Posted
| UpdatedLabor's infrastructure and transport spokesman Anthony Albanese says the Greens' "actual position is to not have an airport in Sydney".
He says that the party's policy is to close Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport while at the same time opposing the new airport at Badgerys Creek, Western Sydney.
Do the Greens really want Sydney to be without an airport? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: air-transport, government-and-politics, greens, alp, rail-transport, nsw, newtown-2042, sydney-2000, sydney-airport-2020, sydney-international-airport-2020, mascot-2020, badgerys-creek-2171, campbelltown-2560
Posted
| UpdatedThe Government has proposed a 10-year program of business tax cuts, beginning with a cut to a 27.5 per cent rate for companies with an annual turnover of less than $2 million. If the plan is implemented, the rate for all companies will fall to 25 per cent by 2026-27.
Labor says it will support the initial cut for small businesses with turnovers less than $2 million, but opposes the rest of the tax cuts, which it describes as a "massive tax cut to big multinationals" and "big end of town winners".
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says that Bill Shorten and Labor previously supported corporate tax cuts using the same arguments the Government uses today. ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: tax, federal-elections, turnbull-malcolm, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe Coalition is maintaining its tough stance on border protection heading into the election.
Immigration Minister Peter Dutton told ABC Radio that he was very proud of the Government's "outcomes" in his portfolio.
"I can say hand on heart that I've got every child out of detention, I've brought record numbers of refugees in by plane, nobody has drowned at sea under Operation Sovereign Borders," he said.
Is he correct? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: immigration, federal-elections, refugees, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedLabor's 10-year plan for the economy, released a month before the election, says that the Liberals' record on economic management is "in tatters" after three years in government.
"Wages growth is now the lowest it's been since records began," it notes.
Is wages growth the lowest it's been since records began? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: economic-trends, federal-elections, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedGreens Leader Richard Di Natale says the growth of his party and independents continues with each election because Australians are "sick and tired of the old parties".
"That identity politics is breaking down, you just need to look at the vote amongst young people. If there was a vote amongst people who are under 30 in Australia, there'd possibly be a Greens prime minister," he said.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: federal-elections, federal-parliament, greens, richard-di-natale, australia
Posted
| UpdatedOne of Labor's higher profile election policies is a promise to hold a royal commission into "misconduct in the banking and financial services industry".
On April 11, 2016, Treasurer Scott Morrison responded by saying that a royal commission is unnecessary as the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or ASIC, can do the job.
Is Mr Morrison correct? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: banking, federal-elections, scott-morrison, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedLabor frontbencher Anthony Albanese has sought to attack the Coalition's record on spending.
"Spending is higher as a proportion of GDP today than it was under the global financial crisis — higher today," Mr Albanese told Adelaide's FIVEaa radio on May 25, 2016.
Is he correct? ABC Fact Check runs the numbers.
Topics: budget, federal-elections, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedIn the 2016 budget, the Government announced some changes to the tax concessions available through superannuation.
Some have criticised these changes as being retrospective, something the Government has strongly denied.
ABC Fact Check takes a closer look.
Topics: superannuation, tax, liberals, turnbull-malcolm, australia
Posted
| UpdatedLabor has used the second week of the election campaign to highlight the Government's record on health spending.
Opposition health spokeswoman Catherine King said the Liberals had been "a disaster when it comes to health".
"They have cut billions out of public hospitals," she told ABC radio.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: health-policy, healthcare-facilities, federal-elections, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedOpposition Senate Leader Penny Wong says the Coalition went to the last election "beating their chest" about debt and deficit.
"Well, since that time they've tripled the deficit, tripled it in two years, debt is far higher, about $100 billion higher, than it was when we left office and continuing to rise," she said in an interview on Sky News.
Has the Government tripled the deficit and is debt $100 billion higher than when Labor was in office? ABC Fact Check takes a look.
Topics: budget, federal-elections, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedIn response to claims from Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese of a secret preference deal between the Greens and the Liberal Party involving key House of Representatives seats in the upcoming federal election, Greens lower house MP Adam Bandt has accused Labor's infrastructure and transport spokesman of "begging" the Liberals for preferences.
"It speaks volumes about the modern Labor Party that they are reliant on the Liberals to keep their seats in Parliament," Mr Bandt said.
"Anthony Albanese should do what I had to do at the last election and win a seat in his own right without having to rely on Liberal preferences," federal Greens MP Adam Bandt said in reply.
Did the Greens retain the seat of Melbourne in their own right without having to rely on Liberal preferences at the 2013 election as Mr Bandt suggests? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: federal-elections, greens, melbourne-3000
Posted
| UpdatedAssistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer says that Labor's policy on negative gearing disadvantages average earners who rely on salaries or wages.
Ms O'Dwyer said on the ABC's Q&A on May 9 that Labor wanted to allow "people who are very, very wealthy" to use negative gearing by deducting property rental income against other investment income.
"The average income earner who relies on a salary or a wage won't be able to do that," she said.
"And two-thirds of people who negatively gear, two-thirds of people, have an income of around about $80,000 or less and that is more than 47,000 teachers who negatively gear, more than 40,000 nurses and midwives negatively gear."
Is she correct? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Posted
| UpdatedThe Port Arthur tragedy prompted extensive reforms to gun regulations by federal, state and territory governments.
In an interview on American television network CBS on March 13, 2016, the prime minister who drove the reforms John Howard, said that both gun-related homicides and suicides had fallen significantly as a result of the reforms.
ABC Fact Check takes a look at the research.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, suicide, murder-and-manslaughter, howard-john-winston, australia
Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said he will call a double dissolution election if the Senate fails to pass the Government's legislation to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
Employment Minister Michaelia Cash said on April 7 that delays in construction increase costs.
"When the ABCC was introduced, [the rate of industrial disputes] dropped to two times the all-industries average. As soon as the former Labor government abolished the ABCC and watered down the regulator... in terms of days lost it jumped back to four times the all-industries average," she said.
Did the rate of industrial disputes in construction compared with all industries halve when the ABCC was in force and then double when it was abolished? ABC Fact Check takes a look at the data.
Topics: building-and-construction, industrial-relations, unions, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedIn a speech to Liberal party members, former prime minister Tony Abbott labelled planned increases to tobacco excise tax as a "workers tax" that slugs smokers.
ABC Fact Check has taken a look at the statistics of who smokes to work out whether an increase to excise can properly be described as a tax on workers.
Topics: tobacco, smoking, tax, liberals, abbott-tony, australia
Posted
| UpdatedEmployment Minister Michaelia Cash has attacked Labor's record on imported workers.
"457 workers account for less than one per cent of Australia's workforce. Under the Coalition Government, the number of 457 people coming to Australia has declined from that under Labor, where it effectively doubled when Labor was in office," she said on the ABC's Q&A on March 7, 2016.
Is she correct? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: work, immigration, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedGovernments around Australia have sought to respond to reports of alcohol-fuelled violence by imposing restrictions on patrons and venues.
In NSW, the suite of measures known as the 'lockout laws' has been controversial and attracted both praise and loud opposition.
It has been argued that no other international city has the type of restrictions that Sydney has.
ABC Fact Check takes a closer look.
Topics: alcohol, community-and-society, law-crime-and-justice, sydney-2000, brisbane-4000, nsw, fortitude-valley-4006, kings-cross-2011, darlinghurst-2010
Posted
| UpdatedLiberal Democratic Senator David Leyonhjelm says that the Government's proposed changes to Senate voting will make it almost impossible for small parties to win a seat, based on similar reforms made to NSW upper house elections.
"I also know from the experience with the NSW upper house elections that it will default to a 'one above the line' choice for vast numbers of people, which will mean anyone who votes for anyone other than a major party, their vote is likely to be exhausted," he told The Conversation on February 24.
Does the NSW experience show that most people chose to vote for only one party when voting reforms were introduced and is that experience relevant to the Senate reforms? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: minor-parties, federal-elections, australia
Posted
| UpdatedTreasurer Scott Morrison says that the vast majority of Australians who use negative gearing, like nurses, teachers and police, earn "modest" incomes.
"I have always understood that for the vast majority of Australians who use negative gearing they are modest income earning Australians, nurses, teachers, police," he said.
Are most people taking advantage of negative gearing earning modest incomes? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: tax, housing, business-economics-and-finance, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedIn January, the Federal Opposition announced a 10-year, $37.3 billion education plan.
Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen says that the Opposition has "fully provisioned" for the costs of the plan, based on already announced savings including increased taxes on corporations, superannuation and tobacco.
But how realistic are these savings? And how reliable are 10-year budget projections? ABC Fact Check takes a closer look.
Topics: budget, education, bill-shorten, schools, superannuation, smoking, tax, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says there were 2,000 kids in detention when the Coalition took office and now "there's less than 100. . . About 75."
He says the number is reducing.
Is he correct? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: immigration, children, refugees, turnbull-malcolm, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has committed the Government to a rise in defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP.
Ahead of the release of the defence white paper, Mr Turnbull attacked the previous Labor government's record on defence spending.
"Under Labor, defence spending as a share of GDP dropped to its lowest level since 1938," he said.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: defence-forces, defence-and-aerospace-industries, defence-industry, turnbull-malcolm, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedPrime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been keen to spruik the Government's economic credentials in relation to employment growth.
"I mean we've created 300,000 — 301,000 new jobs in Australia last year," he said in an interview on Radio 3AW in January.
Were over 300,000 jobs created in Australia in 2015? ABC Fact Check investigates
Topics: unemployment, economic-trends, turnbull-malcolm, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe Trans-Pacific Partnership trade and investment agreement has been formally signed by 12 ministers in Auckland.
Independent Senator Nick Xenophon has spoken in the Senate about the agreement: "It has been put to me that, if a government introduced poker machine legislation to protect consumers, an overseas poker machine manufacturer could end up suing that government for doing what was clearly in the public interest."
Can poker machine manufacturers sue the Government under the TPP? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: gambling, trade, law-crime-and-justice, international-law, globalisation---economy, business-economics-and-finance, australia, united-states
Posted
| UpdatedThe gap between rich and poor is reaching fresh extremes, according to a new Oxfam report.
Oxfam Australia CEO Helen Szoke told ABC radio that the report showed the inequality gap was widening faster than previously thought.
The Oxfam report states that: "In 2015, just 62 individuals had the same wealth as 3.6 billion people – the bottom half of humanity.
This figure is down from 388 individuals as recently as 2010."
Do 62 individuals have the same wealth as 3.6 billion people, and has the unequal concentration of wealth worsened in the last five years? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: economic-trends, money-and-monetary-policy, poverty
Posted
| UpdatedMany Australians head to the beach at summer, but the spectre of shark attack is never far away.
The NSW Government announced a test of "smart" drum lines to reduce the risk of shark attacks.
It has been claimed that the test will not the beach safer but will threaten other wildlife.
ABC Fact Check takes a closer look.
Topics: environment, shark, oceans-and-reefs, marine-biology, conservation, states-and-territories, australia, nsw, coffs-harbour-2450, qld, france, south-africa, reunion, ballina-2478
Posted
| Updated"Australia is already the second largest military contributor to the campaign against ISIL in the US-led coalition," Julie Bishop said in a doorstop interview at Old Parliament House.
Is Australia's contribution to the US-led campaign against the Islamic State the second largest after the US itself?
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, defence-and-national-security, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedOpposition Leader Bill Shorten has promised to set new targets to close the "justice gap" between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people if Labor wins the next election.
"We need to deal with what I think is a national disgrace, that is, that a young Aboriginal man of 18 in Australia is more likely to end up in jail than university," he said.
ABC Fact Check investigates the data on Indigenous men in jail and university.
Topics: education, bill-shorten, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, law-crime-and-justice, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedAhead of the Paris climate change conference, Australia, along with many other countries, has submitted its contribution towards cutting carbon emissions.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Australia's target of a 26 to 28 reduction on 2005 carbon emissions levels by 2030 is "comparable to other countries similarly situated".
Are Australia's targets comparable to "similarly situated" countries? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: climate-change, environmental-impact, emissions-trading, liberals, turnbull-malcolm, australia
Posted
| UpdatedTreasurer Scott Morrison says income tax is "out of sight" and therefore "out of mind" compared to the GST and that personal income tax was the largest source of government revenue.
"Australia relies more on income tax (personal and company) than any other country in the OECD except Denmark," he said.
Does Australia rely more on income tax than other countries? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Posted
| UpdatedOpposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek denies that Labor cut the aid budget when in government.
"We actually doubled the aid budget when we were in government," she told the ABC Radio's AM program.
"This Government has cut $11.3 billion, it's now about 22 cents in every $100 we spend, it's going down to 17 cents."
How do Labor and the Coalition's records compare on foreign aid? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: foreign-affairs, budget, government-and-politics, alp, australia
Posted
| UpdatedConcerns radicalised students are preaching extremist views in school prayer groups have intensified since a western Sydney teenager shot dead a police accountant on October 2.
Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne, says he has no problem with prayer in government or non-government schools.
"We have the highest penetration of non-government schools in the OECD in Australia. Almost all of those are religious schools," he said.
ABC Fact Check investigates whether Australia has the highest proportion of students attending private schools in the OECD, and if almost all Australian private schools are religious.
Topics: liberals, religion-and-beliefs, education, australia
Posted
| UpdatedOpposition Leader Bill Shorten says that Australia is lagging behind in the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths, known as STEM.
Mr Shorten says Australia ranks poorly with comparable countries on collaboration between industry and universities in these fields.
He also says the 16 per cent of Australian students graduating with STEM qualifications is well below the completion rates for students in countries like China and Singapore.
ABC Fact Check takes a look at Australia's STEM research collaboration and graduation rates, and how they compare with those of other nations.
Topics: university-and-further-education, education, bill-shorten, alp, science-and-technology, australia
Posted
| UpdatedFederal Assistant Minister for Health Ken Wyatt says diabetes is a growing and global issue.
"If I could just give you one stat: if diabetes was a country it would be the fifth largest country in the world. That's how many people across the globe are affected and so there is much work we've got to do," he said.
So just how many people around the world have diabetes? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: health, diet-and-nutrition, health-policy, diabetes, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedTechnology company Uber is shaking up public transport markets around the world with a smart phone application that connects passengers with drivers of vehicles such as taxis, hire cars, passenger vehicles and in some countries even auto-rickshaws.
In Australia, the taxi industry says it is the victim of a "very uneven playing field", whereas Uber is pressing for what it says are "sensible" changes to the law.
CEO of the Victorian Taxi Association, David Samuel, told radio 3AW that "there is a set of rules in place and none of those rules inhibit Uber from providing the service they provide, they just don't want to bear the costs that we bear".
Do laws need to change, or is Uber just trying to dodge the fees that the operators of taxis and hire cars have to pay? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: transport, government-and-politics, australia
Posted
| UpdatedSex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said there are fewer big Australian companies run by women than by men named Peter, and companies run by men named Peter, Michael, David or Andrew outnumber those run by women four to one.
Ms Broderick finished in September after eight years in the job.
ABC Fact Check investigates how her numbers stack up.
Topics: business-economics-and-finance, australia
Posted
| UpdatedLifeline Australia chairman John Brogden recently called for suicide to be declared a national emergency.
"The number of suicides has increased by 20 per cent over the past 10 years," he said.
"Over the same period, the number of motor vehicle deaths has reduced by 25 per cent to 1,200 each year - less than half the number of deaths by suicide."
ABC Fact Check takes a look at the numbers.
Topics: mental-health, mens-health, womens-health, road, australia
Posted
| UpdatedAustralian fighter jets have carried out the first strikes inside Syria as part of a campaign to degrade and destroy Islamic State rebels.
Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie questioned the legality of the strikes, saying "there is no UN imprimatur for Australia to bomb in the sovereign state of Syria".
Is it illegal for Australia to bomb IS in Syria? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: international-law, world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, syrian-arab-republic
Posted
| UpdatedThe Federal Government's health star rating system is appearing on more and more food products on supermarket shelves.
The slogan is: "The more stars, the healthier the choice."
But just how useful is the star system in making healthier food choices, and do more stars mean a healthier choice? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: health, health-policy, food-and-beverage, australia
Posted
| UpdatedTrade union royal commissioner Dyson Heydon has been under attack for perceived bias.
Tony Abbott has defended him and warned Labor that it is a criminal offence to attack a royal commissioner.
"It is actually a criminal offence to attack a serving royal commissioner. It is actually a criminal offence," Mr Abbott told Question Time on August 19.
ABC Fact Check looks at the laws governing royal commissions.
Topics: constitution, federal-government, courts-and-trials, judges-and-legal-profession, laws, royal-commissions, abbott-tony, liberals, australia
Posted
| UpdatedTony Abbott says Australia's recently announced carbon emissions targets for 2030 are "not leading" and "certainly not lagging" the field and emissions reduction targets per capita are the "best in the developed world".
But the Federal Opposition and the Climate Change Authority have said Australia is not pulling its weight on preventing climate change. How do Australia's emissions targets compare with other countries? ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: emissions-trading, environment, climate-change, environmental-policy, abbott-tony, greenhouse-gas, australia
Posted
| UpdatedLabor 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, health-policy, healthcare-facilities
Posted
| UpdatedA 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
Posted
| UpdatedFor 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
Posted
| UpdatedImmigration Minister Peter Dutton says proposed changes to Australian citizenship law that targets citizens who fight with named terrorist groups will not put Australia "ahead of the pack".
The Government has repeatedly used the example that other nations are implementing similar laws to defend the plan.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: immigration, terrorism, liberals, government-and-politics, australia
Posted
| UpdatedMining magnate Andrew Forrest wants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton to kerb iron ore production in a bid to boost the price.
Mr Forrest says Australia produces far more iron ore than any other nation and that those companies control more iron ore than the share of the world's crude oil that OPEC ever controlled.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: iron-ore, business-economics-and-finance, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe Abbott Government has staked its credentials for economic management partly on its claim to keep a tighter rein on public spending than the former Labor government.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Labor spending was growing at a rate of 3.6 per cent a year and the Coalition's spending is growing at 1.5 per cent per year.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: economic-trends, business-economics-and-finance, liberals, abbott-tony, budget, australia
Posted
| UpdatedThe Federal Government has announced changes to the paid parental leave scheme set up by Labor in 2010. Targeting 'double dipping' mothers who access employer schemes as well as the government paid parental leave scheme, the planned change is likely to affect over 40 per cent of new mothers.
The Prime Minister says ending 'double dipping' was the Coalition's plan before the election. ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: budget, social-policy, australia
Posted
| UpdatedAs property prices continue to rise across Australian capital cities, the debate around how to address housing affordability problems has intensified. Negative gearing is an area of contention, but Treasurer Joe Hockey says abolishing it could have serious consequences.
Mr Hockey said that in the 1980s, when negative gearing was briefly removed, there was a backlash from investors who increased rents. ABC Fact Check investigates.
Posted
| UpdatedA recent move by the Federal Government to ban the disposal of dredge spoil near the Great Barrier Reef has been met with scepticism by environmental campaigners.
Greens Senator Larissa Waters says the Government's plan to ban dumping within the reef's marine park doesn't include the 1 per cent of the world heritage area where 80 per cent of dredge spoil has been dumped in recent years.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
Topics: environment, greens, environmental-impact, australia, qld