In response to our request for Vikki Campion’s travel records, the body in charge of monitoring parliamentary expenses, the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority, said there was an “expectation and risk” of the information being “misinterpreted and misrepresented”.

However, you could easily make that argument for any piece of information. 

You could misinterpret this editorial, and no doubt some people will. 

We live in an era where critical journalism is easily disqualified by deeming it fake news. We don’t deal in fiction, but perhaps when opinions are challenged and tested, it can hardly seem real when there are voices singing a different tune to yours.

With Twitter, being published and having your voice heard has never been so easy.

Credible journalists share the same space with often anonymous and one-eyed political users who will spout opinion as fact or take information and twist it to serve their own purpose, like grist to the mill, whilst ignoring or attacking anything that doesn’t fit their narrative.

Sometimes these users have thousands of followers and they share the platform with credible sources, so it can be hard for other users to discern where the facts lie and what's being misrepresented or contorted.

Even Facebook is having a difficult time dealing with this dilemma, and has been forced to create new algorithms that suppress fake news.

One rumour that still continues to perpetuate due to its circulation on social media is the story of one of Barnaby Joyce’s daughters driving down the main street of Tamworth in a ‘Barnaby Joyce’ labelled ute, shouting on a megaphone not to vote for their father.

Plenty of people have heard the story, but no one actually saw the incident.

Another fun fact that is often ignored is that Mr Joyce doesn’t have a ‘Barnaby Joyce’ labelled ute (he drives an unmarked four-wheel drive).

The Leader has also confirmed the story to be a fabrication with the family. 

But still the rumour mill spins. Such is the power of social media. 

So is the IPEA, a government agency striving to conduct an independent audit, right to be fearful?

Could misinterpreted facts “ultimately render the audit worthless”? 

I’ll leave that up to you to misinterpret.