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FactCheck – Analysis and Comment
Shadow minister for employment Brendan O'Connor said the labour force participation rate was in “free fall” and that this showed “people have stopped looking for work”. Is that true?
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said Australian wages growth is at record lows. Is that true?
Shadow minister for health and medicare Catherine King said under this government, average out-of-pocket costs for GP visits are up by almost 20%. Is that true?
On Q&A, panellists duelled over the numbers of migrants Australia takes a year. Is it 200,000 or 800,000? How many permanent and how many temporary? Let’s check the facts.
Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy Mark Butler told Q&A that eating disorders “are the mental illness type which has the highest mortality rate”. We check the research.
The clinical committee reviewing obstetrics services for the federal government’s Medicare review said suicide is one of the leading causes of maternal death in Australia. Is that true?
Senator Jacqui Lambie told Q&A that a third of Australian age pensioners are living below the poverty line and that it’s estimated to rise to two-thirds within five years. Is that right?
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said Australia is one of the few countries in the world to accept foreign political donations. Is that true?
Labor senator Doug Cameron told Q&A the High Court had decided that the unions and business are entitled to fund political parties. Is that true?
Environment and energy minister Josh Frydenberg said that eight out of Australia’s 12 most emission intensive power stations closed in the last five years. Is that right?
The Productivity Commission has said that education spending has substantially increased over the last decade but student achievement has shown little or no improvement. Is that true?
Chair of the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine, told Q&A that $30 billion is spent every year on 500,000 Indigenous people in Australia. Is that right?
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s Kon Karapanagiotidis said that what a politician can claim for a one night stay in Canberra is equivalent to an entire week on Newstart. Is that true?
Communications Minister Mitch Fifield told Q&A that the Children’s eSafety Commissioner has investigated 11,000 cases of cyberbullying and can fine social media firms $17,000 a day. Is that true?
The Australian Automobile Association said that a new report showed that “the average Australian family is spending up to $22,000 every year to get around.” Is that accurate?
Is the Coalition right to say that, at any one time, there is around $3.5 billion of debt to the Commonwealth due to fraud, non-compliance or misreporting in the welfare system?
Ethicist Peter Singer told Q&A that climate change-related sea level rises are “estimated to cause something like 750 million refugees just moving away from that flooding”. Is that accurate?
After a question from a Muslim audience member, Senator-elect Pauline Hanson said “your Grand Mufti won’t even come out and condemn the terrorist attacks that’s happened overseas”. Is that right?
Was new Senator Derryn Hinch right to say on Q&A that voting is only compulsory in Australia and Belgium, and that 90% of New Zealanders vote even though it’s voluntary?
When Attorney-General George Brandis was asked on Q&A about a parliamentary vote on the decision to go to war, he said that was not part of the Westminster tradition. Is that right?
Was academic Marcia Langton right about the rate of violence against Indigenous women?
Has the Coalition invested an average of $5 billion per year more than Labor into Medicare?
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?