Experts refute 'nonsense' claim Australian PM facing legal battle at international court

"Peter Dutton accuses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia (Labor Party) in an international court," reads text superimposed over photos of the political rivals shared on Facebook on November 28, 2025.

The text adds that Dutton accused Albanese of paying for votes from other parliamentarians and made promises that he could not fulfil "to secure a landslide victory". It also says Albanese responded on social media platform X, "escalating the controversy to unprecedented levels".

The post appears to be referring to federal elections held in May that saw Albanese's centre-left Labor Party win an outright majority in parliament (archived link). Dutton, who led the opposition Liberal Party at the time, also lost his seat in the polls and became the first opposition leader to lose his seat at a federal election (archived link).

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on December 11, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The claim that Dutton had lodged a case against the prime minister in an international court was also shared in similar Facebook posts that link to longer articles on external websites.

It also spread on Instagram in a post appearing to quote the Swim Aquatics account, which has previously shared misinformation about Australian swimmers and has since pivoted to publishing posts largely critical of Albanese and his party.

But a spokesperson for the Liberal Party told AFP in an email on December 6 that the claim is "obviously false", and legal experts said it would not be possible for Dutton to have filed such a case in either the ICJ or the ICC.

'Complete nonsense'

The ICJ "only deals with cases between states," Richard Garnett, an expert on international legal arbitration at the University of Melbourne Law School, told AFP on December 5 (archived link).

"So in other words, for example, if Australia and France had a dispute, that could be heard in the International Court of Justice, but they don't deal with cases involving individuals," he said.

Natalie Klein, who specialises in international law and is associate dean at the University of New South Wales Sydney's Faculty of Law & Justice, also told AFP on December 5 that "there is no way Dutton could make such a claim" at the ICJ (archived link).

The ICJ's information department confirmed to AFP in an email on December 5 that it would not have a role in a purported case like the one shared in the false posts: "Individuals cannot be parties to cases before the Court."

Garnett also said the case could not have gone before the ICC, saying it deals with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, and hence would have no jurisdiction over the claim of vote-buying in an election (archived link).

"So it's more than disinformation. It's completely absurd, complete nonsense," Garnett said.

Klein added that she was not aware of any Australians currently indicted before the ICC.

In a December 10 email, the ICC told AFP: "We can confirm that no such case exists before the International Criminal Court."

The false claim was earlier debunked by AAP Factcheck.

AFP has previously fact-checked other false claims targeting the Australian prime minister.