Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese have gone head-to-head in the second leaders' debate discussing issues including national security, aged care and cost of living.
Look back on how the second leaders' debate unfolded in our blog.
Key events
Live updates
By Jessica Riga
We'll wrap up our live coverage here
Time for bed! Thank you for your company tonight.
We'll be back bright and early tomorrow morning to live blog another week on the campaign trail.
Until then, have a lovely rest of your evening!
By Jessica Riga
Who won the debate?
Well... the Channel Nine poll keeps changing.
First, Channel Nine announced that after 19,000 viewer votes, the winner was Scott Morrison.
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52 per cent of viewers voted for Scott Morrison
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48 per cent of viewers voted for Anthony Albanese
Then, they're come out and said, as more votes have come in, Anthony Albanese is the winner, with 51 per cent of the vote compared to Scott Morrison's 49 per cent.
And as I just wrote that sentence, they've updated their graphic to say the vote is split 50/50.
By Jessica Riga
Which party do viewers think will win the *entire election*?
So, Channel Nine haven't announced who won, and they've just thrown to another ad break.
But they have revealed viewers think Labor will win the election. Here's how it shaked out:
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46 per cent backed Labor
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39 per cent backed the Coalition
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15 per cent think it'll end with a hung parliament
By Jessica Riga
Channel Nine hasn't revealed the winner yet
And more of you are reporting issues with that QR code that lets you cast your vote.
Refreshed ch 9 vote page throughout debate. Unable to vote. Still can’t. Would have voted for Albanese.
-Alison
Hopefully we know soon...
By Jessica Riga
Who do you think won the debate?
There's a real mixed bag here in our comments section.
Morrison far stronger. Specific policies and track record.
-Andrew
Looks like Albo finally has some fire in his voice. He just needs to direct it better 🔥
-Kerrod
Albanese won
-Carl
Albo. Clear concise and respectful
- Marty
after that debate, i've now decided exactly who's getting my vote
the greens
-B
I’m even more confused than ever. :( still undecided.
-Confused
By Jessica Riga
Some of you are reporting problems with the QR code
I was unable to post my vote as the QR code would not scan on either of my TV sets. Very frustrating.
-Narissa Phelps
Hopefully we find out soon who viewers thought was the winner!
By Jessica Riga
Your thoughts on the debate
The debate, what a shambles!!
-Jen
Not a debate, just a shouting match, very poorly compared.
-John O'Callaghan
I was so frustrated by the poor moderation of the debate - constant interruptions and talking over one another. Started by Morrison, should have been dealt with immediately but instead got out of control.
-Pippa
By Jessica Riga
Let us know your thoughts!
Who do you think won the debate?
And what did you make of the debate?
We'll post some of your comments here, and a reminder to please be respectful :)
By Jessica Riga
It's over
We made it!
So who won that? Channel Nine viewers can cast their vote using a QR code. Is anyone having issues with it?
The winner will, apparently, be revealed in a few moments... if Channel Nine can iron out any technical issues.
By Jessica Riga
And here are Anthony Albanese's closing remarks
Thank you very much to Scott and Nine for hosting the debate, and thank you to the viewers at home for watching this evening. You do have a choice when it comes to an election. You know that at the moment the cost of everything is going up, but your wages are not. You do have a choice to change the country for the better. And we can do so much better than we are doing right now. There are real issues right now. There are real issues right now. Childcare costs are spiralling right now. Aged care is in crisis right now. Work has never been more insecure than it is right now. Climate change is an opportunity, not just a challenge, right now. In spite of the floods and the bushfires, what does it take to wake up to this government, to the need to take serious action on climate change? We need greater equality for women right now. We need to increase women's economic participation as well as make workplaces safer right now.
These are all issues that Australia has the opportunity to go forward in, and create a better future. If we seize that opportunity. I believe Australia is the greatest country on Earth. But with a better government, we can be an even better country into the future. And I will say this - there are four words you will never hear from me. words you will never hear from me. "That's not my job." I will never say it. If I get the job, I will do the job each and every day.
By Jessica Riga
Here are Scott Morrison's closing remarks
Thank you, and thank you for your attention tonight. This election is a choice. It is a choice that is going to impact significantly on the future of all Australians. It is a choice between a government that has a strong economic plan, that has ensured that Australia is coming out of this pandemic stronger than almost any events to economy in the world today, with unemployment falling, a Triple-A credit rating and a budget turned around by over $100 billion in the last 12 months, so we can provide real cost of living relief.
A plan that is investing in small businesses. In skills, in infrastructure. Investing in the better roads, and ensuring the essential services you can rely on, whether it is Medicare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, because we know how to run a strong economy. We are a known quantity, and at a time of great uncertainty, now is not the time to risk things on the unknown. Labor have no plan, they are unknown, and a risk stop a small target is always a big risk and I think over the course of this campaign, as they have put forward what they have been talking about, Australians have been seeing and asking the question, are they really up to this, and is Mr Albanese really up to this?
You know what we have achieved together and we can keep achieving that by sticking to that strong plan, because a strong economy means a strong future.
By Georgia Hitch
Last question!
And it's from Chris Uhlmann.
Question: Will Australians continue to have access to the sports they love on free-to-air TV if you are in power, prime minister?
Morrison: "We are both promising a review of that issue, so I think the position is the same.
Albanese: No, I am promising a bit more than that. I am saying yes, of course the sports that are essential should be available to all Australians. But something else we need to address as well as making sure there is proper regulation, so that when people pick up their remote and they've got their smart TV, they can get access easily, easily,...
Morrison: That is the same policy we have. Well, you haven't done anything about it. We've got a policy we have taken to this election."
Uhlmann: Short story, Sharks versus Rabbitohs on free-to-air TV in the future?
Morrison: "I'm sure if it is the game of the round, as it currently works in those arrangements. We are saying the same thing. He is promising a review, one of 53 reviews he is going to do, they will work it out when they get there, apparently."
By Jessica Riga
What will Labor negotiate on?
Q: Here is a question for you, Mr Albanese. You have ruled out a negotiation with the crossbench on your climate target. So what will you negotiate on?
Here's Albanese:
Yes. We will not negotiate on any of the policies that we are taking to this election. But what's more, I'm seeking to form government with 76 ALP members.
What I will say is, I am campaigning very hard to form government in my own right, not as part of a Coalition with anyone.
By Jessica Riga
Morrison questioned on teal independents
Q: A lot of the independents, the "so-called" teal independents, are saying point blank they don't want to work with you. In the event of a hung parliament, we put the interests of your party above your own interest and resign if that is what it takes to form government?
Morrison: I am advocating that votes for independents, particularly those you refer to at this election, is a recipe for chaos. Because you can't vote for someone who will not tell you how they will vote, and it will throw Australia into a position of great chaos, great chaos. So I would urge people not to go down that path. That is a vote for chaos, and it will really prejudice your own interests and the Australian in coming and the strength of a government to deal with major national security issues.
By Georgia Hitch
And now to Albanese
Question from David Crowe: Mr Albanese, your plans during the pandemic, you have been very critical of the government, your plans during the pandemic included $6 billion in payments to get people vaccinated, which they did anyway. Included free RAT tests, which people can get now. Included be quarantine centres. If those were such good ideas during the pandemic, why are you not keeping them now?
Albanese: "Because they were ideas based upon limiting the impact of the pandemic. If we had got people vaccinated earlier, there would have been less shutdowns, less jobs lost, less impact on small business, less impact on people's [lives]."
"When rapid antigen tests were available, we had a circumstance whereby people were told, go into your chemist if you are a concession card holder and get one, people couldn't get access to them. That has been a problem. The government was too little too late on getting the vaccine rollout happening, and he didn't learn the lessons, and the same thing happened on rapid antigen test."
Crowe: So all their ideas, they have made mistakes, but your ideas were all fine? Some of them not wrong for the time?
Albanese: "No, they were right for the time because they would have limited the impact. You needed to act with a sense of urgency. Not the sense of complacency, saying, 'It's not a race'."
By Jessica Riga
Albanese questioned on China
Uhlmann: The Labor Party was dragged reluctantly to the position of believing China was a threat and you say China has changed, you have only begun saying that in the past couple of…
Albanese: I'm opposed to the sale of the port of Darwin at the time, as the Labor shadow treasurer.
Uhlmann: How will it stand up to China when some of the loudest voices on being pro-Beijing come from your party?
Albanese: That is an outrageous... slur. Labor has always been good on national security. I tell you who Australia turned to in World War II, in our darkest hour - John Curtin he became prime minister without an election. Labor will always take national security issues seriously. We took the issue of the port of Darwin... It is not a former Labor minister who went on the board of the company that runs the port of Darwin.
Morrison: How often has Richard Marles met with the Chinese Ambassador in Australia? He is your deputy leader.
Albanese: That is just an outrageous slur.
Morrison: How many times, do you know?
Albanese: Once.
By Georgia Hitch
Questions now about the pandemic
This is something that hasn't come up a lot in the campaign so far.
The question from David Crowe now is to the Prime Minister about how his government handled border closures.
Question: Mr Morrison, you keep telling us how well your government did during the pandemic, but he did also stop Australians coming back to their own country because there were not enough quarantine places for them. Was that a moment of shame for Australia, and for you?
Morrison: "No, that wasn't the reason why we did that. We did it because at that time there was the outbreak of the Delta strain in India. And for a period of time, it was only for a couple of weeks, we froze the return of Australians who were in India coming back to Australia, for a very brief period of time. That was done on the basis of medical advice."
Crowe: But it wasn't just India, was it? There were Australians in places all around struggling to get back. There were many in the UK who wanted to come home.
Morrison: "Australian citizens were barred from coming back to Australia, I thought is that is what they were referring to, legally barred from doing so. And as a result we were able to avoid for some period of time the terrible impacts of that Delta strain, had we allowed that to come in."
"But one of the things we did together with the state governments, right from the outset, is we agreed to put in place a quarantine system that was done with the states through hotels, which massively increased the capacity for us to have people come to Australia. You can't set up quarantine facilities for 50,000, 100,000 people, is to be turning up every other day. And as a result, we put in place that system and it was very effective."
By Jessica Riga
Some thoughts from you
I do not know how you lot keep up. They keep talking on top of each other.
-Cannot hear anything
By Jessica Riga
Morrison questioned about his reponse to China's deal with Solomon Islands
This question comes from Chris Uhlmann.
Q: Prime Minister, you have drawn a red line on any Chinese military bases in the Solomon Islands. What does that mean?
Morrison: It means that was something Australia believes would be completely against our national interest, and we also believe it will be against the Solomon Islands's national interest. And we share that view in a similar language with the United States. It is 80 years ago right now since Australia and the United States were battling in the Coral Sea. And we are here again right now working together with our partners, with New Zealand, with the other many Pacific nations, to ensure that we can secure the peace and stability within the Pacific.
Q: But you do have to enforce this in some way. Are you saying you would be prepared, for exam, to try and blockade any attempt to build a military base in the Solomon Islands?
Morrison: I think it would be very unwise for any government to speculate around these issues. What is necessary in international environments such as this is to be very clear about what the various partners' positions are. That is United States' position and certainly our position and I believe it is a broader position of the Pacific Island family as well. I don't believe it will be in the interest of the Solomon Islands government themselves have made it very clear that it is not an outcome they are seeking or supporting either. I believe it is not in their national interest to have such a presence.
Q: What is the point of talking about a redline if we don't know what you mean by it, to take action?
Morrison: What it means is, everyone has a clear understanding about what the positions are...
Q: Do you have a clear understanding of what the red line is, because it seems that people don't.
Morrison: People understand that we would work with partners to ensure that the outcome would prevent it.
And here's Anthony Albanese's take:
"This has been a massive foreign policy failure. Some have commentated it has been the biggest failure since the Second World War. The government said they would have the Pacific step-up. Instead, it is a Pacific stuff-up. We know China is more aggressive and forward-lending in the region. We know they are trying to increase their influence in the region."
By Georgia Hitch
Why should voters trust the government to fix aged care when it hasn't already?
Still on aged care, David Crowe's put it to the Prime Minister that given the Coalition's been in power for nine years - how can voters trust it to improve it in the future if the neglect in the sector continued for that long under its watch?
Question: On aged care, do you accept that the neglect in aged care happened during nine years of Coalition government and it is the Coalition's fault?
Morrison: "It occurred over 30 years, that is exact that what the royal commission has said, under the last nine years, the Labor government before that and the previous Liberal government before that. The problem is a very difficult, and we all know what the problems are."
"The solutions are very difficult. When it comes to 24/7 nurses, our plan, October 2024. To get to 16 hours out of 24 hours later this year. We are investing $300 million to ensure we are building up the nursing workforce."
A bit of an argy bargy followed this when Scott Morrison said he was the one who blew the whistle on the issues in the sector, with Anthony Albanese arguing that the only reason the Coalition called the royal commission into aged care was because of pressure from the Labor party.
