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RMIT ABC Fact Check

RMIT ABC Fact Check was a partnership between RMIT University and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check16 May 2022AustraliaClimate and environment
Josh Frydenberg, Treasurer

“We have now reduced our emissions by 20 per cent. In comparison, Canada has seen emissions down by just 1 per cent, New Zealand by just 4 per cent, the OECD average just 7 per cent.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Misleading

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is misleading. The first reason is that the figures the Treasurer has quoted are from different years. Australia is sourced to 2020, New Zealand and Canada to 2019 and the OECD to 2018. This incons…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check11 May 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Helen Haines, Independent member for the Victorian seat of Indi

“This government has moved to gag debate more than any other government in history — more than 340 divisions across the life of the parliament.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Exaggerated

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Ms Haines's claim is exaggerated. The only readily accessible information on gag motions in parliament is available by calendar year, which is an imperfect measure for Ms Haines's claim as it doesn't line up neatly with…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check5 May 2022Australia
Penny Wong, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs

“Annual bi-lateral aid to Solomon Islands is 28 per cent lower under the Coalition than under Labor”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Not the full story

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Senator Wong's claim is not the full story. Australian foreign aid to Solomon Islands was on average almost 35 per cent lower per year under the Coalition compared with the previous Labor government, in inflation-adjust…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check28 Apr 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Jim Chalmers, Shadow Treasurer

“This Liberal National government has taxed more, borrowed more and spent more than the last Labor government.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Correct

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Chalmers's claim is correct. Figures on tax, debt and spending as a proportion of GDP have been higher on average under the Coalition government since 2013 than under the last Labor government. However, it's importan…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check20 Apr 2022AustraliaEconomy and jobs
Brendan O'Connor, Shadow Defence Minister

“... when we compare the Howard years with the Rudd-Gillard years, both — all governments spent 1.7 per cent to 1.8 per cent of GDP [on defence] on average.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Fair call

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr O'Connor's claim is a fair call. Fact Check extracted defence spending figures from the Defence Portfolio Estimates Statements and Defence Annual Reports. The figures showed the Howard government spent an annual aver…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check6 Apr 2022AustraliaClimate and environment
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister

“Australia is reducing its emissions by around 20 per cent ... Australia has reduced its emissions by more than New Zealand, by more than Canada, by more than the United States, by more than Japan, by more than many countries in Europe.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Misleading

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Morrison's claim is misleading. Most problematic with Mr Morrison's claim is the use of a 2020 figure for Australia ("around 20 per cent"). Mr Morrison's figure accords with data found in Australia's National Greenho…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check17 Mar 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Tanya Plibersek, Shadow Minister for Education and Women

“Right now in Sydney, if you're a Muslim woman sitting on a train and someone yells at you for wearing a hijab, you've got no protection under the law from that.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Overreach

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Ms Plibersek's claim is overreach. There are no religious vilification laws at either a state or federal level which would protect someone in NSW from vilification as described by Ms Plibersek, but experts told Fact Che…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check10 Mar 2022Australia
Josh Frydenberg, Treasurer

“But what we do know as well is that the Omicron variant is 75 per cent less severe than the Delta variant and previous variants.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Oversimplified

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is oversimplified. It is clear from a variety of academic studies that Omicron causes less severe disease than Delta. What is less clear is the magnitude of this reduced severity and the contributi…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check8 Mar 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister

“There was no authority for the federal government to reject, approve anything in relation to the leasing of [the Port of Darwin].”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Not the full story

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Morrison's claim is not the full story. The Foreign Investment Review Board determined in 2015 that it had no authority to examine the Darwin port deal — because it fell under exemption provisions of the Foreign Acqu…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check22 Feb 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Clive Palmer, United Australia Party chairman

“The United Australia Party under Clive Palmer claims three former prime ministers as its own”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Nonsense

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Palmer's claim is nonsense. The original United Australia Party was a political party established in 1931 and formally disbanded in 1945. Experts told Fact Check that many members then transferred to the Liberal Part…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check10 Feb 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Anne Ruston, Minister for Social Services

“Our particular [national integrity commission] bill suggests that the powers of the commission are well in excess of a royal commission.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Overblown

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Senator Ruston's claim is overblown. While the new body would have some powers comparable to those of a royal commission, it cannot be said that its overall powers would be "well in excess". The Royal Commissions Act is…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check9 Feb 2022AustraliaPolitics and government
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister

“Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Richard Colbeck appeared at a Senate Select Committee on COVID-19 "on many, many occasions".”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Wrong

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Morrison is wrong. At the time of Mr Morrison's claim on January 28, Senator Colbeck had appeared at only two of 55 public hearings of the Senate Select Committee on COVID-19.

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check3 Feb 2022AustraliaEconomy and jobs
Angus Taylor, Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction

“When the carbon tax went into place in this country, one in eight manufacturing jobs was destroyed.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Wrong

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Taylor is wrong. When the carbon tax went into place, manufacturing employed 947,500 people. By the time of its repeal two years later, that number had shrunk by 32,300 (3.4 per cent), with one in 29 workers affected…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check13 Dec 2021AustraliaEconomy and jobs
Jim Chalmers, Shadow Treasurer

“Whenever [Treasurer Josh] Frydenberg bangs on about tax, remember that the two highest taxing governments of the last thirty years have both been Liberal-National governments, including his.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Fair call

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Dr Chalmers's claim is a fair call. Although there have been just two periods each of Labor and Coalition governments in the last 30 years, the Commonwealth tax take was on average higher under the Coalition during that…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check8 Dec 2021AustraliaClimate and environment
Scott Morrison, Prime Minister

“Australia has "reduced our emissions by more than 20 per cent. There are only four countries in the G20 that have actually done better than Australia on that front".”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Misleading

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Morrison's claim is misleading. Data from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change shows four G20 countries in front of Australia for emissions reductions on 2005 levels (Mr Morrison's chosen startin…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check10 Nov 2021AustraliaPolitics and government
Alexander Downer, Former foreign minister

“There are 400 private jets ferrying delegations to the COP26 conference. @POTUS [US President Joe Biden] brought five. It is estimated they will emit in 24 hours as much CO2 as Scotland emits in a year!”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Nonsense

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Downer's claim is nonsense. The Scottish government's most recent estimate, from 2019, puts the country's annual emissions for that year at 47.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. It is not clear just how m…

Checked by RMIT ABC Fact Check27 Oct 2021Australia
Gina Rinehart, Mining magnate

“Polar bear numbers have increased”

RMIT ABC Fact Check rated this: Doesn't check out

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mrs Rinehart's claim doesn't check out. Reports on populations of polar bears produced by leading experts do not provide a time series for global populations of the species. Rather, they group polar bears into 19 subpop…