 2025. The core ethos of decent Humanity is Kindness and Truth. In science there is zero tolerance for lying. As a WW2 Jewish Holocaust-impacted, anti-racist Jewish Australian scientist and humanitarian writer with a sole national allegiance to Australia I am inescapably bound by the core moral messages from the WW2 Jewish Holocaust, all WW2 holocausts and indeed all genocides and holocausts, namely “zero tolerance for lying”, “zero tolerance for racism”, “bear witness “ and “never again to anyone”. Likewise in 2010 internationally famous anti-racist Jewish Australians Professors Peter Singer and Dennis Altman and numerous other anti-racist Jewish Australians signed a Letter denouncing and renouncing the Apartheid Israeli “Law of Return” that grants Israeli citizenship to Jews anywhere in the world “while Palestinians are excluded and continuously dispossessed”. The ABC permitted me to make 3 nation-wide broadcasts but then rendered me “invisible” for 20 years despite my thousand huge articles and 10 huge books. I have individually addressed thousands of carefully-researched Letters to Mainstream media but only a dozen have evaded the censor. Recently Pearls & Irritations published 10 of my submitted Letters in a row but then applied total censorship. For revelations Google “Australian Mainstream media lying & censorship”.
21 October 2023. In George Orwell’s “1984” Big Brother says: “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” and “2 plus 2 does not equal 4”. These Orwellian assertions have been realized in the Trump-Netanyahu Ceasefire in the Gaza Concentration Camp. Thus (1). “War is peace”: “Since the announcement of the “ceasefire” agreement, 97 Palestinians have been killed in 80 separate violations of the terms of the agreement by Israeli forces. In addition, 230 people have been injured in these attacks” (Andre Damon, Countercurrents). (2). “Freedom is slavery”: Gaza is still hermetically sealed off by air, land and sea by Apartheid Israel and is to be ruled by Trump (who supplied the weapons, bombs, shells, bullets and UN Security Council vetoes for the Gaza Genocide) and Tony Blair (responsible with George Bush for the 2.7 million Iraqis killed in the Iraqi Genocide). (3) “Ignorance is strength”: No journalists allowed into Gaza and 270 Gaza journalists killed by the US-backed Israelis. (4). “2 plus 2 does not equal 4”: 875,000 Gazan “deaths from violence and deprivation” (Google this) including 324,000 children, 207,000 women and 341,000 men (from data in The Lancet) whereas Mainstream media 13-fold under-report “68,000 Gaza dead”.
Final comments and conclusions.
Neoliberal-, US-, Apartheid Israel- and Zionist-perverted, “look-the-other-way”, and “bread and circuses” Mainstream Australia simply does not want to know. However with unaddressed systemic mendacity, record wealth disparity, an intractable housing crisis, record bush fires, record floods and record temperatures it is beginning to dawn on many that Australia is heading for a hard landing.
Dr Gideon Polya taught science students at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia over 4 decades. He published some 130 works in a 5 decade scientific career, notably a huge pharmacological reference text “Biochemical Targets of Plant Bioactive Compounds” (2003). He has also published “Body Count. Global avoidable mortality since 1950” (2007, 2021), “Jane Austen and the Black Hole of British History” (1998, 2008, 2022), “US-imposed Post-9-11 Muslim Holocaust & Muslim Genocide” (2020), “Climate Crisis, Climate Genocide & Solutions” (2020), “Free Palestine. End Apartheid Israel, Human Rights Denial, Gaza Massacre, Child Killing, Occupation and Palestinian Genocide” (2024), and contributed to Soren Korsgaard (editor) “The Most Dangerous Book Ever Published – Dangerous Deception Exposed!” (2020). For images of Gideon Polya’s huge paintings for the Planet, Peace, Mother and Child see: http://sites.google.com/site/artforpeaceplanetmotherchild/ .