Acting Prime Minister Michael McCormack Says Facts Are 'Contentious'

Michael McCormack has been placed as Australia's Acting Prime Minister as Scott Morrison goes on holiday and it's certainly been a wild week.

The stand-in leader has come under fire for his statements on the Black Lives Matter movement, the Capitol riots and now questioning the concept of facts.

McCormack raised a few eyebrows yesterday when he argued that 'facts are contentious'.

Facts, by their very nature, are 'things that are known or proved to be true'.

But that didn't stop the Acting Prime Minister when he was discussing the problem of Australian politicians sharing coronavirus misinformation on social media.

Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been accused of spreading information on Facebook that has been deemed 'misleading'. The posts relate to unproven treatments for the coronavirus pandemic and also claimed children wearing face masks amounts to 'child abuse'.

McCormack was asked whether Facebook should have the power to block that sort of content.

"Facts are sometimes contentious and what you might think is right - somebody else might think is completely untrue - that is part of living in a democratic country," he told the ABC.

"I don't think we should have that sort of censorship in our society."

He later added: "You might look out there and say the sky is blue ... but I can see from here that it is grey.

"I mean there are a lot of subjective things. I was asked about a colleague who puts material up on Facebook - well some of what my colleague puts up is very much true.

"But people on the Twitter sphere, they don't always like it - well toughen up I say."

The stance was slammed by the Opposition's health spokesperson, Chris Bowen, who said the Acting Prime Minister needs to step up and take charge with MPs who are spreading misinformation.

"Craig Kelly has engaged in a systemic and deliberate attempt to undermine our medical health professionals," Mr Bowen told reporters.

"[He] is a menace, and at every turn, Scott Morrison, and now Michael McCormack, acting prime minister, have failed to call him out.

"It is dangerous because this is a time for confidence in our decision makers."

Featured Image Credit: Bidgee (Creative Commons)

Topics: Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie