Media contributions
1Media contributions
Title Energy fears spark inaccurate fuel countdown posts in Australia, Degree of recognition International Media name/outlet AFP Media type Web Country/Territory Worldwide Date 21/04/26 Description This AFP fact-check examines social media claims that Australia's fuel reserves were depleting faster than the government had disclosed, based on the Last Drop dashboard and its countdown clock for jet fuel, petrol and diesel. The verification establishes that the site publishes modelled estimates derived from public data, carries disclaimers to that effect, and produced figures diverging materially from the government's weekly official reporting on the same date. Dr Lurion De Mello addresses the presentation rather than the underlying data, arguing that speculative run-out countdowns and depletion dates rendered in authoritative visuals resembling official warnings generate a misattribution risk, since modelled estimates mistaken for official advice during a crisis can drive panic buying and undermine institutional trust. Swinburne University's Hussein Dia separately identifies the model's dependence on assumptions regarding consumption, import disruption and panic buying, and notes that fuel types and volumes in the shipping data are inferred rather than confirmed with national averages applied to individual cargoes, compounding uncertainty through the model — concluding that the tool illustrates vulnerability but cannot determine actual days of cover. The piece further documents the platform's creators as consultancies with ties to the federal opposition, its exclusive sharing arrangement with News Corp, and responses from the creators, News Corp and the Energy Minister's office. Producer/Author Dene-Hern Chen URL https://factcheck.afp.com/doc.afp.com.A8PR763 Persons Lurion De Mello