James Morrow’s take on Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton at Sky News Leaders’ Forum

There’s nothing like two middle aged men doing a highwire act for a little Tuesday evening’s entertainment, writes James Morrow.

There’s nothing like two middle aged men doing a highwire act for a little Tuesday evening’s entertainment.

Tonight, at the Sky News Leaders’ Forum in Parramatta, Australians will have an opportunity to watch just that.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton surely has the toughest ask going into the debate which, given world events, promises to be – finally! – a real discussion about where we want to go as a country.

He has to reset a campaign that has quickly drifted from “a little off course” to “iceberg ahead!” in a matter of just a few weeks.

He will have to do this by selling a platform of aspiration and independence when Labor and much of the media are trying to convince Australia that the only way through the storm is to stay cocooned in the loving embrace of the government.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Liberal leader Peter Dutton will face off. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

And it will all take place on stage against an opponent who has never let the facts get in the way of a good scare campaign, be it on nuclear or Medicare or most recently working from home.

None of this is impossible.

Don’t forget, Dutton led the campaign against the Voice referendum when much of the media and part of his own party room was against him and wanted him to lose (sound familiar?).

He has also brought his party to within striking distance of a first term government in just two years.

The man has chops, and if he can get out of his own way should not be underestimated.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has his own set of challenges and balances to strike.

Debates are as much style as they are substance.

And if the PM’s weakness in 2022 was looking shambolic and not across his brief, in 2025 it is looking smug and glib and just a little too sharp elbowed.

Albanese will have to resist the temptation to point and shout, “Look! Trump! Peter’s a Trumpist!” every time the opposition leader points out that running the entire economy through Canberra hasn’t worked in the past and it sure won’t work in the future.

Who will have the last laugh at the Leaders’ Forum? Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

He will have to answer why under his watch Australian living standards have cratered, and why he is so determined to crash through his and energy minister Chris Bowen’s net zero plan even if it means ever higher bills offset only by ever higher subsidies.

And, hopefully, he will be challenged on his vision of a “caring” society that sounds nice in a sound bite but which really amounts to governments, unions, and big business carving up the pie and leaving everyone else the crumbs.

In the midst of the clash, every viewer will be looking for the killer line that defines the contest through polling day.

At 2022’s Sky News Leaders’ Forum, Scott Morrison was monstered after he said his family had been “blessed” because they hadn’t required the services of the NDIS, with critics claiming he was being insensitive, crystallising a media narrative that had been building ever since the Brittany Higgins rape allegations dropped.

Bruised by his own working from home own goal and the damage it caused with women voters, Dutton will be seeking to avoid a repeat performance.

But in 1996, Paul Keating came across smug and arrogant in his debate against John Howard, who’s calm and steady performance ultimately won the night and changed the momentum of the contest, ultimately ushering in more than a decade of Coalition rule.

Albanese, who’s been winning the talking points game but often comes across as too clever by half and gets flustered when challenged, should likewise be hoping not to re-enact such a performance from his own side.

Game on.

Originally published as James Morrow’s take on Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton at Sky News Leaders’ Forum