FACT CHECK : Fact Check determines the accuracy of claims by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in public debate.

steadyaku47 comment: Politicians and many others in the public domain from time to time, makes claims that need to be checked - whether they are the truth or lies. 

When Najib says his government has done all it can to look for MH370 - is he telling the truth? When Najib says that the GST will not hurt low income earners...is this the truth? Is Mahathir telling us the truth when he says his son's have never profited from his time in Government and that Proton has been good for Malaysia?

In Australia we have FACT CHECK. Maybe it is time we have FACT Check in Malaysia too. Who will take the initiative? 

About Fact Check

ABC Fact Check determines the accuracy of claims by politicians, public figures, advocacy groups and institutions engaged in the public debate.

We aim to be available to all audiences by operating across multiple platforms, including television, radio and online.

All verdicts fall into three colour-based categories: In The Red, In The Green or In Between - red being a negative ruling, and green being a positive.

The ABC Fact Check team will monitor the media on a daily basis for contentious claims.

Our focus will be on statements likely to influence the public debate, rather than minor errors or gotcha moments involving trivial gaffes.

Opinions and exaggerated rhetoric will be avoided.

Fact check suggestions from the audience are welcomed and can be submitted via the Contact page, or via our Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Audience comment and feedback is encouraged.

In the interests of transparency, all sources relevant to the verdicts will be published online.

Our aim is to be 100 per cent accurate. But if a mistake is made, the item in question will be corrected and the verdict revised.

Statements can be both right and wrong, depending on when they were said. Determinations are therefore based on evidence available at the time.

Here are some of the results of work done by Fact Checks: 

• The claim: Joe Hockey (Treasurer) says within six years Australia will have "the biggest medical research endowment fund in the world".
• The verdict: There is at least one bigger medical research fund in the world, and some governments spend more money each year on medical research than the new Australian fund will distribute.

• The claim: Chris Bowen (Former Government Minister now in opposition) says the Government's changes to financial advice laws will bring back the type of commissions that encouraged financial advisers to recommend risky investments.
• The verdict: The proposed changes will only apply to some forms of general advice. They do not bring back old-style commissions.

• The claim: Christopher Pyne (Education Minister) says university students have a less than 1 per cent unemployment rate and over a lifetime earn 75 per cent more than someone who doesn't go to university.
• The verdict: Of all university graduates, 3.3 per cent are unemployed. Some reports say university graduates earn about 75 per cent more than year 12 finishers, but others put the figure as low as 30 per cent. Mr Pyne's claim is overblown.