Former prime minister Tony Abbott waded into the debate over whether Australia should give "special attention" to white South African farmers by claiming 400 of them had been murdered over the past twelve months.  Problem is, that's not close to accurate.

Mr. Abbott's comments on social media and to radio station 2GB last month came as Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton was attempting to build a case for allowing white South African farmers get on an immigration fast track into Oz.  "There is a very serious situation developing in South Africa," said Abbott, "Something like 400 white farmers have been murdered, brutally murdered, over the last 12 months."

But the ABC says the claim is "baseless". 

South African police statistics show show that 74 people were murdered on farms in the year to March 2017; this figure includes all farm murders and doesn't break it down by race.  A farming group called Transvaal Agricultural Union says there were 84 farm murders in 2017, with 59 victims being white farmers. 

The issue of land ownership after the end of the racist apartheid has vexed South Africa, and the majority of the country's wealth including real estate is held by the white minority.  Violent crime is more frequent in South Africa than it is in Australia; for example, two white farmers were recently jailed for kidnapping a black man, forcing him into a coffin, and threatening to burn him alive.

As for Australia's immigration policy, Indrika Ratwatte - the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees director for Asia and the Pacific - said Peter Dutton ought to prioritize refugees held in the Australian detention camp on Nauru before the South African white farmers.