Both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton revived debunked claims as they accused one another of telling lies during the third leaders' debate on Tuesday night.
The prime minister and opposition leader traded barbs over the cost of living, energy, housing and their policy records as they were quizzed by the Nine Network's moderators.
AAP FactCheck noted several debunked claims from both sides - including questionable calculations about wages and government spending, as well as mischaracterisations of each other's policies.
ALBANESE: $7200 WORSE OFF
Mr Albanese twice repeated misleading claims that Australians are $7200 better off under Labor than they would be under the coalition due to the government's cost-of-living relief.
"If we hadn't have provided that cost-of-living relief, people would have been $7200 worse off if Mr Dutton and others had got their way," Mr Albanese said.
But AAP FactCheck previously found the claim was misleading.
Experts said Labor's calculations were flawed as they weren't adjusted for inflation and their assumptions about the pace of wage growth were unrealistic.
DUTTON: RENEWABLES-ONLY
Mr Dutton repeated a false claim three times during the debate that Labor's energy policy is "renewables-only".
Experts previously told AAP FactCheck that Labor's energy plan retains a crucial role for fossil fuels in the form of gas generation, which is forecast for use up until, and beyond, 2050.
DUTTON: $425 BILLION SPENDING
The opposition leader also repeated a problematic claim about spending since Labor came to office in 2022.
"The fact is that this government has spent $425 billion more," Mr Dutton said.
AAP FactCheck previously investigated the calculations behind the cited total - which increased from $350 billion after the last budget.
The figure relies on the broadest measure of spending, which experts said doesn't accurately capture the effects of Labor's policies.
It also relies on a comparison with forecast spending under the coalition's last budget that incorporates highly uncertain medium-term budget projections, experts said.
DUTTON/ALBANESE: HEALTH
Both leaders also criticised one another during the debate about claims from the other side they believe are false.
Mr Dutton took issue with Mr Albanese's claim the coalition cut $50 billion from hospitals when he was health minister in 2014.
"What you're saying is that [hospitals funding] should have gone up by a bit more each year - and that's what you describe as a cut," Mr Dutton said.
Experts told AAP FactCheck the coalition outlined $50 billion in cuts to hospitals spending over a decade in 2014 compared to what the former Labor government promised.
Health funding was still forecast to increase at a slower pace, but many of the changes didn't arise because Malcolm Turnbull later restored some - not all - of the reduced funding.
Mr Albanese also repeated a misleading claim that bulk billing was in free fall when Labor came to office in 2022.
In a May 2024 article, AAP FactCheck found that while bulk billing rates were going down before the 2022 election, they fell more rapidly after Labor took government.
DUTTON/ALBANESE: MIGRATION
Mr Albanese took aim at Mr Dutton for his claim that more than a million people came into Australia over a two-year period under his government.
"The [migration] numbers were always going to go up when the borders opened after COVID because Australian citizens were coming home," Mr Albanese said.
The 2022/23 and 2023/24 years Mr Dutton is using as the basis for his migration claim were described as "disingenuous" by a leading expert when AAP FactCheck looked into the claim.
The numbers in those years were affected by borders reopening after COVID-19, while experts also said the coalition is omitting key context about how its own policies helped lift migration.
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