Anthony Albanese has accused Peter Dutton of “gaslighting” Australians on key Liberal policies in a spirited first leaders’ debate of the election campaign, which focused heavily on energy, health and tax policies.
Neither man made a major misstep in the Sky News forum on Tuesday evening in western Sydney, where Albanese was voted the winner in a poll of 100 undecided voters. Albanese won 44 votes, Dutton won 35 and 21 remained undecided.
While Albanese slammed Dutton over the cost, timing and details of his controversial nuclear power plan and a gas plan that remained light on detail, the Liberal leader pursued his opponent over immigration figures and claims of Labor’s “broken promise” of a $275 cut to power bills.
“The only gas policy that the Coalition has is the gaslighting of the Australian public,” Albanese said in one of the debate’s more spirited moments.
Pushing back against Labor criticisms of Coalition policy to build seven nuclear reactors around the country, Dutton called Albanese’s concerns “dishonest” and defended the cost of his policy.
The leaders’ opening comments painted a picture of the central themes of each campaign. Albanese sought to portray Labor as a safe and sensible choice in an uncertain world, imploring Australians “now is not the time to cut, now is not the time to look backwards”. Dutton, in contrast, accused Labor of having the wrong priorities and making mistakes, highlighting the failed Indigenous voice referendum and soaring inflation and bills.
Dutton did not mention his signature nuclear plan in his opening pitch to the forum, doing little to counter Labor claims that the Coalition was seeking to downplay the unpopular policy. He instead highlighted his plan to cut the fuel excise by 25 cents a litre and bring on more gas supply.
A truck driver was critical that Labor’s tax cuts in last month’s federal budget wouldn’t come in for more than a year, asking why Labor didn’t support Dutton’s fuel excise cut.
“To be honest, Mr Prime Minister, people are hurting now, not in 15 months’ time,” the driver said.
Albanese said the excise cut would only be a “temporary” measure which would disappear, and that Labor was focusing on “permanent” relief including structural changes to tax rates, student fees and Tafe.
Dutton said his fuel excise cut, which would come in shortly after a Coalition government was elected, would give immediate relief, and a possible extension would be “reassessed” after 12 months.
Dutton went on to say the Coalition’s nuclear and gas policy would deliver cheaper power bills with flow-on effects economy-wide.
“We increase the supply of gas into the market, because gas helps create electricity. Gas helps create steel and bricks, and it will help with the construction sector,” he said.
The two men also sparred on health and bulk billing. Asked by a woman about GP gap fees, Albanese again pulled out his Medicare card to say he supported bulk billing. Dutton asked the woman a follow-up question about how much she paid, and she responded saying as much as $80 a visit.
Dutton repeated discredited claims that bulk billing rates were higher in the Coalition’s last years in office. Albanese reminded viewers that, as health minister, Dutton had briefly floated a $7 co-payment for GP visits.
Immigration was raised in a number of questions, with one audience member asking what Dutton would do to ensure respectful debate without demonising migrants.
The opposition has long claimed that a spike in migration levels after the Covid-19 lockdowns has sent the cost of housing sky-high – a claim, analysis shows, is exaggerated.
Asked about the war in Gaza, Dutton said he wanted to see peace in the Middle East but that Australians would expect troops on the ground had a similar scenario played out on our shores, before linking the conflict to immigrants adopting Australian values.
“I want to make sure that in our country, people can celebrate their heritage, can celebrate their connections to a country of origin, or to a country which is important to them,” he said.
“But when you come to our country, it’s about celebrating being Australian, always respecting heritage and culture, but also abiding by our laws.”
In his closing remarks, the prime minister referenced Labor’s campaign claims that Dutton would need to make major cuts to public services to pay for the nuclear plan – claims Dutton denied, going so far as to promise no cuts to health, and to legislate such a promise if the Coalition won government.
“In this uncertain time, with what’s going on in the world, now’s not the time to make cuts, to have the sort of policies that we’ve seen in the last week, where they’ve chopped and changed even before the election,” Albanese said.
“So how can you believe what they’ll do after the election?”
Pointing to the Coalition’s spectacular backdown on its plans to curb working from home for public servants and confusion over how it would achieve its stated aim to cull 41,000 civil servants, Albanese said: “Peter hasn’t been able to stand up for his own policies, so I don’t know how he can stand up for Australia.”
Dutton’s closing pitch claimed the Coalition would be better economic managers in uncertain times, again referencing the voice debate.
“The prime minister spent the first 16 months of his term obsessing about the voice … the prime minister should have been making decisions around how best to protect us from inflation that was obvious off the back of Covid,” he said.
The two leaders will face off again in Sydney next Wednesday in a debate on the ABC.
