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Fact-checking Australia's likely next PM

By Alan Austin - posted Monday, 29 July 2013


More than one million jobs have been created since 2007, a record unmatched in comparable nations. The UK, with a population and an economy three times Australia's managed 656,000 extra jobs in that period. The unemployment rate in Australia is 5.7%. In the UK it is 7.8%. In the Euro Area 12.2%.

12. "At the Press Club recently, Mr Rudd declared that the mining boom was over and that Australia needed to be ready for life afterwards."

False. Mr Rudd specifically affirmed that "the China resources boom is over". There is a difference. Australia has other customers.

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Rio Tinto reports that first half 2013 iron ore production set a new first half record, driven by sustained productivity improvements, and 2013 sales set a new record for a first half at two per cent higher than in 2012.

There are other untruths in the speech. But there's a start. Questions arising include these:

How many of the above are deliberate lies and how many reflect genuine misinformation? What do Mr Abbott's colleagues – many of whom identify with faith communities which believe strongly in truthfulness – make of this pattern of behaviour?

And where are Australia's fact-checkers and what are they doing?

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About the Author

Alan Austin is an Australian freelance journalist currently based in Nîmes in the South of France. His special interests are overseas development, Indigenous affairs and the interface between the religious communities and secular government. As a freelance writer, Alan has worked for many media outlets over the years and been published in most Australian newspapers. He worked for eight years with ABC Radio and Television’s religious broadcasts unit and seven years with World Vision. His most recent part-time appointment was with the Uniting Church magazine Crosslight.

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