{"id":1400534,"date":"2022-03-25T13:31:31","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:31:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1400534"},"modified":"2022-03-25T13:31:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T17:31:40","slug":"fact-check-did-australian-prime-minister-scott-morrison-say-flood-victims-should-be-grateful-for-government-assistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-australian-prime-minister-scott-morrison-say-flood-victims-should-be-grateful-for-government-assistance\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison Say Flood Victims Should Be \u2018Grateful\u2019 For Government Assistance?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffact-check-did-australian-prime-minister-scott-morrison-say-flood-victims-should-be-grateful-for-government-assistance%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1400534&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>An image <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.ph\/oGZV4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shared on Facebook<\/a> allegedly shows a news chyron claiming Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said flood victims should be \u201cgrateful\u201d for government assistance.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The image featured in the tweet has been digitally altered. There is no evidence Morrison made the remark.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Australia experienced devastating flooding along its eastern coast in early March, prompting the government to declare a national emergency, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/environment\/australia-pm-declare-east-coast-floods-national-emergency-2022-03-09\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reuters<\/a>. The government has been sharply criticized for their handling of the crisis, with emergency services being overwhelmed and unable to keep up with demand, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/24\/world\/australia\/lismore-flood.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The New York Times<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>The Facebook image, which features a screenshot of a tweet, shows Morrison speaking while an alleged chyron beneath him reads, \u201cPM: Flood victims should be grateful for government assistance.\u201d Morrison also allegedly said flood victims were \u201cweaponizing their trauma\u201d against the government, according to the alleged tweet. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2020\/05\/08\/fact-check-australian-covidsafe-app-track-users-locations\/\">(RELATED: Does The Australian Government\u2019s COVIDSafe App Track Users\u2019 Locations?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence that Morrison made these statements or that the chyron is genuine. The image featured in the post appears to be from a March 21 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/abcinbrisbane\/videos\/329624075942080\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press conference<\/a> the prime minister gave about \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abc.net.au\/news\/2022-03-21\/qld-south-east-qld-city-deal-transport-digital-liveability\/100925714?fbclid=IwAR0lYVzvPAAf9j13rAGfJ_zEZPN2j3flhbXzwolKfCItjrz7kfIq1gxEPxw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The South East Queensland City Deal<\/a>,\u201d an infrastructure investment package.\u00a0Check Your Fact reviewed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pm.gov.au\/media\/press-conference-brisbane-qld-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">transcript<\/a> of his March 21 remarks, as well as his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pm.gov.au\/media\/press-conference-enoggera-qld\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">previous<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pm.gov.au\/media\/press-conference-goonellabah-nsw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">remarks<\/a> about the flood, but found nothing resembling the statements attributed to him in the Facebook post.<\/p>\n<p>The alleged chyron featured in the post matches those from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshButler\/status\/1505754178974785540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Australia\u2019s ABC News<\/a>. However, Check Your Fact reviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/search-beta.abc.net.au\/index.html?siteTitle=news#\/?query=morrison%20grateful%20flood%20assistance&#038;page=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ABC News\u2019s website<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/results?search_query=abc+australia+scott+morrison+&#038;sp=EgIIAw%253D%253D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">video coverage<\/a> of the floods and found no evidence the news outlet aired such a chyron. ABC Communications later <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ABCMediaComms\/status\/1505789127421472769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tweeted<\/a> that it \u201cappeared\u201d the image has been \u201caltered.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshButler?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@JoshButler<\/a> says, it appears the caption on this image has been altered. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cc2bpunNND\">https:\/\/t.co\/cc2bpunNND<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ABC Communications (@ABCMediaComms) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ABCMediaComms\/status\/1505789127421472769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 21, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cAs <a class=\"css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0\" dir=\"ltr\" role=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshButler\">@JoshButler<\/a> says, it appears the caption on this image has been altered,\u201d reads the tweet. Butler, a reporter for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Guardian Australia<\/a>, also <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshButler\/status\/1505754178974785540\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tweeted<\/a> out the genuine chyrons used for Morrison\u2019s conference, none of which match the Facebook post.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">these are the straps ABC ran during the presser. Nothing close to what that ^ photo claims<\/p>\n<p>you might also notice there\u2019s no ABC logo or clock in the bottom right corner<\/p>\n<p>you can check all that out, plus the full presser, on ABC\u2019s YouTube <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OPLrSzzDR3\">https:\/\/t.co\/OPLrSzzDR3<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lRwUTn7aWx\">pic.twitter.com\/lRwUTn7aWx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Josh Butler (@JoshButler) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JoshButler\/status\/1505754178974785540?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 21, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe caption on a screen grab from the ABC NEWS channel was altered,\u201d said Sally Jackson, a spokesperson for ABC News, in an email to Check Your Fact. \u201cAs soon as it came to our attention the ABC reported and escalated the matter with Twitter.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An image shared on Facebook allegedly shows a news chyron claiming Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said flood victims should be \u201cgrateful\u201d for government assistance.Verdict: False The image featured in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1400534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1400534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1400534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1400534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1400534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1400534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}