Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said “you can’t reflect society if 90% of your members of parliament were chosen from trade unions and worked in trade unions”. Let’s take a look at the numbers.
Was shadow minister for finance Jim Chalmers correct when he said that under the current Coalition government, net debt had doubled? We asked the experts.
In addition to the jobs claim, Liberal MP Sarah Henderson said 65,000 new businesses had started in the last year, compared to the closure of 61,000 businesses in Labor’s last year. Is that right?
On Q&A, Minister for Urban Infrastructure and Cities Paul Fletcher said South Australia’s high electricity prices were “the consequence” of Jay Weatherill’s renewable energy policies. Is that right?
On Q&A, Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive James Pearson said almost 60% of small business owners in Australia are paid $50,000 or less. Is that right?
To all the Q&A viewers and Conversation readers who requested or shared a FactCheck Q&A in 2017: thank you. Here are a selection of your requests, and the responses from our expert FactCheck authors.
Did the government-funded gun buybacks introduced after the Port Arthur massacre have “no effect” in reducing gun deaths in Australia, as an audience member claimed on Q&A? Let’s look at the evidence.
On Q&A, an audience member said renewable energy is ‘now cheaper than coal’. Senator Matt Canavan disagreed, saying renewables are not ‘at the moment, cheaper than coal’. Let’s look at the numbers.
Do Muslim couples in Australia have ‘on average 4.5 children’ while other couples have ‘1.5 children’? Could Australia have a ‘Muslim majority’ in ‘a couple’ of generations? Let’s check the evidence.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter told Q&A that ‘rates of drug use amongst unemployed are 2.5 times higher than amongst employed people’. Is that correct?
Cape York Partnership founder Noel Pearson told Q&A that Indigenous Australians were ‘the most incarcerated people on the planet Earth’. Is that right?
During a discussion on Q&A, author Nikki Gemmell said 80% of Australians and up to 70% of Catholics and Anglicans support euthanasia laws. Is that right?
On Q&A, government minister Zed Seselja remarked that surveys showed confidence in media has fallen globally. In Australia, he said, it has dropped lower than in the US. Is he right?
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.
On Q&A, panellist Faustina Agolley questioned whether there were laws protecting against revenge porn in Australia. As it turns out, it all depends on where you live.
Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie responded to The Conversation’s request for sources and comment regarding our FactCheck on her climate change comments.