WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Angus Taylor told Fatima Payman to "go back to your country" during an exchange in federal parliament.
OUR VERDICT
False. The quote is fake.
AAP FACTCHECK - Clickbait Facebook posts are falsely claiming Opposition Leader Angus Taylor told Senator Fatima Payman to "go back to your country" during a fiery exchange in parliament.
However, official parliamentary transcripts show no record of Mr Taylor making the remark and images supposedly showing the clash are AI-generated.
The fake quote is being circulated by a network of foreign-run Facebook pages.
An October 27 Facebook post pairs the quote with an image of Mr Taylor pointing at Senator Payman during what appears to be a confrontation in a parliamentary chamber.
"Heated exchange in Parliament - Was Angus Taylor right to say "Go back to your country" to Fatima Payman?" the post's caption reads.
"A tense moment between Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor and Senator Fatima Payman has gone viral, sparking a huge debate about respect, free speech, and what is acceptable in Australian politics."
However, there is no evidence the alleged exchange took place.
A search of Hansard, the official record of parliamentary proceedings, found no evidence that Mr Taylor ever made the remark.
The two politicians also sit in separate chambers of parliament.
Mr Taylor is a member of the House of Representatives, while Senator Payman sits in the Senate, meaning they do not participate in the same parliamentary debates.
The accompanying image is also fake. Meta's AI identification tool detected AI signatures in the image, indicating it was created using generative AI.
The image also contains visual inconsistencies. For example, it depicts a parliamentary chamber with grey seats, but the House of Representatives chamber has green seats. The Senate, meanwhile, has red seats.
The October 27 post was shared by a Facebook page called Peejay Wu, which regularly publishes AI-generated content about Australian politics.
Despite its focus on Australian affairs, Facebook's page transparency data shows the account is managed by users in Germany and Pakistan.
Other Facebook pages, including Seven Kingdoms and Life in Australia, have also shared the fabricated quote alongside similar AI-generated images of the two politicians.
AAP FactCheck has previously debunked similar misinformation involving fabricated disputes between Australian politicians.
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