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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Politics & government fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about politics & government. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

12,754 published reviews in this topic

Pesa CheckPolitics & government

Taita Taveta Governor Impeached

Publisher’s rating: TRUE

Related reporting identifies Granton Samboja as the Taita Taveta governor impeached by county assembly members in October 2019. It says the dispute arose from his refusal to assent to the county’s budget allocations, and reports that the assembly impeached him. This supports the claim that he was impeached. The account also makes an important distinction: impeachment by the assembly did not result in Samboja being removed from office. It says a Senate special committee found the charges unsubstantiated and that he remained in office. Thus the headline claim is supported as a description of the assembly’s action, but it should not be read as saying that Samboja was ultimately ousted.

RMIT ABC Fact CheckPolitics & government

"The Australian constitution is the only constitution of a first world nation with a colonial history that does not recognise its first people."

Publisher’s rating: Checks out

The investigation assessed Linda Burney’s claim that Australia was the only comparable developed settler-colonial country whose constitution did not recognise its First Peoples. It first established a comparison group: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States were identified by Burney’s spokesman and by the experts consulted as the most obvious candidates. The review considered other possible countries but excluded them where they did not fit its criteria or where their comparability was disputed. [S1] The decisive comparison, as reported in the supplied excerpt, was that Canada, New Zealand and the United States each provided greater constitutional recognition of their First Peoples than Australia. In particular, the review cited the US Constitution’s grant of congressional power to regulate commerce with “the Indian Tribes” as recognition, while noting experts’ views that this provision should be considered alongside treaties with Indigenous nations. The excerpt states the overall finding that the comparable countries’ constitutional arrangements recognise their first peoples, while Australia’s do not. [S1] The review’s conclusion therefore depends on its defined comparison group and on what it counted as constitutional recognition. The supplied text does not include the full country-by-country analysis, so it does not support further detail about the specific constitutional provisions in Canada or New Zealand, or the complete analysis of Australia’s Constitution. [S1]

NewtralPolitics & government

La ministra de Salud de Holanda trabaja dos horas al día como agente de limpieza

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The post claimed that the woman shown beside a rubbish container was the Netherlands’ health minister and worked two hours each day as a cleaner before going to her office. The investigation addresses both the woman’s identity and the setting of the photograph, rather than establishing a work schedule for the person pictured. First, the article notes that the Netherlands did not have a female health minister: it identifies the officeholder as Hugo de Jonge. It then reports that a reverse-image search traced the photograph to Franziska Giffey, who was Germany’s minister for family affairs, senior citizens, women and youth—not the Dutch health minister named in the post. The article places the photograph in Berlin on 7 March, during an event connected with International Women’s Day. Giffey took part in a waste-removal tour, and a German government press release described her later discussion with waste workers about women’s role in a male-dominated profession. That event context explains why she appeared in a cleaning-related setting; it does not support the post’s claim that she routinely worked two hours a day as a cleaner before going to her office.