A news site with ties to the fossil fuel industry claimed Scotland axed 14 million trees to make way for wind farms. Is that correct? – ABC News
According to the government agency Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS), 14 million trees were cut down to make way for wind farms in Scotland, but this had occurred over 20 years.
Meanwhile, over the same period (from 2000), 272 million trees were planted across the country.
That crucial fact is missing from an article published this week by the website Energy News Beat, which appears to have driven the recent surge in social media activity.
Notably, the omission comes despite the article drawing heavily on a two-year-old story published by Scottish news site The Herald, in which an FLS spokesman was quoted as saying: “That figure for felled trees should also be contrasted with that for the number of trees planted in Scotland over the years 2000 – 2019, a total of 272,000,000, and renewable energy developments fit well with this.”
He added: “The amount of woodland removed across Scotland’s national forests and land, managed by FLS, for wind farm development is not even 1 per cent of the total woodland area”, while the 14 million trees were a commercial crop that would ultimately have been felled for timber.
FACT CHECK 1: “The cost of living is about money in as well as money out, and in terms of wages growth, we’ve seen wages go backwards in the last year – we’ve seen wages flatline for 10 years.” Anthony Albanese, May 8.
It is certainly fair to say real wages growth has been historically low over the past decade. And as Albanese correctly notes, real wages have fallen in the past year.
FACT CHECK 2: “There’s no magic wand to increase wages. There’s no magic pen that makes it all happen.” Scott Morrison, May 9.
So while there may not be a magic pen, it would be wrong to suggest there is nothing the federal government can do.
Morrison is simply saying “It’s not my job” “I’m not holding the hose” proving yet again he’s no leader
The second leaders’ debate on the Nine Network last night was full of accusations and acrimony. Amidst the shouting and over-talking coming from both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese, it was easy for the facts to get lost. You’re probably wondering how close some of the things that were said came to being correct. RMIT ABC Fact Check has you covered.
Is Australia doing better on reducing emissions than all but four countries in the G20? RMIT ABC Fact Check investigates. The verdict Mr Morrison’s claim is misleading.
The claim Both the Coalition and Labor have in the past argued that paying off Commonwealth debt is a benchmark of economic success in Australian politics. But Treasurer Josh Frydenberg recently warned Australians that his July budget update was going to contain “eye watering numbers around debt and deficit”, saying: “The coronavirus has required the Government to spend unprecedented amounts of money to support people in need”. The following day, in an interview with ABC News Breakfast, shadow treasurer Jim Chalmers said the Government must not be allowed to “pull a swiftie” by pretending the red ink in the budget was a consequence of the virus when the vast majority of the debt had piled up beforehand.
The upward trend started with Obama/Biden and lasted 7 years Trump piggy backed on 4. (ODT)
The economic crisis triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic brought an abrupt end to the longest economic expansion in US history – 128 months of growth, eight more than the previous record, between the Cold War and 9/11. If the recovery is slow and uneven – and data indicate that that may well be the case – it could profoundly damage the president’s chances of reelection.
Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are promising to expand Social Security and ensure that all benefits can be paid in full and on time for the foreseeable future by requiring the wealthiest to pay more. Donald Trump promises to end Social Security as we know it.No amount of obfuscation by the Trump administration, Trump allies, surrogates, and so-called fact checkers should hide that very clear and very real fact.
When a Minister gets that flustered you know a nerve has been hit. (ODT)
The RMIT ABC Fact Check unit, funded jointly between the RMIT University and the ABC, describes itself as an “agenda-free zone” that does not allow staff of the unit to be members of political parties or activist groups.
From the September 1 edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360:DON LEMON (HOST): Donald Trump laying out his immigration plan in a speech tonight in Phoenix. Now, our CNN Reality Check team takes a look, here is our Tom Foreman. What do you have for us, Tom?TOM FOREMAN: Hey Don, you know the central theme of all of this, a big theme, was that
Mr Morrison claims that there are eight out of 10 income taxpayers required to go to work every day to pay for the $154 billion social services bill. ABC Fact Check runs the numbers.
The claim: Tony Abbott says it is a criminal offence to attack a royal commissioner.
The verdict: There is a criminal offence for “insulting” a royal commissioner but experts say the provision is likely to be unconstitutional because it impinges on the right to comment on political matters. Mr Abbott’s claim is oversimplified.
The claim: Joe Hockey has warned that Australia is at a “tipping point” and living beyond its means. “We cannot continue to go on borrowing $100 million a day as a government just to pay our daily bills,” he said.
The verdict: Mr Hockey is using a conservative figure to estimate the daily cost of borrowing, but economists said his statement that we are at a “tipping point” is open to debate. Australia’s debt and deficit are not at particularly high levels historically, or internationally, and investors are prepared to lend more to the federal government. Mr Hockey’s claim is over-egged.
Experts weigh in
Economists contacted by Fact Check offered a range of responses to Mr Hockey’s claim.
Richard Robinson, from business research and forecasting firm BIS Shrapnel, says it is “a reasonable claim” yet points out Australia’s total debt remains low by world standards. “So I would not say we are at a tipping point…yet,” Mr Robinson added.
“I think it’s a bit alarmist,” Jakob Madsen of Monash University told Fact Check, while noting Mr Hockey’s sums are correct.
Professor Madsen also said that while the $100 million a day figure sounds “astronomical”, Australia’s deficit measured as a proportion of gross domestic product is a better measure and at 2.5 per cent is “not too bad” in historical terms.
And former Reserve Bank economist Paul Bloxham, from investment bank HSBC, said that, strictly speaking, Mr Hockey’s assertion that Australia can’t continue borrowing is not correct.
“The market is currently prepared to lend to the Australian government at an historically low interest rate of 2.5 per cent for 10 years,” he said.
This means the market clearly believes Australia’s budget deficit is sustainable at this stage, Mr Bloxham said.
Good debt and bad debt
Gordon Menzies, another former Reserve Bank economist now at the University of Technology, Sydney, said if you think of government debt in terms of a household or business debt, then a relevant comparison is that borrowing to buy a house or factory is quite different from borrowing to have a party.
“Some government spending, such as infrastructure spending, will yield ongoing benefits even if the government has to borrow to do it,” Dr Menzies told Fact Check.
Mr Bloxham also said if government spending is directed to investing in future growth, then the spending itself could help to support growth and pay the interest associated with the budget deficit.
“This is why the right question is not if the deficit is sustainable, because it clearly is,” Mr Bloxham said. “It is whether the spending is well allocated to building capacity to support medium-term growth.”
As for whether Australia is living beyond its means, Mr Robinson said the Government’s main problem is that it doesn’t have enough revenue to match expenditure.
“In my opinion, a large chunk of the revenue problem is due to large tax benefits to already wealthy people, with the largest of these being superannuation breaks, capital gains tax breaks and negative gearing,” Mr Robinson said.
The verdict
Mr Hockey is using a conservative figure to estimate the daily cost of borrowing the difference between the Government’s expenditure and its revenue.
But economists said his statement that we are at a “tipping point” is more open to debate.
They point out Australia’s debt and deficit are not at particularly high levels historically, or internationally, and that investors are prepared to lend more to the federal Government. They also point out that some spending goes towards building infrastructure and investing in future economic growth.
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