WHAT WAS CLAIMED
John Howard accused Anthony Albanese of "betraying Australia" in a live broadcast with the prime minister following the Bondi Beach shooting.
OUR VERDICT
False. The quotes have been fabricated by pages that routinely post disinformation.
AAP FACTCHECK - John Howard hasn't declared that Anthony Albanese betrayed Australia in a live broadcast following the Bondi Beach shooting, despite disinformation spreading online.
While the former prime minister has publicly criticised Mr Albanese following the terrorist attack, the quotes attributed to him in the posts have been fabricated.
The claims are the latest in a spate of disinformation about the Bondi mass shooting from foreign-operated Facebook pages that AAP FactCheck has repeatedly debunked.
Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed opened fire on a Jewish event at a Bondi Beach park, killing at least 15 people and injuring dozens, on December 14, 2025.
Sajid was shot dead by police, while Naveed remains under police guard in hospital, where he has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder.
A wave of false claims about the gunmen, victims and the political reactions to the terrorist attack have spread across social media in the days after the shooting.
A December 18 post from a disinformation page called "Swimming Times" claims Mr Howard criticised Mr Albanese during a televised interview.
"YOU ARE A TERRIBLE PRIME MINISTER, WHO BETRAYED AUSTRALIA WITH FALSE PROMISES!" the post quotes Mr Howard as saying.
The post has been shared more than 750 times and gained more than 10,000 likes from users across Facebook.
An article linked in the post goes on to claim Mr Albanese was also present in the studio and purportedly "clenched his jaw" in response.
"Sources later claimed the Prime Minister requested a break, but producers refused, sensing the confrontation's gravity, allowing Howard to continue, uninterrupted, as social media ignited nationwide within minutes," the article claims.
Mr Howard criticised Mr Albanese in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting, including in a December 16 press conference where he said the government hadn't done enough to address anti-Semitism and called a debate about gun laws an "attempted diversion".
He also criticised Mr Albanese in relation to the shooting in interviews with 9 News and Sky News, where he suggested Mr Albanese had "failed the Jewish people immensely".
But the quotes attributed to Mr Howard in the Swimming Times post and accompanying article are fabricated.
There's no record of them in Mr Howard's actual public comments and he also hasn't done a TV studio interview with Mr Albanese since the shooting.
Another post by a similar page called Swim Aquatics, which AAP FactCheck has debunked before and after the shooting, also claims Mr Howard criticised Mr Albanese in parliament.
"I was wrong to trust him, causing Australia to fall into the darkest period we're in now," it quotes the former prime minister as saying.
It then claims Mr Albanese "hit back" at Mr Howard on social media.
"Anthony Albanese posts a SHOCKING statement on X to hit back at Howard and those demanding his RESIGNATION, leaving Howard ENRAGED and triggering an explosive controversy that has set social media ablaze!!" the Facebook post claims.
An article linked in the post contains more supposed quotes from Mr Howard criticising Mr Albanese.
"Under my watch, we had gun laws that worked, borders that were secure, and a united nation," it claims Mr Howard said.
"Now, we've got unchecked migration, ignored intelligence warnings, and blood on our beaches. Albanese's weakness has betrayed us all."
There is no record of the quotes attributed to Mr Howard in the post or the article, while Mr Albanese has also not responded to Mr Howard's criticisms directly in any X post.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked several pages - including Swimming Times and Swim Aquatics - for publishing fake quotes from One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and Mr Albanese, as well as using the photos of victims alongside false claims.
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