The first leaders’ debate between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton of the 2025 federal election kicked off on Tuesday evening, featuring plenty of clap backs, accusations, and even one tweet that had many of us scratching us heads.
In case you missed it, the party leaders tackled questions ranging from healthcare, cost-of-living, inflation, and energy, from 100 undecided voters in the people’s forum in Sydney. Albanese ultimately snagged the win at 44 per cent compared to Dutton’s 35 per cent, though a quarter of the audience in the room were still undecided.
Here’s everything you need to know about what went down.
1) Clap backs and call outs
A pretty key theme of the night seemed to be fact checking, with the Prime Minister accusing the former Coalition government of cutting health and education funding during its last tenure. But Dutton quickly shot back, stating Albanese had not made “a truthful statement”.
“The prime minister may claim it should have risen more, and that’s his opinion,” he stated, per ABC News.
“But to say funding was cut — if you look at the budget papers, that’s simply not true. It’s misleading and meant to instill fear. I consider it dishonest, especially coming from someone who wants to be re-elected as prime minister.”
Albanese, too, hit back at claims. Amid suggestions that his government was the biggest spender in four decades, the leader quickly stated “that’s inaccurate” as he pointed to the Coalition’s COVID-era spending.
And in another moment that’s probably all over your feeds by now, the Prime Minister also slammed Dutton over the party’s nuclear policy and gas plan.
“The only gas policy that the Coalition has is the gaslighting of the Australian public,” Albanese said.
2) Clash over Medicare
Health and bulk billing was another popular topic of the night, with Albanese quick to pull out his Medicare card when discussing GP gap fees and Labor’s plan to reduce out-of-pocket costs for Australians.
But the moment was prompted seized by Dutton, who asked an audience member about her experience at the GP, specifically if she could only use her Medicare to pay for it. The woman conceded she usually faced gap fees as much as $80.
3) Sticking to party themes
For many viewers, the debate largely outlined policies and announcements we’ve heard before from Labor and the Coalition. The Prime Minister focused on the cost-of-living relief rolled out thus far and painted Labor as a safe choice amid global uncertainty, stating “now is not the time to cut, now is not the time to look backwards”, as reported by The Guardian.
His counterpart Dutton focused on the significant bills faced by voters today, claiming Labor had failed to bring down power bills and highlighted the failed voice referendum.
4) That awkward tweet
In an embarrassing gaffe for the Coalition at the end of the evening, social media users quickly peeped a tweet from the Queensland branch of the Liberal National Party congratulating Dutton on his win.
Published shortly after the debate wrapped up, the post on X featured a picture of the Opposition Leader against a Liberal blue background, with the word ‘winner!’ splashed across.
Ummm…. (Source: X)
A fact-check note appeared under the post, linking to a new article by Sky News – who hosted the forum – that “Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has won the first election debate”.
Social media users promptly pointed this out, with one user commenting the party had “grabbed the wrong graphic” and others calling out the inaccurate claim.
Albanese and Dutton will next meet on Wednesday, April 16 for the second leaders’ debate, this time hosted by ABC News.
There’s no other debates officially scheduled just yet, but the Labor and Liberal campaigns are believed to be in discussions about this.
And look, after this showing, which held few surprises, I’m pretty sure most of us will be hoping for more at the next one — fingers crossed!
The post 4 Key Takeaways From The First Dutton Vs Albo Debate, From Clapbacks To That Awkward Tweet appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
