Meta to keep factcheckers for Australian election
Josh Taylor
Factcheckers will be in operation on posts on Facebook and Instagram during the Australian federal election this year, with the move to ditch factcheckers limited to the US for now.
In a blog post on Tuesday night, Meta’s head of policy in Australia, Cheryl Seeto, said Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press would continue to independently review content during the federal election campaign.
Where content is debunked, a warning label will be attached to the posts and its distribution will be limited. However, this will not apply to content posted by politicians – except if they’re sharing a post that has been already factchecked.
AAP will also work with Meta on a new media literacy campaign to help Australians “critically assess the content they view online”.
The company said it would remove the “most serious kinds” of misinformation, including threats of violence or physical harm, or those that attempt to interfere with voting.
Meta will also apply labels to AI-generated content where it is determined to be AI-generated, and AI content is also eligible for factchecking.
The revision of Meta’s hateful conduct policy now applies globally, however, meaning political advertising that previously wouldn’t have been allowed on Meta’s platform may now be allowed. The company would not speak on hypotheticals, but it is understood the controversial Clive Palmer ads in newspapers last week would have been allowed.
Key events
Good morning
Emily Wind
Emily Wind here, signing on for the Australia news live blog – I’ll be taking you through all of our rolling coverage today.
As always, you can reach out with any tips or questions via email throughout the day: emily.wind@theguardian.com. Let’s get into it.
Cait Kelly
Leigh says inequality challenge ‘not insurmountable’
Andrew Leigh will finish the speech by saying the challenge inequality creates is “not insurmountable”:
Australian history reminds us that inequality is never inevitable. It expands or shrinks based on the decisions we make collectively as a society. Together, we can create a society where dignity, justice, and opportunity are the lived reality for every Australian.
Cait Kelly
Growing inequality erodes social cohesion – Leigh
In his speech, Andrew Leigh will say growing inequality is an issue because it erodes social cohesion.
When wealth is concentrated among a few, society becomes fragmented. Our sense of collective responsibility diminishes, and the fabric that binds us as Australians weakens.
And he will argue the Labor government has done more to address inequality than any government in well over a decade.
This approach contrasts with our predecessors, whose tax policies disproportionately benefited the highest earners, widening the gap between rich and poor. By maintaining a fair and responsible tax structure, we can fund essential public services while ensuring that the most fortunate Australians contribute their fair share.
Cait Kelly
Leigh to deliver speech outlining growing inequality in Australia
The assistant minister for competition, charities and treasury, Andrew Leigh, will give a speech today outlining the growing inequality in Australia and how the Labor party has responded to the issue.
Leigh will begin but outlining how the postwar period between 1940s and 1970s, with its stronger unions, progressive taxation, expanded public services, and affordable housing policies, dramatically reduced inequality.
Yet since the 1980s, Australia has seen what economists describe as a ‘Great Divergence’, reversing the gains of earlier decades.
Today, the top 1% of income earners receive nearly 10% of national income, nearly doubling their share from 40 years ago. Wealth inequality is even more extreme, with the richest 10% owning more than 60 times the wealth of the bottom 10%.
He will say this “widening gap” is “not just economic”, but “profoundly affects people’s everyday lives”.
Those at the bottom face greater health challenges, including a stark difference in life expectancy – Australians in the richest fifth of the population live an average of six years longer than those in the poorest fifth.
The poorest Australians have seven fewer teeth on average due to poor dental care. In education, the wealth gap translates into substantial resource disparities between affluent and poorer communities.
Is the Coalition serious about a referendum on deporting criminals?
George Brandis has called it “as mad an idea as he has heard in along time” and Anthony Albanese called it a “thought bubble”. So we asked Josh Butler to dig into whether Peter Dutton really serious about wanting to hold a referendum on deporting criminals?
Australian businesses at risk of failure as Trump’s tariffs threaten economic recovery
More Australian businesses could go bust in coming months as US tariffs dash hopes for a soft economic landing, according to report this morning.
Businesses have already struggled to pay their trading partners due to tough economic conditions, with CreditorWatch’s February business risk index recording a 47% increase in invoice payment defaults in the 12 months to February 2025, AAP reports.
Though the economy has recently shown some signs of recovery, Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on steel and aluminium imports and threats to expand this regime risk a bumpier landing for Australia.
This could have consequences for business confidence, share prices and employment, which could result in more insolvencies. CreditorWatch chief executive Patrick Coghlan said:
We certainly hope that the worst-case scenario of a global recession doesn’t eventuate, but businesses should nevertheless be taking steps now to manage that risk.
Businesses in western Sydney and Queensland’s south-east are at the greatest risk of failure as they are more exposed to construction and generally have lower income levels.
Stephanie Convery
Chalmers says cost-of-living relief would be revealed in budget
Jim Chalmers urged Peter Dutton to support his promised “meaningful but responsible” cost of living help in the forthcoming federal budget, accusing the Coalition of opposing key cost-of-living relief measures brought forward by the Labor government over the past term.
One of the most surprising and disappointing elements of this parliament has been whenever we’ve tried to help people with cost-of-living, the Coalition has opposed that. They didn’t want a tax cut to every taxpayer, energy bill relief, cheaper medicines, rent assistance, cheaper early childhood education, fee-free TAFE, wages moving again.
Chalmers continued to be coy about what form the cost-of-living relief would take:
We’ll announce our cost-of-living relief in the budget … we would obviously ask the opposition to do away with this habit they’ve formed of opposing all of our cost-of-living help. Everyone in the parliament recognises that people have been under pressure in the last few years but the difference is only the Labor party has been there for people to help them with cost of living and that is rolling out right now despite the Coalition, not because of it.
Stephanie Convery
Chalmers says budget will focus on resilience amid time of ‘seismic changes’
The forthcoming federal budget will focus on resilience and withstanding global uncertainty in a time of “seismic changes”, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has said.
Speaking to ABC TV last night, Chalmers said Australia was not immune from the escalating trade tensions around the world, especially given the heavy reliance the country has on exports, and those changes in the global economy would necessarily have an effect on the budget, due to be delivered next week.
Nobody wins from a trade war and especially a trade-exposed country like ours … When you consider not just what’s happening in Washington DC but Beijing and elsewhere around the world, we are seeing the breakdown, that the rules of global economic engagement are being rewritten. They are seismic changes. It’s a whole new world in the global economy and that will impact our own economy and our own budget.
Asked whether the global uncertainty would have an impact on Australia’s attempts to bring down inflation, Chalmers reiterated comments he made earlier in the day, that the tariffs imposed by the US government and other escalating trade tensions would push prices up:
I think as the Productivity Commission made clear today and the OECD made clear overnight as well, two of the consequences of escalating trade tensions are slower growth and higher inflation and, again, it would be strange to conclude that we’d be immune from that.
When these tariffs are imposed and when there’s the retaliatory nature of these escalating trade tensions, we do expect higher prices. That’s one of the obvious consequences of tariffs. We’ll see that around the world and we are at risk of seeing it here.
Severe weather warning for north Queensland
A flood-weary region is bracing for yet more rain, stalling its recovery from a deluge that turned deadly, AAP reports.
A severe weather warning has been issued for a saturated north Queensland after enduring days of downpours.
More heavy rain may lead to flash flooding on the north-east tropical coast spanning Cardwell down to Ayr, with six hourly totals up to 160mm possible on Wednesday.
There’s also a risk of severe thunderstorms from Cairns down to Bowen, the Bureau of Meteorology warned.
The region is still reeling from record February falls which triggered widespread flooding that forced people to evacuate and isolated communities.
Meta to keep factcheckers for Australian election
Josh Taylor
Factcheckers will be in operation on posts on Facebook and Instagram during the Australian federal election this year, with the move to ditch factcheckers limited to the US for now.
In a blog post on Tuesday night, Meta’s head of policy in Australia, Cheryl Seeto, said Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press would continue to independently review content during the federal election campaign.
Where content is debunked, a warning label will be attached to the posts and its distribution will be limited. However, this will not apply to content posted by politicians – except if they’re sharing a post that has been already factchecked.
AAP will also work with Meta on a new media literacy campaign to help Australians “critically assess the content they view online”.
The company said it would remove the “most serious kinds” of misinformation, including threats of violence or physical harm, or those that attempt to interfere with voting.
Meta will also apply labels to AI-generated content where it is determined to be AI-generated, and AI content is also eligible for factchecking.
The revision of Meta’s hateful conduct policy now applies globally, however, meaning political advertising that previously wouldn’t have been allowed on Meta’s platform may now be allowed. The company would not speak on hypotheticals, but it is understood the controversial Clive Palmer ads in newspapers last week would have been allowed.
Greens offer help for home electrification
Krishani Dhanji
The Greens are spruiking grants and low-interest loans to electrify households and small businesses, which they say will reduce energy bills and reduce emissions.
The electrification plan would provide support for homes and small businesses to disconnect from gas, through technologies like induction cooktops, heat pumps and EV chargers. Grants of up to $10,000 and low-interest loans of up to $20,000 would be on offer for households, while small businesses would get access to grants of up to $25,000 and low-interest loans of up to $100,000.
The proposal also includes grants and low-interest loans for households and small businesses to get battery storage.
Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) costings show the plan to get households and small businesses off gas would cost around $5bn in the forward estimates, and support to install batteries would cost around $3bn.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, says in a wealthy country, “everyone should have clean, cheap energy”.
Getting homes off gas reduces pollution and helps bring down energy bills. It’s good for your health and it’s good for the environment.
Welcome
Martin Farrer
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Emily Wind with the main action.
The leaders of Australian business and workers will face off today at the National Press Club to debate the future of workplace relations. Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive, Andrew McKellar, will argue in a debate with union leader Michele O’Neil that whoever wins this year’s federal election must repeal labour laws that he says have stalled productivity and disadvantaged businesses. Separately, a report warns that more Australian businesses will fold this year because of US disruption. More coming up.
Talking of the election, the head of policy in Australia for Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, said the news agencies Agence France-Presse and the Australian Associated Press will continue to independently review content during the federal election campaign. Cheryl Seeto said the company’s controversial move to ditch factcheckers was limited to the US for now. More details soon.
The Greens are spruiking grants and low-interest loans to electrify households and small businesses, which they say will reduce energy bills and reduce emissions. More coming up.
