Voter Verdict: who won the first federal election leaders debate

Is Anthony Albanese ahead? Or is Peter Dutton on track for victory? HAVE YOUR SAY

Is Anthony Albanese ahead? Or is Peter Dutton on track for victory?

Readers remain torn after Tuesday night’s first election debate, with a war of words breaking out over who truly owned the night.

Some readers claimed the Prime Minister proved he is the man for the top job come May 3; others insisted the Opposition Leader showed he’s up for the fight.

Meanwhile our panel of undecided voters from across Australia have weighed in.

Three out of the six voters in the Voter Verdict panel felt the debate was owned by the Prime Minister while the other three said the Opposition Leader performed better.

In an online poll of more than 15,000 readers, more than 75 per cent claimed Mr Dutton won the debate.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

NAME: Gail McIntyre

AGE: 63

OCCUPATION: Retired

LOCATION: Mountain Creek Qld

ELECTORATE: Fairfax

WHO WON: DUTTON

Queensland retiree Gail McIntyre preferred Mr Dutton’s performance.

“For me, Peter Dutton won the debate. I felt that he spoke well with positivity and I really liked his closing remarks,” she said.

“Peter Dutton’s performance I felt was strong and articulate, where Anthony Albanese’s performance I felt was lacklustre.

“The state of the country is everyone’s fault, but his government’s — that’s my takeaway.”

Ms McIntyre said she would like more detail from both leaders at the next debate.

“My ultimate takeaway was that both of them need to give more detail and talk more to the voter.”

NAME: Rachel Zappia

AGE: 50

OCCUPATION: Office Manager

LOCATION: Concord West, NSW

ELECTORATE: Reid

WHO WON: ALBANESE

NSW voter Rachel Zappia said Anthony Albanese came across better prepared than his rival.

“Albanese probably for me, I think he went in very confident. He knew his stuff, he knew what the people wanted. And he was quick to show what he’s done so far,” she said.

“I just felt that Peter Dutton had no confidence at all and it was like he was just thinking on the spot. He didn’t come prepared, that’s how I felt.”

NAME: Rebecca Free

AGE: 51

OCCUPATION: Manager

LOCATION: Honeywell, TAS

ELECTORATE: Lyons

WHO WON: DUTTON

The Tasmanian voter said Mr Dutton’s commitment to making Australia safer and comments about the cost of living crisis were impressive.

“I think this week from tonight’s session, I do think that Dutton was just a smidgen ahead of Albanese,” she said.

“I liked a couple of the comments that he made, cost of living crisis is still a huge focus. He mentioned about safe communities, which is really important to me, and also his position on Australians being able to own their own home now and into the future, which with small children, I would love to see them be able to have the dream of owning their own home as well.”

NAME: Brett Terry

AGE: 56

OCCUPATION: Security officer

LOCATION: Hampton Park, VIC

ELECTORATE: Holt

WHO WON: DUTTON

Victorian voter Brett Terry said Mr Dutton won the debate but while he “has got plans”, Mr Terry said he didn’t “know enough detail within the plans”.

“With respect to the debate tonight, I’d pretty much call it a draw. Mr Albanese’s performance, was like on the attack all the time and Dutton was a bit more subdued and had to defend,” he said.

“I like the fact that the cost of living was raised a bit. Power, that was a good point and the migration.

“If you really had to ask me who won, just the closing remarks of Mr. Dutton did it for me. He had a bit more to say at the end, which probably has given me something to think about regarding the future.”

NAME: Dinesh Nagappan Anitha

AGE: 32

OCCUPATION: Engineer

LOCATION: Blacktown, NSW

ELECTORATE: Greenway

WHO WON: ALBANESE

Dinesh Nagappan Anitha is from Sydney’s western suburbs and lives a short drive from where the first debate was held.

Mr Anitha said it was an “even playing field” with both leaders covering a lot of old ground.

“I felt Albanese had an upper hand, mostly because Peter Dutton was defending all of the time,” he said.

“For me, I feel both of them did not give much of new information as such,” he said.

“Both of them did the same thing, (they) did not necessarily answer all the questions directly, meandered around, but the Medicare question directly to him (Dutton) asking about the cuts he made, he couldn’t answer that properly.”

NAME: Karen Treloar

AGE: 56

OCCUPATION: Homemaker

LOCATION: Basin Pocket, QLD

ELECTORATE: Blair
WHO WON: ALBANESE

Ms Treloar said the she was impressed that many of Labor’s election commitments will have ongoing benefits while Mr Dutton’s signature cost of living policy — to cut fuel excise in half — was only for a year.

“I think that the biggest thing is with Albanese … the tax cuts and everything is … going to be ongoing. Whereas Mr Dutton’s thing (fuel excise) is a temporary thing,” she said.

During the debate, Mr Dutton did leave the door open for extending the fuel excise by saying they would reassess if they get into government.

See what you had to say below and join the conversation >>>

WHAT YOU SAID

Albo’s got it in the bag

Andrew

Albo will win the election again despite the fact he’s our worst PM ever. The vast majority of Australians are woke lefties so that means Albo is a shoe-in.

Denis

Does not matter who won debate, Albo and his strong forward thinking government will be returned on polling day.

Louise

Hate to say it but believe Albo came out on top…he even was across the numbers albeit they were rubbery. Dutton was presented with a once in a lifetime opportunity to nail the whole night and maybe even the election,but he missed it

Jane & Anthony

Dutton is a good talker but despite that his political credibility is falling apart as his policy proposals are scrutinised and he discovers that most Australians strongly dislike far right agendas.

Ozi

Peter Dutton might not have been the best choice as Opposition Leader. He is not resonating with women voters.

G1

Dutton was wooden and talked in generalized cliches that flew over the head of the audience, while Albanese addressed specifics of the questioners’ issues and confidently used numbers.

Is Anthony Albanese on track for victory? Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire .

Not a fan of either

dict8

They are both uninspiring leaders! With even more uninspiring policies, toss of the coin for me at this point!

Geoff2

The whole debate thing was very underwhelming.

Sounds Fishy

How could it be that the comments are so extremely pro Dutton but the audience was so pro Albanese. This debate was nothing more than a joke & whoever organised it should be ashamed

Alfie

I couldn’t actually bring myself to watch this debate. Albo just makes me want to hurl the nearest handy object at the TV.

Dutton’s gaining ground

John

Unconvincing win by Albanese. Dutton was all over him.

Lorraine

Dutton wiped the floor with Albanese in the debate. All Albanese had was a bunch of lies (nuclear will only provide 4% of our power? - it’s 24%) and a whole lot of waffle.

jimK

Albanese was at his Barnum & Bailey best; the ringmaster trying to control the narrative with his bs & lies. Voters best ask themselves if they can believe him & can they ever trust him again.

Richard

Albanese seemed to me insincere, he clearly mislead the audience and was factually incorrect on a number of occasion’s. Dutton seems considered, focussed and steadfast in his objectives of how to lead the Nation.

Jazza

Albo has failed dismally on that one with the purchase of his $5m love nest, he’s obviously not one of the people he panders to smirking and carrying on like a immature insurance salesman.

Originally published as Voter Verdict: who won the first federal election leaders debate