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Private Notes
Did the NT's banned drinker register work?
Labor Party Senator Nova Peris says alcohol-related emergency department admissions to Northern Territory hospitals increased by 80 per cent in the 14 months after the banned drinker register was scrapped.
ABC Fact Check finds admissions did not decrease while the register was in place and the upward spike began before it was removed.
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Joe Hockey correct on Australia's debt, spending
Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has foreshadowed cuts to government spending to rein in Australia's debt.
"Of the 17 top surveyed IMF countries, Labor left us with the fastest growth in spending of anyone in the world... and they left us with the third highest growth in debt of anyone in the top 17," Mr Hockey said.
Fact Check examines Mr Hockey's claims.
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How many people watch the Australian Formula One Grand Prix?
Victorian Premier Denis Napthine says 450 million people watch the Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.
That figure is more than the number of people who are expected to watch the World Cup soccer final.
ABC Fact Check investigates.
The Federal Government has applied to have sections of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area delisted by the United Nations.
If successful, tens of thousands of hectares of land could be reopened to logging and other activities.
The claim: Tony Abbott says the 74,000 hectares the Government is proposing to remove from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is not pristine.
The verdict: Expert analysis suggests more than 85 per cent of the area has not been logged, and that there is only a small amount of degradation or plantation timber. Further, UNESCO does not require an area to be "pristine" in order to be listed as a World Heritage Area.
The proposed redrawing of the Tasmanian wilderness boundaries has provoked controversy, and is now the subject of a Senate inquiry which will report in mid-May.
Speaking at a dinner organised by two forestry and timber industry bodies, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said: "One of the first acts of the incoming Government was to begin the process to try to get out of world heritage listing 74,000 hectares of country in Tasmania, because that 74,000 hectares is not pristine forest. It's forest which has been logged, it's forest which has been degraded, in some cases, it's plantation timber that was actually planted to be logged."
The claim: Tony Abbott says the 74,000 hectares the Government is proposing to remove from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is not pristine.
The verdict: Expert analysis suggests more than 85 per cent of the area has not been logged, and that there is only a small amount of degradation or plantation timber. Further, UNESCO does not require an area to be "pristine" in order to be listed as a World Heritage Area.
Mr Abbott made his comments on March 4, 11 days before the Tasmanian state election.
ABC Fact Check examines the Prime Minister's claim the 74,000 hectare area is "not pristine forest".
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On the money: Mathias Cormann says Medibank Private sale will
Scrapping the mining tax
The claim: Mathias Cormann says scrapping the mining tax would improve the budget position by $13.8 billion.
The verdict: The $13.8 billion figure is not from scrapping the mining tax alone. It includes abolishing eight spending measures, the largest of which was never associated with the mining tax. Senator Cormann's claim is exaggerated.
The Federal Government says the mining tax is not raising any money. At the same time, it says scrapping the tax will benefit the budget by over $13 billion.
"Only the Labor Party can be so incompetent to come up with a massive new tax targeting an important industry for Australia, the mining industry, and leave the budget worse off," Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said on March 18.
"The fact that scrapping the mining tax would actually improve the budget position by $13.8 billion tells you everything you need to know about the mining tax."
The Senate rejected legislation to repeal the mining tax on March 25, when Labor and Greens senators voted against it. In the Senate debate, the Coalition argued the tax was discouraging resource investment, particularly in the state of Western Australia, and was raising little revenue. Labor argued mining companies should be paying more tax for exploiting Australian resources.
ABC Fact Check examines Senator Cormann's claim that the budget position would be $13.8 billion better off without the mining tax.
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Children in detention: Is Australia breaching international law by keeping children in immigration detention?
The claim: Gillian Triggs says under international law, children should not be detained for longer than absolutely necessary for health and security checks.
The verdict: Experts agree with Professor Triggs, and UN treaties also make it clear that children should not be placed in detention for any length of time.
The Australian Human Rights Commission is conducting an inquiry into Australia's practice of placing asylum see
Global competitiveness, government regulation and productivity growth: Where does Australia rank?
Fact Check finds Tony Abbott is quoting questionable reports on the economy.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently highlighted two international surveys that challenge the belief that Australia's economic performance has been a standout.
In the House of Representatives on March 19, he said: "On the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness ranking, Australia has slipped six places in four years to 21st. Australia's ranking on the burden of government regulation is 128th - yes, 128th in the world, nestled between Romania and Angola. On The Economist's productivity growth ranking, we come second last, just ahead of Botswana."
Given the importance of Australia's economic competitiveness and productivity growth, ABC Fact Check investigates these claims.
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Whaling around the world: How Japan's catch compares.
Fact Check finds Japan's international whaling comparison is spin.
Japan has announced it will not continue whaling in the Antarctic, after the International Court of Justice ruled its "scientific" program was illegal.
Australia brought the action challenging Japan on the grounds the program was not scientific.
Defending the program after the ICJ ruling, a spokesman for the Japanese delegation to the court said many other countries continue to hunt and kill whales.
"It's not only Japan that is engaged in whaling. It's almost nearly 10 countries in the world, including the United States, Canada, Norway, Iceland, Denmark, Russia among others," Nori Shikata told ABC radio's AM program.
ABC Fact Check investigates which countries are whaling.
Single-decker v double-decker trains
Barry O'Farrell's claim about the carrying capacity of single-decker trains is doubtful.
Sydney's iconic "red rattler" trains were finally pensioned off more than 20 years ago, and ever since the city's passenger railway network has been dominated by double-decker carriages.
But NSW Premier Barry O'Farrell says that was the wrong call by transport planners.
"Single-deckers... can carry more people, travel more quickly, and disembark those people more quickly without people having to come down from those difficult steps that exist on our double deckers and that delay people at railway stations," Mr O'Farrell said.
Single-deck trains will be returning to the Sydney rail network in the next five years with the North West Rail Link. That $8.3 billion project has created controversy because double-deck carriages will not be able to run on the new line.
ABC Fact Check asked Mr O'Farrell's office if he meant to imply individual single-deck trains can carry more passengers than a double. A spokesman said he did not; rather that single-deckers can carry more passengers per hour overall.
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Does Australia make it hard for Chinese tourists to apply for a visa?
James Packer is correct on the visa application process for Chinese nationals.
The recent trip to China by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Australian business leaders highlighted the importance of China to Australia's economy. When it comes to tourism, China is Australia's fastest growing inbound tourism market and largest contributor to international visitor spending in Australia.
James Packer, a member of Mr Abbott's business delegation, says it should be easier for Chinese people to visit Australia.
Mr Packer is the chairman and majority shareholder of Crown Resorts, the operator of casino hotels in Melbourne, Perth and the Macau Special Administrative Region of China, which competes with other destination resorts in places such as Singapore and La
Will New South Wales run short of gas by 2016?
Updated Wed 23 Apr 2014, 2:50pm AEST
NSW will run short of gas by 2016, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says.
PHOTO: NSW will run short of gas by 2016, Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane says. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
MAP: Australia
Gas price hikes recommended by the NSW pricing regulator IPART have renewed concerns about jobs and the impact of coal seam gas development in the state.
The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal has released a draft report into regulated gas prices, which allows for an average increase in regulated gas prices of 17.6 per cent in 2014-15.
Last year federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane made a series of dire predictions about the future of gas supply in New South Wales.
Mr Macfarlane said the state would run short of gas by 2016 leaving hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs at risk unless the coal seam gas industry is developed.
"We've got 4,000 agreements between farmers and the gas industry in Queensland to co-exist and that's allowed the LNG industry to develop," he told ABC Radio on September 18, 2013.
"Without that in NSW, we've seen the CSG supplies stay in the ground and NSW is facing a situation now where it will run short of gas by 2016.
"Literally hundreds if not thousands of jobs will be put in jeopardy in Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong, as a result of low gas supplies and high prices that come from that."
ABC Fact Check examined his claims.
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Fact or fiction: 5 common Anzac myths put to the test
The story of the Anzacs at Gallipoli remains an important part of Australia's national identity.
More than 8,000 Australians lost their lives in the ill-fated attempt to force passage through the Dardanelles strait and capture the Turkish capital, Constantinople.
The legends of Anzac heroism, mateship and ingenuity have gone down in folklore along with names like Simpson and Jacka VC.
Another part of that legend is the bungled landing in the w
Is it a crime to offend someone under the Racial Discrimination Act?
The claim: Alan Tudge says under the Racial Discrimination Act it can be considered a crime to offend someone.
The verdict: Mr Tudge is incorrect. The conduct described in section 18C of the Act is not criminal.
"It comes down to: What type of language do you get the police involved and the courts involved with, what type of language should be criminal; versus what type of language is nevertheless unacceptable but should be just dealt with by saying it's unacceptable, pointing it out in no uncertain terms, and I think that sometimes just doing that is a better way to deal with it."
Offending someone under the Racial Discrimination Act is not a crime.
Attorney-General George Brandis recently released draft amendments to the Racial Discrimination Act. The proposed changes continue to attract robust public debate, in particular those relating to section 18C.
Section 18C deals with the prohibition of "offensive behaviour", and includes offending, insulting, humiliating and intimidating others on the basis of race, colour or national or ethnic origin.
In defence of the Government's proposed amendments, Alan Tudge, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, told the ABC's News Breakfast he believes the main problem with the current Racial Discrimination Act is that it makes a subjective action, like offending someone, a crime.
"When you look at the Act itself... it says that if you offend someone - and it's a subjective measure so if you're personally offended - even though many people may not have thought it was offensive language, then it can be considered a crime," Mr Tudge said.
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Attorney-General George Brandis ill-informed on people's 'right to be bigots'
The claim: Attorney-General George Brandis says people have a right to be bigots and to say things that other people find offensive.
The verdict: Senator Brandis's view is ill-informed. There are many laws i
