Australian news and politics recap April 22: Dutton, Albanese face off for third leaders debate
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Key Events
So who won the debate? The verdict is in
The verdict is in from Channel 9 panel on who won the debate…?
First up is 2GB’s Deb Knight, who says Peter Dutton edged it over Anthony Albanese.
“I think that they both performed very strongly. They were both very relaxed. They were both not just sticking to the talking points, but showing a bit more of humanity, which is what we wanted to encourage in this debate,” she says.
Ms Knight praised Mr Dutton for making strong and clear points and for debating with confidence.
It was “very, very close,” but he won over the PM when he needed to, she says.
Phil Coorey, the AFR’s political editor, says Mr Dutton won a number of fronts, including on the cost-of-living, where he was more precise and made points that were easier to digest.
“He had to come from further behind and he had to do better,” he says, but Mr Coorey still gives the victory to the PM by “half a percent” as Mr Dutton lost his composure at the start of the debate.
With the deciding vote, Charles Croucher, political editor at 9News rules the winner is Peter Dutton – “by a nose!”
Mr Dutton had his best of three debates tonight, he says.
“He brought his best cost of living material today and his facts down pat.”
Debate gets fiery over recession language
Both leaders have been in a spin around who would be the best economic manager.
Opposition leader Peter Dutton was asked about where he would make cuts in his “economic surgery” to restore the budget.
While responding he accused the Labor Government of trashing the budget and only having some positives to tell because they have “benefited from a variation in the commodity prices”.
“That means that the prices of iron ore and our other commodities have gone up, and that’s what’s given the government a bigger revenue than expected,” he said.
He accused them of being the biggest spending government in four decades.
“That’s what has led the Reserve Bank Governor to warn Australians and to warn this government that our home grown inflation problem is of the government’s making,” he said.
Mr Dutton went on to say: “The Prime Minister spoke before about interest rates coming back.
“They’re not looking like they’re coming back any time soon… unless they throw us into a recession.”
After his remarks, Anthony Albanese piped up at his wording.
He accused the Liberal leader of putting words in the RBA Governor’s mouth and making “extraordinary comments” on a recession.
“The leader of the Opposition just made an extraordinary comment, which exemplifies one of the things this election is about - him talking Australia down,” Mr Albanese said.
“He just talked about recession and said that was inevitable - said that was the only way the interest rates would come down.
“He verballed the Reserve Bank.”
Mr Dutton interjected and fired back: “PM let me tell you, you are loose”.
PM spruiks his housing plan
The PM is asked if his own housing policies will really allow a young couple on an average wage to be able to afford to buy a home if prices keep rising.
At his campaign launch in Perth, the Prime Minister pledged $10b to build 100,000 homes exclusively for first-time buyers to move into from 2027 to help frustrated young Australians get their foot on the property ladder.
He also unveiled a plan to allow all Australians looking to climb onto the property ladder to buy their their first home with a 5 per cent deposit, avoiding lenders mortgage insurance (LMI)
“By having a 5 per cent deposit. We know that it works. 150,000 Australian families have benefited from it. Instead of families continuing to try and save to get to that 20 per cent deposit, and they keep going backwards,” he says.
“The second, of course, is reserving 100,000 homes for first home buyers that will make a difference.
“And the third is our Help to Buy scheme, which has worked very effectively in places like Western Australia, which is essentially a shared ownership scheme, so the government can have up to 40 per cent of ownership of a home,” he says.
“It’s a way of assisting people into home ownership. It’s worked effectively right throughout Western Australia since the 1970s.”
Dutton’s dire warning for negative gearing, renters under Labor-Greens coalition
Still on housing, Opposition leader Peter Dutton has been asked about any potential shake-up to negative gearing and the CGT discount.
“We’re not going to change the CGT discount. We’re not going to change negative gearing,” he firmly stated.
He then went on the attack, accusing Anthony Albanese of planning to axe negative gearing if Labor forms a coalition with the Greens in a minority government.
“Obviously, the Prime Minister, as every political commentator has pointed out, can only form a government along with Adam Bandt after the election - which would be a disaster for our country,” he said.
“But the Prime Minister has already committed to taxing and unrealised capital gain. So this will give an insight into where Labor is going.
“Labor’s always wanted to end negative gearing, which would be a disaster for people.
“If we don’t have investors in the market, then we don’t have that rental accommodation and we reduce the stock of housing. We need to get that balance right.
“I think we have an enormous opportunity if we can change government at the next election to fix up the housing crisis that Labor’s created.”
PM slams Coalition cost-of-living measures
The PM has hit out at the Coalition’s cost of living measures, accusing Peter Dutton of committing to policies that are happening already.
“An example of that is the rental assistance for people. We’ve increased by 45 per cent we increase in rental assistance,” he says.
“When it comes to gas, we have intervened into the market. The Coalition opposed that intervention on the day of the last election, gas prices were $34.
“Today it’s $13 as a direct result of the policies that we have put in place, including the domestic gas security mechanism.”
Dutton ‘wants to be the Prime Minister of home ownership’
Mr Dutton has time-and-time again on the election trail said he “wants to be the Prime Minister of home ownership” and has now been asked about that during the debate.
He’s also been questioned about why his son, Harry Dutton, was put in front of cameras to assist the Coalition in selling their housing policies.
Journalist: “Mr Dutton, your son Harry’s been on the campaign and has spoken about home ownership. If elected, would you advise him to take money from his superannuation as your policy allows and put it into a first home?”
Dutton: “I would. Because I think if we had this policy in place, say five years ago, there would have been the option for young Australians to be in home ownership territory,” he said.
“And if they did that, their net position today would be hundreds of thousands of dollars better off.
“Housing is one of the most crucial issues at this election.
“Young Australians have given up the dream of home ownership. And when you bring a million people (migrants) in over a two year period, the biggest number in our country’s history by 70 per cent, they all want homes for their kids and for their families, and they’re competing against Australians.
“And that’s why we’ve got the problem that we have.”
PM asked about home insurance spikes
The PM is asked a viewers’ question via the debate host from a couple who say their home and contents insurance will jump by 57 per cent next year, despite never making a claim.
Their question is: “how can inflation be kept under control when insurance companies are allowed to get away with such hikes?”
The PM says, “you’ve got to have a whole of government response. That is precisely what we have done.
“The first is running responsible economic fiscal policy that is getting those deficits, turning them either into surpluses or reducing what the deficit is.
“The second is you’ve got to be careful about how you provide cost of living support,” he adds.
“So we’ve done it in a way that has helped to bring down inflation.”
PM ducks tough questions on energy bills
The PM faces tough questioning over why his Government failed to deliver its promise to bring down power prices by $275 by 2025 and why Labor’s energy bill rebate is universal and not means-tested.
“The way the rebate works, you have two options: One is to apply it to everyone, which is what we’re doing.
“The second is to apply it just to concession card holders.”
He says his government took the call to apply the rebate across the board, and does not respond on the $275 promise.
Mr Albanese then pivots to the Coalition’s economic record and the “mess” of deficits Labor had to clean up.
“$78 billion was what was predicted in that first year. We turned that into a $22 billion surplus. We turned the next year’s deficit of above $50 billion into another surplus, $15 billion with half this year’s deficit,” he says.
“Why is that important to people at home? It’s important because that’s how you get inflation down, which is what we have done.”
Dutton grilled over fuel excise ‘sugar hit’
The Opposition leader has been grilled over whether his fuel excise plan is just a sugar hit to win votes for a year before the Coalition then dumps the support.
Mr Dutton said that the plan is a kick-starter for the economy and the Coalition’s other measures, like their gas reservation policy, will then help support Australians when it’s over.
He said tackling fuel costs and overall energy prices will reduce the costs of goods and services across the board.
“They’re still saving $0.25 a litre every time you fill up the tank. So it’s $14. Every tank for a two-car family, it’s $28 a week and it’s providing assistance,” he said.
“If you’re a single mum, that’s a big expense. We can provide relief in the household budget items, particularly around energy through our gas, natural gas for Australians policy, which brings down the wholesale cost of gas by 23 per cent and that has a flow on impact right across the economy.
“So it means that everybody’s energy costs go down as a result of that.
“The government hasn’t implemented that and they could have.”
Dutton says he’s more Howard than Trump
Opposition leader Peter Dutton has been asked: “What do you say to those voters out there who think you’re a lightweight version of the unpopular US President?”
The question comes after he has been dubbed “Temu Trump” for seeming to following some of Trump’s policies - such as Coalition’s DOGE-style department to cut waste.
Mr Dutton responded by speaking of his parliamentary experience and likening himself to former Liberal Prime Minister John Howard,
“I’ve got the experience to bring to this job, my biggest influence in my political life was John Howard and Peter Costello,” he said.
“I worked as assistant treasurer, and I have taken inspiration from them both in terms of how to keep our economy strong and how to keep our country safe.
“This election is between the Prime Minister and I, and the reason that you get all of the negative ads and the lies and the mudslinging and the rest of it… is that the Government doesn’t have a good story to tell of the last three years.”
Opposition leaders point to fuel pledge and housing policy as women-focused plans
Peter Dutton has been asked why his campaign hasn’t been faring well in the polls, particularly a Newspoll out today which showed Coalition failing to woo female voters.
Journalist: “Why are you seemingly quite a long way behind when it comes to women of a working age?”
Dutton: “I think as you saw in the 2019 election, there was a very different outcome on election day compared to where the polling indicated,” he said.
“I believe that we’ve got a very strong chance.
“A first term government hasn’t lost since 1931, but there’s not been a worse government in Australia’s history since 1931 than this one.
“So we have to make sure that we have the policy alternatives that people can embrace.”
He went on to talk up the Coalition’s fuel excise policy: to slash 25 cents a litre and their housing plan to make repaying mortgages tax deductibility on the first $650,000 for a first home buyer.
We want people to be better off in three years time: Albanese
The AFR’s Phil Coorey asks Mr Albanese why they should trust Labor for another three years if they do not feel better off after his first terms.
“We understand that many people are doing it tough, which is why we’ve provided significant cost of living relief, but we’ve had to do it in a way that put that downward pressure on inflation,” responds the PM.
“As a result, inflation has a two in front of it,” he says, in reference to the six per cent inflation Labor inherited.
“We’ve created a million jobs. We have provided cost of living relief, whether it be cheaper, childcare, free TAFE for 600,000 people, energy bill relief, importantly, as well, tax cuts,” he says.
“We intervened to make sure that everyone got a tax cut, and that’s why, going forward as well, we’ll make sure that there are further tax cuts.”
“We certainly want people to be better off in three years time, and that is what it’s about. But if we hadn’t have provided that cost of living relief, people would have been $7,200 worse off,” he says.
