I haven't moved on from "promulgated the lie." The initial statement (from a navy rep) that the children were thrown into the water was a lie. It was promulgated by the government....hence they promulgated the lie. As for whether they were lying themselves (IE knew the reports to be false) that's harder to discern. In the week leading up to the election when reports casting serious doubt on the truth of the story emerged, they stuck to the fiction that it was true. They wanted to go to the election maintaining their demonisation of asylum seekers.
