Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese both vowed to stick to their stances on nuclear power regardless of the election result, in the third of four election debates between the two leaders.
Energy, housing and foreign affairs were among the issues canvassed in the Nine network debate which saw both men regularly pulled up by moderators for using “talking points” and struggling to distil their platform into a pithy voter pitch.
The debate arrived at the close of the first day of early voting, which saw hundreds of thousands of Australians cast their ballots.
It also marked the resumption of political hostilities after leaders suspended campaigning to pay their respects to Pope Francis, who died on Monday.
No change to nuclear debate after election, whatever the result
Both leaders signalled the heated political disagreement over nuclear power would continue after the election, with neither willing to consider changing their energy policy even if it is rejected by voters in just under two weeks.
“We are committed to nuclear not because it’s politically popular,” Mr Dutton said. “I haven’t committed to nuclear energy for votes. I committed to it because it’s in the best interests of our country.”
Mr Albanese said there was no-one willing to invest in nuclear power. “That’s the fact… This is a friendless policy because it doesn’t stand up.
“If nuclear stacked up, there’d be a queue of people saying, ‘we think this is a good idea, we’re prepare to invest our own dollars’.
“Instead, taxpayers are going to pay for it… It is a recipe to take us backwards.”
The Coalition estimates a taxpayer cost of roughly $120 billion for its promised nuclear reactors, which would be government-owned. But the leaders again clashed over the total system cost of their respective policies, citing rival modelling.
“Their policy requires an overbuild of the system, ours doesn’t. It’s a more efficient way to generate electricity,” Mr Dutton said. “The only reason people don’t invest at the moment is it’s against the law… Let’s have a mature debate.”
‘Loose’ versus ‘weak’ on the world stage
Personality was at the centre of the foreign policy debate, each leader seeking to portray the other as being incapable of navigating Australia through global uncertainty.
Mr Albanese said Mr Dutton was “loose” in his response to world events, accusing him of “verballing” the president of Indonesia last week and making the “nonsense” suggestion that he could have secured a tariff exemption from Donald Trump.
“We inherit… uncertain times. It’s the last time where you’d want to take a risk,” Mr Albanese said.
“Every Pacific leader remembers [Mr Dutton] joking about water lapping at their doors for our Pacific Island neighbours. It’s not a joke, climate change. It’s something that is the entry fee to credibility in our region… We’ve developed constructive relationships.”
Mr Dutton said Mr Albanese was “a weak leader” unable to advocate for Australia’s national interest.
“I’m very proud of the connections, globally, that I have. And I believe not just me, but our team is highly experienced and has the ability to bring together the best opportunity for us to stand proud on the world stage.”
On tariffs, Mr Dutton said he could leverage a deal with the Trump administration by offering more “in relation to critical minerals.
“The Prime Minister has no idea in relation to those options, otherwise he would have explored them by now,” he said,
Mr Albanese dismissed the “weakness” charge as “just rhetoric”.
“Kindness isn’t weakness. Kindness is something that I was raised with… I’ve managed to be firm about Australia’s position.”
No changes to negative gearing or CGT, Dutton tells his son to use his super
Both leaders promised they would not make changes to either negative gearing or the capital gains tax discount if elected.
Mr Dutton said Labor had “always wanted to end negative gearing”, citing their 2016 and 2019 election policies to crack down on investor tax breaks.
Mr Albanese said his government was “concentrating on… supply. We won’t be making the changes you suggest [to negative gearing or CGT}, and we haven’t done so.”
Asked whether he would encourage his son Harry, who spoke about his home saving woes on the campaign trail last week, to draw down on his super under the Coalition’s housing policy, Mr Dutton said that he would.
“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, and if they did that, their net position today would be hundreds of thousands of dollars better off.”
Mr Albanese left the door open to working with states and territories to crack down on Airbnb and other short-term rental providers, following a similar move in Victoria, saying he was “concerned that was part of the impact”.
Dutton defers debt reduction plan to after the election, prompting charges of secret cuts
Mr Dutton said he would outline in full his plans to reduce federal government debt, again drawing on the example of the Howard government as he has at press conferences in recent days.
“John Howard didn’t outline the budget from opposition, and it’s not something you can do from opposition….
“You work through with the central agencies [in government]… to identify where there are problems in the budget…
“[Labor] have made economic decisions which have thrust us into deficits for many years to come. And that interest bill is going to be borne by the next generation, and cleaning it up will be a big job, there’s no question.”
Mr Albanese seized on this point and accused Mr Dutton of planning secret cuts.
“We know that the last time that the Coalition came to [power] Peter was a senior minister, and they ripped money out of education, they ripped money out of hospitals, they ripped money out of a whole range of areas and had a devastating budget there in 2014.
“What Peter wants the viewers at home to do is to vote for him. There will be cuts afterwards, he’s just confirmed that, but they won’t tell you what they are now. That’s just not being fair dinkum.”
Leaders short on slogans when asked for pithy pitch
Both leaders struggled when asked to distil their pitch to voters into a slogan similar to Tony Abbott’s “stop the boats” and “axe the tax”.
Mr Dutton began his answer by talking about the Coalition’s 12-month fuel excise cut, but was told by the moderator to stop using “talking points”.
“You can distil that to, to cut the tax, cut the fuel tax or however you want to present it, but it’s a 25 cent a litre reduction in fuel from day one,” Mr Dutton replied, pivoting to the Coalition’s $1,200 one-off tax rebate, migration cuts, housing policy, defence, safety and energy policies, as well as a promise to “stop drugs and stop illegal tobacco coming across our borders”.
Asked for his own brief pitch, Mr Albanese offered the phrase “no-one left behind, no-one held back”, citing investments in public housing, welfare payments, cheaper medicines, fee-free TAFE and childcare.
