Miranda Devine: Gladys Berejiklian easily won the debate

Premier Gladys Berejiklian easily won last night’s crucial leader’s debate with an impressive mastery of budget detail. But Michael Daley managed to claim a few victories.

• Anna Caldwell: Three moments where Daley came apart
• Live Blog: Who won the People’s Forum
• People’s Forum: The big issues debated

Premier Gladys Berejiklian easily won last night’s crucial leader’s debate with an impressive mastery of budget detail.

That was also the verdict of the audience of undecided voters.

They gave the win to the sure-footed Premier by 50 to 25, with a further 25 undecided.

But on toll roads and apprenticeships, Labor leader Michael Daley smashed it out of the park.

And for the Western Sydney audience, many of whom pay upwards of $50 a week on the world’s most expensive and extensive toll road network, Daley’s promise to remove the toll on the M4 was a clear winner.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Leader of the Opposition Michael Daley both had wins during the debate. Picture: Jonathan Ng

So was his promise of free TAFE courses to fill skill shortages, which came in the answer to a plumber, Jordan, who wanted to know how the leaders would “incentivise more teenagers to become tradies”.

But when it came to costing his promises, Daley fell woefully short.

Daley couldn’t say how much he would spend on education policies, either on TAFE or school education.

All he could do was promise “100 per cent Gonski”, but only if Bill Shorten wins the federal election. Under repeated questions from host David Speers, he could not give a definitive answer on costs for any of his policies.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian at the People’s Forum. Picture: Jonathan Ng

On stadiums, the Premier finally has found a form of words which defuses Daley’s attack. He says she wants to spend “$2.2 billion knocking down and rebuilding perfectly good stadiums”. But he could not say how much he would save on a no-frills refurbishment.

The Premier responded that the cost of rebuilding the stadiums was only marginally more than the cost of refurbishing and the end result would last for “50 years”.

“We are spending record amounts on infrastructure. Stadiums are less than 1 per cent (of the total budget),’’ she said.

At the end of the forum, the Premier looked competent and Daley looked unready.