The tweets that made Russell Skelton a perfect ABC fact-checker The Coalition is naturally curious why the ABC appointed yet another Leftist - this time the husband of ABC host Virginia Trioli - as head of its new fact-checking unit, recently funded by a grateful Labor Government: The ABC announced last week that former Fairfax journalist Russell Skelton had been appointed to the role... Afghan asylum-seekers but were deemed to be from Pakistan. Opposition Senate leader Eric Abetz produced a sheaf of tweets from Skelton on a Twitter feed under his ABC title that Senator Abetz claimed vilified himself, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce, Joe Hockey, Scott Morrison and Peter Reith. "Abbott's extremism on display," Skelton commented on a retweet of a story on asylum-seeker policy. "No statesman, no style," he added to a retweet of a report of remarks by the Prime Minister on Mr Abbott. In others retweets Mr Skelton described the Opposition Leader as "a shameless opportunist" and "a liability." He dismissed Senator Joyce as "a dense, opportunistic carpetbagger," called Mr Morrison "the LP's one trick pony," and accused Mr Reith of "rewriting history." "There are dozens and dozens of them showing bias against the Coalition," Senator Abetz told the committee, citing other articles retweeted by Skelton with remarks lauding Ms Gillard... ABC managing director Mark Scott said Skelton was not an ABC employee at the time most of the remarks were made. But Skelton sure is an ABC employee now.