Posted
| UpdatedSPC Ardmona avoided closure last week when its parent company Coca-Cola Amatil and the Victorian Government announced a $100 million investment plan to keep the ailing company in operation.
ABC Fact Check examines the main claims and counter claims made about the conditions and entitlements of SPC Ardmona's workforce.
Topics: manufacturing, fruit, food-processing, rural, food-and-beverage, federal-government, australia, vic
Brendan O'Connor is incorrect to say the 2001 building royal commission cost $100 million in today's dollars.
Malcolm Turnbull is correct to say Australian farmers are among the least subsidised in the world.
Fact Check takes a look at whether governments can do anything to stop Schapelle Corby getting paid for telling her story.
Posted
| UpdatedOpposition Leader Bill Shorten says the level of subsides provided to car makers in Australia is lower than in other countries.
"Australia subsidises its car manufacturing in the order of about $17, whereas the Germans do it at about somewhere between $65 and $90 and the Americans, $250," Mr Shorten said.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: manufacturing, alp, bill-shorten, federal-government, australia, germany, united-states
Posted
| UpdatedIn a recent magazine interview, US president Barack Obama claimed that smoking marijuana was less dangerous than drinking alcohol.
ABC Fact Check takes a look at marijuana and alcohol usage in Australia and compares the health impacts of the two substances.
Topics: obama-barack, cannabis, drug-use, alcohol, health, mental-health, lung-cancer, liver-and-kidneys, alcohol-education, world-politics, drugs-and-substance-abuse, drug-education, australia, united-states
Posted
| UpdatedACTU president Ged Kearney has rejected suggestions Australia could be heading towards a wages explosion.
"Wages in this country have been at their lowest rate of growth in decades," she said. "Workers are doing their bit. Labour productivity is the highest it's been in decades."
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, economic-trends, federal-government, unions, australia
Posted
King-hit assaults that kill in New South Wales will now carry a mandatory eight-year minimum sentence if alcohol or drugs are involved.
NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says the new laws will curb alcohol-related violence on Sydney's streets. But some in the legal community argue that mandatory sentencing does not work.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: prisons-and-punishment, law-crime-and-justice, states-and-territories, federal---state-issues, federal-government, australia, nsw
Posted
| UpdatedSocial Services Minister Kevin Andrews has labelled Australia's welfare system unsustainable. Mr Andrews says in 10 to 15 years' time Australia could find itself in the same situation that some European countries are in.
ABC Fact Check takes a look at Australia's projected welfare spending.
Topics: welfare, liberals, federal-government, social-policy, aged-care, australia
Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Tony Abbott has tried to discredit a group of asylum seekers who allege they were mistreated by the Navy, by claiming they were attempting to break Australian law.
"Do you believe Australian naval personnel or do you believe people who are attempting to break Australian law? I trust Australia's naval personnel," he said.
Fact Check investigates whether asylum seekers who come to Australia are attempting to break Australian law.
Topics: abbott-tony, liberals, immigration, federal-government, australia
Posted
| UpdatedFor more than a year, Australian tobacco smokers have been buying packs stripped of their familiar branding. A new government policy means they are confronted with a drab green pack dominated by dire health warnings and graphic images of smoking-related diseases.
Tobacco company Philip Morris says the plain packaging hasn't stopped people smoking. ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: health-policy, federal-government, business-economics-and-finance, smoking, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe three large private companies owned by federal MP Clive Palmer have lodged their 2012-13 financial year accounts, which show a reduction in the mining magnate's wealth.
The accounts show the companies all made losses in 2012-13, with their asset values falling by a combined 30 per cent.
Topics: minor-parties, federal-government, mining-industry, business-economics-and-finance, clive-palmer, australia, qld