The Conversation’s FactCheck has become the first fact-checking team in Australia and one of only two worldwide accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network at the US-based Poynter Institute.
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation and Lucinda Beaman, The Conversation
Bald-faced lies are fairly rare in Australian politics but, in 2016, weasel-words and cherry-picking were common. Politicians and public figures are experts at disguising opinion and ideology as fact.
Labor’s shadow health minister Catherine King, said that the government has “cut bulk-billing payments for pathology and diagnostic imaging to make patients pay more”. Is that right?
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that Australia spends more at a Commonwealth level on negative gearing and capital gains tax discounts than it does on child care or higher education. Is he right?
There’s now a global network of factcheck units, operating in myriad different languages. However, none have a process quite like ours at The Conversation. Here’s a step-by-step guide to how we do it.
Was Malcolm Turnbull right to say that larger and more frequent storms are one of the predicted consequences of climate change – but that you can’t attribute any particular storm to global warming?
Was Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Anne Ruston right to say that no solely-managed Commonwealth fishery is subject to overfishing?
Greens leader Richard Di Natale told Q&A that if there was a vote among people who are under 30 in Australia, there’d possibly be a Greens prime minister. What do the polls say?
Trade Minister Steven Ciobo told Q&A viewers that Australia has had 25 years of continuous economic growth, and is the only country in the world with a period of growth that long. Is that true?