Josh Frydenberg

“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 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…

“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 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…

“[H]ere in Melbourne, very sadly, we've endured the longest lockdown in the world.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is not clear cut. There is no doubt that Melbourne ranks among the cities to have faced the longest and most arduous series of lockdowns. But whether it ranks as number one is questionable. Several…

“Australia has "seen employment go above its pre-pandemic levels".”

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is a fair call. The April 2021 jobs figures show there were roughly 46,000 more Australians working than in March 2020, when the pandemic struck. As experts noted, there are other ways to assess th…

“And let's not forget that going into this crisis, we saw welfare dependency at a 30-year low because we'd got that unemployment rate down.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Yes, the data shows welfare dependency is at a low, but there is more to the story than Mr Frydenberg's claim suggests. Fact Check relied on two measures of "welfare dependency" when assessing Mr Frydenberg's claim: the…

“More than 90 per cent of Newstart recipients are receiving other benefits, including the Parenting Payment and Rent Assistance”

“[The] real minimum wage has gone up under us every year. Under the Labor Party, it actually went backwards.”

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is a fair call. The minimum wage, as set by the Fair Work Commission, has increased at a faster rate than both inflation and the average wage on an annual basis since 2014-15, the first full financ…

“60 per cent of taxpayers who declared a capital gain had taxable incomes of less than $80,000”

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is misleading. He points out that more than 60 per cent of taxpayers declaring a capital gain in a given year were on taxable incomes of less than $80,000. However, this paints a distorted picture.…

“About two-thirds of those with negative geared properties have a taxable income of less than $80,000 ...”

RMIT ABC Fact Check says: Mr Frydenberg's claim is misleading. Experts contacted by Fact Check took issue with Mr Frydenberg's use of taxable income to define wealth, due to the very nature of negative gearing, which is a tax deduction that redu…