AAP FactCheck Articles

Dingo and shark on the beach with mating snakes pic is fake

AAP FactCheck examined the image and found it dated back to at least October 16, 2011 where it appeared on the photo sharing site Imgur. The source of the Imgur post links it to the same photo uploaded on Reddit by user u/BeefPieSoup on the same day.

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Venomous snake diagram claims are false

Pupils and pits on snakes both serve practical purposes unrelated to whether or not a snake is venomous. Elliptical pupils tend to be a trait of nocturnal snakes, while snakes active during the day have round pupils, according to an article on identifying venomous snakes published by McGill University in Canada.

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Do a quarter of Tasmanians - or 120,000 people - live below the poverty line?

"120,000 Tasmanians - a quarter of our population - live below the poverty line." Anna Reynolds, Lord Mayor of Hobart, and Council of Capital City Lord Mayors Chair. July 8, 2019.

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ATM “tip” to protect your PIN is false

The same ATM tip has been posted on social media since at least November 2018 and been shared in various forms in the US, Canada, Africa, Asia and more recently Australia. Here’s three examples from the Philippines, South Africa and India.

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"Cool" image of film and rock trio is fake

AAP FactCheck found the photo comprises of three separate images of the three stars on their own which have been photo-shopped together. Two of the images were taken five years apart.

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George Orwell's 1984 book quote is false

AAP FactCheck found the word “revolt” appeared six times in the novel 1984, and the quote in the Facebook post, does not appear in this exact or similar form.

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Has the increase in the number of homeless people been lower than population growth?

“Over the census period numbers [of homeless people] have increased slightly, but the point that I was making is the increase is lower than population growth.” Assistant Minister for Community Housing and Homelessness Luke Howarth. July 9, 2019.

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Leadership quote credited to former US president John Quincy Adams is false

US President Donald Trump used the same quote in a April 16, 2015 tweet which attracted 346 retweets and 361 likes. It was also used by his daughter Ivanka Trump in her 2017 book, Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success.

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Sarah Hanson-Young protest sign image is fake

The same image bearing a different caption on the sign was published by Senator Hanson-Young on her official Facebook page 18 months ago on November 4, 2017. The signs in that image carried by Senator Hanson-Young and her supporters read: “Free The Refugees”.

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Has the Tasmanian government diverted $1.6 billion in GST funding away from its health sector since 2014?

“Since 2014 approximately $1.6 billion in health-related GST funding for Tasmania has been diverted to other areas by the state government.” Did this statement by Independent federal MP Andrew Wilkie on July 3, 2019 correctly reference the Goddard State of Health report.

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Muhammad is not Australia’s No1 baby boy name

The post links to the Facebook page of Common Cause Australia, where they outline their anti-Islamic agenda, including their wish to "Ban the Koran. STOP ALL islamic immigration to OZ ... Rid OZ of all Mosques."

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Movieflix free streaming offer is fake

The Facebook post links to a website page called Au News featuring a June 28, 2019 Movieflix news story and the headline “There is a better service than Netflix ... and it's free for the Australians!”, by Tim Brooks.

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Prostitute quip attributed to former Governor-General is a fake

The script in this Facebook post has been circulating the internet in various forms since 1997 and has been attributed to a number of different people over the years.

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Coal lobby video of wind turbine disaster is not real

A Facebook video allegedly shows wind turbines, which it's claimed the government forced a land owner to erect, breaking apart during a storm.

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Five-metre human skeleton find a hoax

The Alien Star Facebook page claims to share evidence of aliens on earth. Its website, purportedly based in Romania, publishes “breaking news and analysis of the latest trends and happenings around the world, in domains as Science, Space, Extraterrestrial Life, Technology, Weird and others”.

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Is 90 per cent of NSW drought affected and 30 per cent of the state in severe drought?

“We’ve still got 90 per cent of the state in some level of drought declaration and 30 per cent in severe drought”. NSW Farmers Association CEO Peter Arkle. July 1, 2019.

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Is homelessness growing in NSW and are there 60,000 people waiting for social housing, sometimes for up to 10 years?

“In NSW we have a growing homeless population, a social housing waiting list of 60,000 and waiting times of up to 10 years in some areas.” Joanna Quilty, chief executive of the NSW Council of Social Service. June 20, 2019.

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Are nurse walk-in centres a proven way to ease hospital emergency pile-ups?

"Nurse-led walk-in centres are proven." NSW health spokesman Walt Secord announces Labor’s remedy to tackle overstretched hospital emergency departments. March 17, 2019.

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Is the NSW government guilty of pork-barrelling for granting arts funding to help secure coalition seats?

"It's a classic case of pork-barrelling." Independent candidate for Tamworth Mark Rodda accuses the NSW government of using taxpayers money to fund “unworthy" arts projects in coalition electorates.

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Does the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (SFF) want to give guns to 10-year-olds and relax the national firearms agreement?

“I think the Shooters Party is absolutely dangerous. Their policies of giving guns to 10-year-olds and relaxing John Howard’s gun laws are recent policies. We will not stand for 10-year-olds being given guns in NSW.”

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