Health

• Fact check: Are staff working in detention centres protected by whistleblower laws if they speak out? Fact Check

  

  Posted August 03, 2015 10:06:51 | Updated August 04, 2015 11:10:25

  Labor says it's critical that staff employed in immigration detention facilities are free to speak out when they see something wrong.

  But at the same time the party voted for a bill making it a criminal offences for detention centre employees to speak to the media. Labor argues existing whistleblower laws will protect staff, should they speak out on issues of abuse or misconduct.

  ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: immigration, federal-government, alp, liberals, health-policy, healthcare-facilities

• Fact or fiction: A mother and father is better than same-sex parents Fact Check

  

  Posted July 24, 2015 10:06:58 | Updated July 29, 2015 10:26:27

  Riding the momentum of the Irish referendum and United States supreme court ruling legalising same-sex marriage, there are expectations Australian legislators will change the Marriage Act.

  But opponents of of the change argue that children benefit from having a mother and a father and that same-sex marriage should not be legalised.

  ABC Fact Check investigates whether children do best with heterosexual parents.

  Topics: discrimination, children, divorce, family, marriage, parenting, gays-and-lesbians, sexuality, federal-government, social-policy, child-health-and-behaviour, family-law, australia

• Fact check: Does infrasound from wind farms make people sick? Fact Check

  

  Posted July 17, 2015 09:17:40 | Updated July 17, 2015 10:24:20

  A recent decision to stop the Clean Energy Finance Corporation from funding any new wind power projects isn't the Abbott Government's first move against the wind industry.

  Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm has been a vocal opponent. He claims inappropriate levels of infrasound, regardless of the sources, cause adverse health impacts.

  ABC Fact Check investigates some of the claims made by Senator Lleyonhelm.

  Topics: wind-energy, alternative-energy, environmental-impact, environmental-health, australia

• Fact Check: Are millions of taxpayer dollars being wasted on poorly performing IVF clinics? Fact Check

  

  Posted June 26, 2015 12:57:52 | Updated June 26, 2015 13:01:08

  For over 30 years, the Australian fertility industry has collected detailed data on the outcomes of fertility treatments, but this data is never released to the public.

  A leading IVF expert claims this is costing the government millions of dollars worth of extra Medicare rebates.

  ABC Fact Check takes a look at the facts around IVF success rates and whether they can be used to make comparisons.

  Topics: reproduction-and-contraception, fertility-and-infertility, womens-health, science-and-technology, australia

• Fact check: How much is subsidising cheap paracetamol costing the government? Fact Check

  

  Posted May 08, 2015 14:31:40 | Updated May 13, 2015 10:40:47

  One area of spending the Federal Government has earmarked for savings in the 2015 budget is pharmaceutical subsidies.

  Health Minister Sussan Ley says subsidising paracetamol that can be bought without a prescription at 'the supermarket and corner stores for around $2' is costing the government $73 million a year.

  ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: health-policy, pharmaceuticals, australia

• Fact file: The rise of ice and the changing face of Australian drug use

  

  Posted April 10, 2015 10:08:27

  Crystal methamphetamine, known more commonly as ice, has emerged as a growing problem in the community.

  Most recently the Prime Minister has announced a taskforce to combat ice use, and there have been revelations the drug could be responsible for the suicide deaths of sailors in Western Australia.

  But where does ice fit with Australian drug habits?

  ABC Fact Check takes a look at drug use.

  Topics: drug-use, drug-offences, australia

• Fact check: Are 80,000 Victorians using ice? Fact Check

  

  Posted April 07, 2015 10:46:35

  A huge spike in the availability and use of the drug ice is causing alarm across the country.

  The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has announced $46 million in new funding to treat and rehabilitate ice addicts.

  He says recent data shows about 80,000 Victorians used ice in 2013.

  ABC Fact Check takes a look at ice usage rates.

  Topics: drug-use, vic

• Fact check: Did the Coalition Government cut $3b from the NSW health budget? Fact Check

  

  Posted March 26, 2015 17:35:47

  NSW Labor is seeking to make health a central issue in the state election.

  Opposition Leader Luke Foley has announced new nurse-to-patient ratios, and attacked the Baird Government's record on health funding.

  Mr Foley says the Government has cut $3 billion from the health budget. ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: government-and-politics, elections, health, nsw

• Fact file: Meat that glows in the dark (and 10 other things you might not know about food)

  

  Posted March 11, 2015 09:29:25 | Updated March 11, 2015 12:11:34

  The old saying goes, 'you are what you eat' but how much do you really know about food, and the effect it has on your body?

  It can be hard to sift through the myriad conflicting advice about nutrition and healthy eating, and research shows that Australians are fatter than ever before.

  ABC Fact Check takes a look at food and nutrition.

  Topics: diet-and-nutrition, health, australia

• Fact file: The AIDS problem in Papua New Guinea

  

  Posted December 11, 2014 09:27:38 | Updated December 12, 2014 18:31:22

  Papua New Guinea, Australia's closest neighbour, is dealing with an HIV/AIDS epidemic. A high incidence of sexual aggression, violence against women, the impact of alcohol and drugs on sexual behaviour and commercial sex are just some of the reasons for the level of HIV infection in the country.

  Topics: health, aids-and-hiv, diseases-and-disorders, relief-and-aid-organisations, federal-government, papua-new-guinea, australia

• Fact check: Are Victorians waiting longer than ever for ambulances to arrive? Fact Check

  

  Posted November 24, 2014 17:20:45 | Updated November 25, 2014 11:40:54

  Victorian Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews has put health policy at the centre of Labor's election campaign.

  Mr Andrews has singled out ambulance response times as a problem, saying they "have never been longer".

  ABC Fact Check takes a look at ambulance response times in Victoria.

  Topics: states-and-territories, government-and-politics, doctors-and-medical-professionals, health, elections, advertising, alp, vic

• Fact check: Health Minister misleading on Red Cross Ebola funding Fact Check

  

  Posted October 22, 2014 16:51:30 | Updated October 29, 2014 11:09:03

  Australian humanitarian agencies have called on the Federal Government to "immediately increase support" to contain the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

  Health Minister Peter Dutton has repeatedly said the Government has provided $18 million to NGOs like the Red Cross to support their Ebola response.

  ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: diseases-and-disorders, health, world-politics, government-and-politics, liberals, relief-and-aid-organisations, australia

• Fact check: Does a farmer die by suicide every four days in Australia? Fact Check

  

  Posted October 16, 2014 14:22:59 | Updated October 24, 2014 12:57:38

  Australian agriculture is "closing down" and farmers - "the toughest people this nation has ever produced" - are folding, federal MP Bob Katter says.

  As a result a farmer is "committing suicide every four days in this country", Mr Katter told the ABC's Q&A program.

  Can that statistic be right? ABC Fact Check examines the latest research on suicide in farming communities.

  Topics: suicide, rural, regional, mental-health, federal-government, government-and-politics, minor-parties, bob-katter, australia

• Fact check: Science, research and innovation spending cut to 'historic low' Fact Check

  

  Posted October 07, 2014 13:22:08 | Updated October 07, 2014 14:56:04

  Greens deputy leader Adam Bandt says the Federal Government has cut spending on science, research and innovation to an "historic low".

  ABC Fact Check finds his claim checks out.

  It's estimated research and development spending will be 0.56 per cent of GDP in 2014-15, which is the lowest level in decades.

  Topics: research, medical-research, government-and-politics, federal-government, political-parties, greens, australia

• Fact check: Health Minister Peter Dutton's dementia facts flawed Fact Check

  

  Posted September 13, 2014 14:00:00 | Updated September 15, 2014 11:38:10

  Australia needs to be able to pay for "the fact that 170 people per week today are being diagnosed with dementia, but in a number of years it'll be 7,500 a week", Health Minister Peter Dutton says.

  It's well recognised that the number of people with dementia is growing, but could the number being diagnosed really increase fortyfold in a number of years?

  ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: federal-government, liberals, diseases-and-disorders, alzheimers-and-dementia, health, australia

• Fact file: Bringing overseas-born surrogate babies back to Australia

  

  Posted August 19, 2014 16:33:20 | Updated August 21, 2014 10:20:27

  The recent baby Gammy case has exposed the pitfalls of the international commercial surrogacy trade.

  How easy is it to bring overseas-born surrogate babies home and what happens once they're back in Australia?

  ABC Fact Check takes a look at the laws that affect surrogate children and their parents.

  Topics: family-law, international-law, laws, federal---state-issues, surrogacy, reproduction-and-contraception, community-and-society, immigration, australia, india, thailand

• Fact check: Too soon to know if e-cigarettes help people quit smoking Fact Check

  

  Posted August 03, 2014 18:34:20 | Updated August 11, 2014 11:35:54

  E-cigarettes are increasingly popular with smokers and people who are trying to quit smoking.

  Dr Tarun Weeramanthri, Western Australian Executive Director of Public Health, says the evidence doesn't support the idea that e-cigarettes help people stop smoking.

  Topics: federal-government, states-and-territories, smoking, health, australia, wa

• Promise check: No cuts to health (video)

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 18:04:17 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:23:15

  In the days before the 2013 federal election, Tony Abbott and his MPs repeatedly said there would be no cuts to health if a Coalition government was elected.

  Topics: health, abbott-tony, hockey-joe, liberals, federal-government, australia

• Promise check: Deliver the National Disability Insurance Scheme with Labor's funding and timeline (video)

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 18:03:17 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:19:06

  During the election campaign the Coalition pledged its support for the delivery of the National Disability Insurance Scheme to Labor's timeline and with Labor's previously announced funding.

  Topics: health, disabilities, federal-government, government-and-politics, federal---state-issues, liberals, australia

• Promise check: No Medicare local closures

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 18:03:17 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:23:15

  In the final leaders debate between Tony Abbott and Kevin Rudd on August 28, 2013, Mr Abbott made an unexpected health care commitment.

  Topics: liberals, federal-government, health, health-policy, abbott-tony, australia

• Promise check: No cuts to medical research

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 18:02:12 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:20:07

  Two days before the election the Coalition said it would not cut medical research and that it would increase spending in the area.

  Topics: medical-research, health, federal-government, liberals, hockey-joe, australia

• Promise check: Restore the private health insurance rebate (video)

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 17:57:50 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:25:25

  At the Coalition campaign launch on August 25, 2013, Tony Abbott promised to restore the private health insurance rebate within 10 years.

  Topics: abbott-tony, liberals, federal-government, health-insurance, health, australia

• Promise check: $200 million for dementia research (video)

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 17:56:21 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:20:07

  In his campaign launch speech on August 25, 2013, Tony Abbott promised a Coalition government would give $200 million to dementia research.

  Topics: alzheimers-and-dementia, diseases-and-disorders, health, federal-government, liberals, health-policy, social-policy, government-and-politics, australia

• Promise check: $18 million centre for excellence in youth mental health

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 17:56:21 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:20:07

  The Coalition promised to help young people facing mental illness by establishing a National Centre for Excellence in Youth Mental Health.

  Topics: mental-health, adolescent-health, youth, health, federal-government, liberals, australia

• Promise check: Invest $46 million to bring forward biennial bowel cancer screening (video)

  

  Posted July 27, 2014 17:56:21 | Updated August 13, 2014 09:23:15

  On August 22, 2013, Tony Abbott and then opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton launched the Coalition's "policy to support Australia's health system".

  Topics: health-policy, bowel-and-rectal-cancer, diseases-and-disorders, abbott-tony, liberals, federal-government, australia