Australian news and politics recap: Anthony Albanese flails on bills and Peter Dutton fails to land knockout

Host David Speers has asked the leaders whether their housing policies will help build housing or just raise costs.

Peter Dutton instead took aim at Labor’s housing track record.

“Over the past two years, the Government has brought in people all of who want homes and competing with younger Australians to purchase a home or a rental property,” he said.

Mr Dutton then defended his party’s policy to let first-home buyers take $50,000 out of their super for a deposit.

Some would say boring.

Here’s a snap from the scene.

Albanese is speaking on housing now, which has been the theme of the week. He says Labor has a plan “not just for demand but for supply”.

Labor has said it will act as a guarantor if it wins the election, allowing first homebuyers to purchase a property with just a 5 per cent deposit.

Speers argues Labor’s policy will boost demand but not supply.

“We need to do both. We need to particularly give young people a fair crack,” Albanese says.

“We have a comprehensive $43 billion Homes for Australia plan, making sure whether it’s increased social housing or increased private rentals or increased homeownership through the help to buy scheme that will assist. The key is supply.”

The PM is giving his opening statement, saying he’s optimistic about Australia’s future if we “seize the opportunities that are right in front of us”.

“Because of the hard work Australians have done over the last three years, we have turning the corner,” he says.

“We have inflation that is down, real wages that are up. We have unemployment that is very low at just 4.1 per cent and interest rates have started to fall.”

Albanese says he knows there is more to do, and that’s why the Government have a plan to “cut taxes, not raise them”, and a plan to strengthen Medicare.

Peter Dutton has focused on cost of living during his opening remarks of the second leader’s debate in Sydney.

Speaking before the Prime Minister, Mr Dutton said his party were aiming to improve the cost of living.

“As I have spoken to thousands of Australians, young families, pensioners, people in small businesses, it’s obvious to me that people don’t feel better off,” he said.

“Our plan is to get our country back on track to help young Australians realise the dream of homeownership again, to make sure we can help manage the economy so we can get inflation down.

“If we do that, that will lower interest rates.”

The debate is kicking off! Albanese and Dutton have greeted each other with a handshake and are being briefed on the rules of engagement by ABC moderator David Speers.

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered outside of the ABC’s Parramatta studios, which is hosting tonight’s leaders debate.

The group are waving Palestinian flags and holding signs which say ‘Free Palestine’.

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will get another chance to make their pitches directly to voters tonight as they face-off for the second debate of the Federal election campaign.

The Prime Minister is flying at the halfway point of the campaign and was the victor of the first debate last week, held by Sky News in front of an audience of 100 undecided voters.

Asked if he felt confident going into the clash tonight – this time hosted by the ABC – he said: “You have to take any campaign day by day”.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader has struggled to find his footing and sell keynote policies.

Dutton handled himself well after news his father had suffered a heart attack hours before he was due to take the stage at the first debate. But tonight, he will be on the backfoot for different reasons.

Earlier this week he dodged questions about whether he would use his family wealth to help his children get into the property market.

Last week’s debate was the people’s choice, but tonight’s contest will follow a more traditional style. The leaders will present opening and closing remarks and be granted equal time to respond to questions.

It kicks off at 8pm AEST and will be held at the ABC’s Parramatta studios. Insiders host David Speers will moderate.

The Nightly’s Latika M Bourke writes:

Peter Dutton’s campaign has felt “over” several times already.

But on Wednesday, it felt like the trap the Opposition leader had been trying to set for the government on national security snared him and all but ended his tilt to live in Kirribilli House, barring a catastrophic error from Anthony Albanese.

Seventeen words did the deed.

“Did the Prime Minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the President of Indonesia?” Mr Dutton queried on Tuesday.

Read Latika’s full analysis here.

In a first for Australian politicians, a Greens MP has joined OnlyFans to spruik a new policy that would make a vital HIV-prevention medication free.

Queensland Greens MP Stephen Bates has joined the subscription-based platform to announce his party’s campaign to make PrEP and PEP medication free for anyone with a script.

PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) is a tablet that people can take to reliably prevent HIV and costs about $31 a month with a prescription.

Read the full story here, but I think the less said about this one the better.