Peter Dutton was the incredible shrinking man during Channel Nine’s Great Debate

Peter Dutton towers over the Prime Minister in real life — but something remarkable happened in last night’s debate.

COMMENT

Anthony Albanese isn’t the most inspiring political leader.

So much so that he was a lucky man to get one Scott Morrison in his lifetime.

He wasn’t so much elected as he was thrown the keys to the Lodge by voters as the price of dragging ScoMo out by the collar of his Hawaiian shirt.

But against the odds, Albo has turned out to be lucky again.

Because even though he’s profoundly disappointed voters in his first term, the Liberal Party has given him a beautiful gift.

That gift is Peter Dutton.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the third leaders’ debate, The Great Debate hosted by Nine. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen/POOL/NewsWire

Mr Dutton towers over Mr Albanese in real life. So why did he sometimes seem like the incredible shrinking man of Channel 9’s Great Debate?

First up, he missed some big opportunities to skewer the Prime Minister on Medicare when asked to demolish Labor’s biggest lies and instead went on a rambling, confusing rant about nuclear power.

Ninety-nine per cent of voters wouldn’t know what he was talking about.

Then, he brought out the backyard brawler, savaging the Prime Minister as a big, fat, liar.

“Prime Minister, you couldn’t lie straight in bed. Honestly, this is unbelievable,” Mr Dutton said as fired back at Labor’s Medicare “lies”.

As television biffo goes, it was entertaining enough for around 30 seconds.

Sure, it wasn’t exactly the infamous 1991 Ron Casey And Normie Rowe Punch On At The Midday Show, but it was lively.

Ron Casey and Normie Rowe have a fight on the set of the Midday Show in 1991.

It was also bad politics. It allowed the Prime Minister to tick off the Opposition Leader as if he was a school kid getting into trouble with the principal.

“It’s just the real abuse. That’s a sign of desperation. Peter, frankly,” Mr Albanese purred.

It was also jarring, because Mr Dutton strikes most people as quite a calm person. Cautious. Polite. For heaven’s sake, he meditates.

His sense of frustration with the Prime Minister getting away with fibs is understandable.

But it’s not helping him. He just sounds like a sore loser and whinger.

If the Liberal Party wanted to win, somewhere at this stage of the election campaign, you might have thought they would turn down the relentless negativity and bring out some sunshine.

But they just don’t seem to have it in them.

The Prime Minister ticked off his opponent as if he was a school kid getting into trouble with the principal. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen/POOL/NewsWire

Mr Dutton is turning off women, the big movers who are deciding this election and carving him up. Picture: James Brickwood/POOL/NewsWire

So it’s no wonder that Mr Dutton is turning off women, the big movers who are deciding this election and carving him up over his work from home policies.

What a tragedy that Labor didn’t have the ideas and the guts to get up a big reform at this election as John Howard bravely did with the GST in 1998.

What a tragedy the Liberal Party didn’t have stronger, cut-through policies instead of temporary tax cuts.

Instead, we’ve got a bunch of spending on Medicare to lift bulk billing and some housing reforms that may well send the price of a first home going up.

There’s every chance by the next election that those big promises will be political roadkill.

The promise to bring back bulk billing is likely to cause a riot when voters work out that it’s not happening at every GP clinic when they flash the Medicare card.

But by then, despite the Prime Minister’s claims he will serve a full term, the suspicion is that Mr Albanese, 62, will have Canberra in the rear view mirror as he pours himself a ginger beer at Copacabana.

Originally published as Peter Dutton was the incredible shrinking man during Channel Nine’s Great Debate