WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Anthony Albanese and his wife used a VIP Royal Australian Air Force plane to fly on their honeymoon.
OUR VERDICT
False. The prime minister flew on a commercial Qantas flight.
AAP FACTCHECK - Anthony Albanese and his wife Jodie Haydon did not use a VIP Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) jet to travel on their honeymoon, despite claims online.
The falsehood is one of several claims shared after the couple were married at the prime minister's official residence, The Lodge, on November 29.
A December 2 Facebook post states: "AUSTRALIAN TAX DOLLARS HARD AT WORK....The freeloaders got a free wedding and are now off on the RAAF private jet for their honeymoon."
The post includes an image of Mr Albanese and Ms Haydon stepping off an RAAF aircraft. However, the image is from 2022 and shows the couple arriving in Madrid for a NATO summit.
Another post claims they used "Australia's Private Jet" for their honeymoon.
While Mr Albanese used his taxpayer-funded official residence as the wedding venue, he has stated that he and Ms Haydon paid for all of the expenses related to the event themselves, according to various media reports.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers and other Labor figures including Penny Wong, Mark Butler, Katy Gallagher, Tony Burke, Tim Ayres, Richard Marles, Penny Sharpe and Jo Haylen were among the list of about 60 guests, AAP reported.
On Monday December 1, Mr Albanese and his wife arrived at Sydney domestic airport to leave for a five-day honeymoon.
They were seen boarding a commercial Qantas flight in a video published by the Daily Telegraph, not a VIP RAAF jet as claimed in the Facebook posts.
False claims are also being shared on X, including a photo of Mr Albanese standing next to former Qantas CEO Alan Joyce.
"Joyce was there as "best man"," the caption reads.
However, the image has been created using artificial intelligence (AI). The watermark for X's AI assistant, Grok, appears in the bottom right corner.
There is no evidence Mr Joyce was a guest at the wedding.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
