WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Peter Dutton says he'll cut $350 billion from the budget.
OUR VERDICT
False. Mr Dutton has not said he'll cut $350 billion, despite accusing Labor of "wasteful spending".
AAP FACTCHECK - A Labor Party ad campaign is falsely claiming that Peter Dutton says he'll cut $350 billion from the budget if elected.
The opposition leader has not said he'll cut $350 billion from the budget, though he has accused Labor of "wasteful spending" in government and has said he will pursue cuts.
The false claims are being made in an ad campaign targeting voters in battleground seats ahead of the election across both Facebook and YouTube.
One advert targets John Fletcher, Liberal candidate for the outer suburban Victorian electorate of Gorton, which is considered a safe Labor seat, but one the coalition is targeting.
"Peter Dutton cut $14 billion from Victorian hospitals, including Sunshine [Hospital]," a narration over the advert says alongside images of the local hospital
"Now says he'll cut $350 billion more," it continues, alongside an image of a person on a medical trolley surrounded by health care workers.
The image then changes to a distressed-looking man.
"So if you vote for Liberal Gorton candidate John Fletcher you'll get Dutton," it ends, with the faces of Mr Dutton and Mr Fletcher merging.
Other similar ads, including for the marginal seat of Lyons in Tasmania and Brisbane in Queensland, say Mr Dutton cut money from hospitals before claiming that he says he'll cut "billions" or "$350 billion" more alongside images of local hospitals.
The Labor campaign directed AAP FactCheck to the fact that the ads do not specifically say Mr Dutton says he will cut more from hospitals and pointed to coalition plans to make cuts in other areas, including free TAFE.
As evidence of the claim that Mr Dutton says he will cut $350 billion more, they pointed to several statements from the opposition leader in which he criticises spending under Labor.
These include Mr Dutton saying "the Albanese Government has lifted spending by a whopping $347 billion since coming to power," in January and "Labor's budgets have been characterised by inflationary, reckless and useless spending," in January 2024.
They also pointed to other statements made by coalition figures, including Senator Jane Hume.
"Labor has spent $347 billion more than the last Coalition budget," Senator Hume said in January. "Labor will tell you its spending has been 'unavoidable'. Utter nonsense."
Mr Dutton has said he would seek to reduce "wasteful spending" in the budget, as AAP FactCheck has previously explored, but he has not said $350 billion would be the scope of any cuts.
He has also ruled out cuts (timestamp seven minutes 30 seconds) to frontline services and existing spending on programs such as existing urgent care clinics, which fall within additional spending under Labor.
AAP FactCheck has previously explained why the $350 billion figure, used by both the coalition and Labor, is problematic.
In relation to the other claim in the video that the coalition has already cut billions from hospitals, Labor pointed AAP FactCheck to budget documents from 2014 when Mr Dutton was health minister as evidence.
AAP FactCheck has previously interrogated claims Mr Dutton cut $50 billion from hospitals nationwide as health minister in 2014 and found that's not the full story.
Experts said that while the coalition tried to reduce hospital funding by $50 billion against projected spending under Labor, much of the reductions never occurred.
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