Minor parties

• Fact check: Are there 'over a million 457s' in Australia? Fact Check

  

  Posted June 02, 2016 07:11:39 | Updated June 06, 2016 16:45:02

  Independent Senator Jacqui Lambie has singled out the number of 457 visas as a reason for what she sees as a lack of employment opportunity in Australia.

  "We have over a million 457s out there, and that's another reason why we don't have jobs here," Senator Lambie told ABC TV's Q&A on May 30.

  Are there over a million people with 457 visas "out there" as Senator Lambie suggests? ABC Fact Check runs the numbers.

  Topics: work, immigration, federal-elections, minor-parties, australia

• Fact Check zombie: Clive Palmer wrong again on Australians dying before accessing their super

  

  Posted March 30, 2016 06:15:34 | Updated March 30, 2016 09:49:12

  Federal MP for the Queensland seat of Fairfax, Clive Palmer, has used Question Time to push the Government to allow people to access part of their super early, to "buy a home or support their family in difficult times."

  Mr Palmer claimed that "A large percentage of Australians will be dead before they are eligible [to use their super]."

  Mr Palmer made a similar claim in 2014, which Fact Check found to be wrong.

  Topics: superannuation, tax, clive-palmer, minor-parties, australia

• Fact check: Did some crossbench Senators get more votes than Government ministers in 2013? Fact Check

  

  Posted March 17, 2016 17:04:57

  As the debate over proposed Senate voting reforms rages in Parliament, crossbench Senators have been keen to highlight below the line votes, citing them as evidence of personal support.

  "Nearly 7,000 Qlders voted for me personally. Matt Canavan (NAT), now a minister ONLY got 325 votes. Most crossbenchers received more votes!" Senator Glenn Lazarus tweeted on February 26, 2016.

  "Muir 'got more votes than minister Cash'," Senator John Madigan tweeted several days later on March 1.

  But can below the line votes be used as a measure of 'personal' support? ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: federal-elections, minor-parties, australia

• Fact check: What do the proposed Senate voting changes mean for above the line voting? Fact Check

  

  Posted March 10, 2016 17:26:51 | Updated March 12, 2016 18:29:46

  Liberal 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

• 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: Will 50pc of Australians die before they can access their super? Fact Check

  

  Posted September 09, 2014 07:00:00 | Updated September 09, 2014 10:36:07

  Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer has defended his support for a freeze in compulsory employer contributions to superannuation by arguing it is better to put the money in workers' pockets now.

  "We know as a statistical fact that over 50 per cent of Australians will be dead by the time they get access to their super," he said.

  ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: clive-palmer, business-economics-and-finance, superannuation, federal-parliament, federal-government, minor-parties, australia

• Fact check: PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie incorrect on defence spending Fact Check

  

  Posted August 25, 2014 06:30:00 | Updated September 09, 2014 11:35:31

  Palmer United Party Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie says Australia isn't spending enough on defence.

  "Australia's defence spending as a ratio of our GDP (1.5 per cent) is the lowest it's ever been since pre-World War II when aggressive, anti-democratic, totalitarian governments in Germany and Japan caught us napping," she said.

  ABC Fact Check investigates.

  Topics: government-and-politics, defence-and-national-security, minor-parties, political-parties, australia, hobart-7000, tas

• Clive Palmer's billionaire status no longer certain Fact Check

  

  Posted January 22, 2014 14:34:33 | Updated January 22, 2014 14:45:12

  The 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

• Palmer incorrect on the number of executions in China Fact Check

  

  Posted December 04, 2013 10:23:28 | Updated December 10, 2013 10:26:59

  Federal MP Clive Palmer recently made a startling claim about the number of executions in China.

  In an interview with ABC Four Corners, Mr Palmer was asked whether he acted like a bully in his business dealings with a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned company. "Well, not at all... How do you bully the Chinese government that executes 500,000 people a year?" he said.

  Topics: world-politics, minor-parties, australia, china

• Doing the sums: How much is Clive Palmer worth? Fact Check

  

  Posted November 25, 2013 08:45:26 | Updated January 22, 2014 14:34:33

  Mining magnate and federal MP Clive Palmer is constantly referred to as a billionaire in the media, but the man himself has been vague on the details of his wealth.

  ABC Fact Check unravels Clive Palmer's finances, from his iron ore and nickel companies to his dinosaur park on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

  Topics: clive-palmer, minor-parties, federal-government, mining-industry, business-economics-and-finance, qld, coolum-beach-4573, maroochydore-4558, australia

• Palmer United Party unlikely to get same number of staff as the Greens Fact Check

  

  Posted October 23, 2013 11:06:02 | Updated October 30, 2013 17:42:44

  Clive Palmer has warned legislation could pass the Senate slowly if his party's three senators-elect are not given extra staff.

  Topics: clive-palmer, minor-parties, federal-parliament, australia

• Ad spending claims pure campaign spin Fact Check

  

  Posted September 20, 2013 17:21:59 | Updated October 03, 2013 09:11:01

  During the heat of the election campaign ALP leader Kevin Rudd, Coalition leader Tony Abbott and Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer all accused each other of attempting to win the election with massive spending on advertising.

  Topics: advertising-and-marketing, federal-government, abbott-tony, rudd-kevin, clive-palmer, minor-parties, liberals, alp, australia

• Clive Palmer's economic stimulus claim improbable Fact Check

  

  Posted September 16, 2013 17:42:18 | Updated September 19, 2013 17:43:19

  Asked to nominate the single policy he would most like to see implemented, Clive Palmer said the economy would be better off if Australian companies were not forced to pay tax in instalments.

  Topics: business-economics-and-finance, tax, clive-palmer, federal-government, minor-parties, australia

• Palmer wrong on asylum seekers being paid more than pensioners Fact Check

  

  Posted August 29, 2013 08:36:55 | Updated September 17, 2013 10:33:14

  Clive Palmer says asylum seekers are paid more by the Government than pensioners.

  Topics: immigration, federal-government, federal-elections, clive-palmer, aged-care, minor-parties, australia

• Clive Palmer wrong on infant mortality rates Fact Check

  

  Posted August 26, 2013 14:36:48 | Updated September 17, 2013 10:33:14

  Palmer United Party founder Clive Palmer says infant mortality rates are higher among Indigenous Australians than in Africa, Asia or South America.

  Topics: infant-health, health, federal-government, federal-elections, clive-palmer, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, minor-parties, australia

• Bob Katter wrong on number of gun deaths after Port Arthur Fact Check

  

  Posted August 23, 2013 08:46:32 | Updated September 17, 2013 10:33:14

  Katter's Australian Party leader Bob Katter says gun-related deaths rose after the introduction of John Howard's National Firearms Agreement in 1996.

  Topics: law-crime-and-justice, murder-and-manslaughter, bob-katter, federal-government, minor-parties, federal-elections, australia