Battleground seats hit by 'false' Labor election ads
A Labor ad campaign targeting battleground seats is falsely claiming that Peter Dutton has said he'll cut $350 billion in spending if the coalition wins government.
AAP FactCheck
has identified thousands of dollars of funding for federal election advertisements in seats including Gorton and Hawke in Melbourne's west and Lyons in Tasmania.
The ads claim that Mr Dutton has cut billions from hospitals, before claiming he has said he'll "cut $350 billion more" over an image of a person lying in a medical crash cart.
Labor said the ads don't claim Mr Dutton will cut billions from hospitals specifically and instead refer to coalition plans to wind back other Labor programs such as free TAFE.
Labor also pointed to various statements Mr Dutton has made about wasteful spending and claims that Labor has lifted spending by nearly $350 billion since coming to power in 2022.
But Mr Dutton has never said the coalition will cut $350 billion.
Mr Dutton has also pledged to match Labor's funding for essential frontline services like hospitals.
Labor aren't the only ones making some false claims ahead of polling day this weekend.
Experts told
AAP FactCheck
Mr Dutton's claim that Labor took $80 billion out of defence is wrong.
Instead, they say, the Albanese government has increased defence spending.
Under Labor defence has delayed, reprioritised and changed some projects to make room for spending on other capabilities like nuclear-powered submarines, experts explained.
But money has not been removed or cut from the defence budget.
Election misinformation also continues to swirl on social media as the campaign draws to a close, including false claims that voting on Saturday is fraud. The false claim leans into several sovereign citizen myths.
An AI deepfake video that purports to show US podcast host Joe Rogan attacking Foreign Minister Penny Wong has also been sharwidely circulated.
CLAIMS REVISITED
AAP FactCheck has been debunking election claims for several weeks. That hasn't stopped some of the key political players from repeating them.
* Mr Dutton repeated a misleading claim in the final debate last Sunday that electricity bills have risen $1300, the figure has been called "very cherrypicked" by a leading expert.
* Mr Albanese repeated a debunked claim in the final debate that the coalition's nuclear plan will cost $600 billion. Experts say no one knows what nuclear power may cost.
* Mr Albanese also repeated a misleading claim that Australians would be $7200 worse off under Mr Dutton, at the National Press Club on Wednesday.
* Mr Dutton on Wedensday repeated false claims that Labor's energy policy is renewables only.
Visit
AAP FactCheck's website
to read all of these checks in full.
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