Federal election 2025 debate recap: Albanese, Dutton's strongest and weakest moment in battle for votes

It is understood that Peter Dutton’s father, Bruce, is now doing ‘okay’ after suffering a medical incident just an hour before the Opposition Leader faced off with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Dutton’s father was reportedly rushed to his hospital, with it being confirmed he had suffered a suspected heart attack.

Since the debate wrapped up, an update confirmed he is doing okay, however, further details were not provided.

Unsurprisingly, Albanese was on the strongest footing when talking about health.

The 30-minutes he was forced to wait to wave his Medicare card must have been agonising.

After taking a question on peace in the Middle East, the Prime Minister was visibly delighted to receive a question from St George resident Prith on what Labor’s plan is to stop the rise of gap fees to see the GP.

“All you need is this little thing here, Prith. You just need your Medicare card, not your credit card, because Labor created Medicare will strengthen Medicare, and we’ll make sure that in the future... we get those bulk billing rates back up to 90 per cent.”

The PM also lit up when he got the opportunity to share the only zinger of the 60-minute debate, amid criticism of Dutton’s nuclear energy policy.

“The only gas policy the Coalition have is the gaslighting of the Australian public,” he said.

He prosecuted the point well that the policy isn’t backed by business and will cost a fortune.

However, Albanese struggled on migration with a waffling answer that didn’t address the voter’s question around when the Government would fight for “Australia (belonging) to Australians”.

He also fell short on what should have been a free kick to attack Dutton over his working from home backflip - failing to say why he and NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns were at odds on the issue - and had an almost a visceral reaction when the Opposition Leader moved to clarify his position.

Dutton was most comfortable tonight on economic matters and attacking Labor’s economic management, saying the Government’s first two surpluses had come from the Coalition’s own budgets.

Driving home the Coalition’s commitment to cut the fuel excise by 25 cents, Dutton said it was always intended as a temporary measure, as it would represent a burden.

“Good governments respond to the circumstances in front of them,” he said.

“When we approached the COVID period, we looked at what economic things and decisions that we could make to make it easier for families and businesses to survive through that period.

“If you bake it in and you put it as a continuing cost, that continues to compound, because every dollar that Anthony Albanese is spending at the moment is borrowed money.”

Despite Labor targeting his record as Health Minister, Dutton responded well on Albanese’s comments around access to healthcare with a Medicare card, speaking to falling bulk billing rates.

“Bulk billing rates have reduced under this government. And that’s the reality. It’s there in black and white,” he said.

“Not only that, the out of pocket expenses have increased as well, which is exactly your experience.”

The Opposition Leader’s weakest moment came largely as a result of his day-old policy mea culpa, backtracking on working from home changes for public servants.

“The Prime Minister wanted people to believe that it was applying across the economy and it was going to affect every workplace, which was never the policy at all,” he said.

“What we’ve said is that if there is an arrangement that you’ve got in your workplace, your boss, and you can work from home, or whatever the flexible arrangements are, that’s fantastic.”

Dutton wraps up his debate with a closing statement aimed at voters doing it tough.

“It was confronting to see the hands go up with people who are struggling at the moment, and when the Prime Minister says that this has been a successful three year period, it’s just in defiance of the reality of people’s lives and where we are as a country right now.

“We face incredibly difficult times, not just because of what’s coming out of the United States at the moment, and the tariff debate with China and whatever the retaliation might be from other countries as well.”

Dutton argues the Coalition would always be the better economic manager.

“We will always manage the economy well, which means that we can deal with the cost of living crisis more effectively.

“That is about helping families. It is about making sure that we don’t see a repeat of the 30,000 small businesses that have gone to the wall over the last three years.

“The Prime Minister spent the first 16 months of this term obsessing about the voice, which was a $425 billion red herring that proved to be a distraction, an attempt to divide the country.

“When that debate was taking place, the Prime Minister should have been making decisions around how best to protect us from inflation.

“That was obvious off the back of COVID.

“I want to make sure that we can restore the dream of home ownership. I want to make sure that we can deliver a first class health system. I want to make sure that we can live in a safe country.

“The Prime Minister says that we live in the most precarious period since the end of the Second World War, since 1945 and then takes $80 billion out of defence.

“I want to keep us safe as a community, safe as a country, and I want to make sure that we can help families deal with Labor’s cost of living crisis.

“We don’t need a Labor-Greens minority government after the election, given the headwinds that we’re seeing at the moment.

“The Treasurer today was in panic mode, talking about the prospect of recession next month, which is a disaster for our economy, and it shows that Labor just doesn’t know how to manage money or the economy.”

It’s time for closing statements. Albanese starts by criticising Dutton’s track record.

He points out Dutton didn’t stick to his word when he said there would be no cuts to health, education or the ABC when the Coalition came into office in 2013.

“The truth is that they ripped into education, they ripped into health, they cut the ABC, and they did everything that they said they would not do.

“Now, if you have a $600 billion nuclear plan, you’ve got to make cuts. The money has to come from somewhere. We have been a responsible government that have delivered budget surpluses, that have got the budget in better knick.

“We’ve provided cost of living support when it’s needed, whilst getting inflation down.

“But there’s more to do to build on the foundations to build a stronger future, and I know that 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.

“So how can you believe what they do after the election?”

The Prime Minister is then asked if he would rule out any deals with the Greens after the election to secure a government in the event of a hung Parliament.

“There’ll be no deals with the Greens by me after the election, and I’m aiming for majority government.”

“We hold 78 seats. I’m aiming to hold every one of them.”

Both leaders are asked if there will be no cuts to health care - statements Albanese and Dutton agree too.

Dutton and Albanese both rule out changes to AUKUS and working from home arrangements.

Dutton is asked about working from home, after NSW Premier Chris Minns backed in getting workers back to offices, as it support mentoring and better business operations.

It comes after the Liberal leader was forced to dump a policy mandating public servants return to the office after voters turned against the idea.

“The Prime Minister wanted people to believe that it was applying across the economy and it was going to affect every workplace, which was never the policy at all.”

“What we’ve said is that if there is an arrangement that you’ve got in your workplace, your boss, and you can work from home, or whatever the flexible arrangements are, that’s fantastic.

“Our argument in relation to Canberra was that we wanted to make sure, and we do want to make sure that taxpayers who are working hard providing their taxes to the Commonwealth Government, that that money is being spent in the most efficient way.”

Albanese can almost be seen rolling his eyes as Dutton clarifies his position on working from home.

Sky News host Kieran Gilbert asks why the PM isn’t on board considering the support of NSW Labor Premier Chris Minns.

“Well, Peter hasn’t been able to stand up for his own policy, so I don’t know how he can stand up for Australia,” Albanese says.

“Working from home is a really important component in modern families.”

Albanese is asked about Labor’s solar rebate scheme. A voter wants to know how Labor will improve on the idea, given owner strategies have been implemented before.

Labor has promised to reduce the price of batteries for households, small businesses and community facilities by 30 per cent.

The PM says Australia has the “largest number of solar panels on roofs per head of population of anywhere in the world”.

“What we don’t have enough of is batteries to make sure that the power can be absorbed when the sun’s shining, and then it can roll out and be used during peak periods,” he says.

“Now that’s good for individuals the householder, because it can reduce... their power bills, and will provide a 30 per cent rebate for batteries, but it’s also important for everyone else.

“What it does is take pressure off the energy grid and mean that the prices for everyone, in terms of the energy, will be less as well.”