A photo of Anthony Albanese, the newly elected Prime Minister of Australia, with a saffron Hindu scarf is being shared on social media with a claim that he wore it during his oath-taking ceremony. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo of Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese with a saffron Hindu scarf during his oath-taking ceremony.
Fact: The photo was not taken at the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected Australia’s PM Anthony Albanese. Anthony Albanese did not wear a saffron scarf during his oath-taking ceremony. The posted photo was taken at an event organised by ‘Hindu Council Australia’. The previous Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also attended a similar event organised by ‘Hindu Council Australia’ and wore a similar saffron scarf. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
When the photo was run through Google Reverse Image Search, the same photo was found in an article published by ‘ABC News’ with the following description – “Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese wore the scarf at a Hindu Council event in Parramatta earlier this month”. Anthony Albanese posted similar photos with the same saffron scarf on 6 May 2022 and wrote – “A warm reception in Parramatta tonight with leaders from the Hindu faith and subcontinental communities. My deepest thanks to the Hindu Council Australia for the invitation to tonight’s event.” So, the photo was taken before he was elected as the PM of Australia.
More visuals related to the event on 6 May 2022 can be found on the ‘Hindu Council Australia’ page. They can be seen here, here, and here.
Not only Anthony Albanese, but the former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has also attended a similar event organised by ‘Hindu Council Australia’ and wore a similar saffron scarf. ‘ABC News’ wrote – “The photo-ops took place earlier this month as the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader attended separate events where they were courting the support of voters among Australia’s Indian diaspora.”
The visuals of the oath-taking ceremony of newly elected Australia’s PM can be seen here. Anthony Albanese did not wear a saffron scarf during his oath-taking ceremony.
To sum it up, the posted photo of Australia’s new PM Anthony Albanese with a saffron scarf was not taken at his oath-taking ceremony.
