Federal election 2022 leaders’ debate: Scott Morrison cuts in to grill Anthony Albanese about boat turn backs.

Scott Morrison has cut into the leaders’ debate to grill Anthony Albanese in a fiery scene about one topic.

Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese debated at the Gabba in Brisbane in front of 100 undecided voters. Picture: Sky News

Scott Morrison has cut in to ask Anthony Albanese a series of questions about boat turn backs in the first leaders’ debate of the election campaign, with the back-and-forth getting heated about Labor’s policy from nearly a decade ago.

The leaders of the country’s two major parties were taking questions from 100 undecided voters for the Sky News/The Courier Mail People’s Forum, held at the Gabba in Brisbane, on Wednesday night.

But only a few people got to ask their questions before Mr Morrison decided to do his own grilling of Mr Albanese on the topic of border protection.

Mr Morrison had been talking about how he designed Operation Sovereign Borders and the boat turn back policy of the government, in a bid to promote himself as the safer choice on the issue.

It was a tense moment when Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese went back and forth over the issue. Picture: Toby Zerna

“It’s not easy, you have to believe in it, you have to understand how to do it safely, you have to understand how it works,” he said.

Mr Albanese was then asked by Sky News anchor Kieran Gilbert if he had the determination to also turn back the boats.

“Yes, we will do it,” he said.

“I was the Deputy Prime Minister when we established offshore processing. I was the Deputy Prime Minister when that happened.

“And what we’ve said is we have the same position on offshore processing, on settlement in third countries and the same position on boat turn backs.”

But Mr Morrison then cut in upon hearing the reference to Mr Albanese’s time as Deputy Prime Minister.

“Can I ask a question, though?” he asked.

“So when you were Deputy Prime Minister, why didn’t you support boat turn backs then?”

Mr Albanese tried to answer him: “You weren’t proposing back then …”

Mr Morrison then continued talking over Mr Albanese, saying that boat turn backs were his policy at the 2013 election when he was the shadow immigration minister.

Scott Morrison cut in to ask Anthony Albanese a question. Picture: Jason Edwards

“You were on the national security committee, I think, for the first time at that time, so why did you not support turn backs?” he continued to ask.

“We had established offshore processing just in 2013 when I became Deputy Prime Minister; that was the first step, that was the first step,” Mr Albanese said.

“So you were going to do turn backs?” Mr Morrison continued to press.

“No, No, that’s right,” Mr Albanese said.

“But why is it, Scott, that you’re always looking for a division?” he continued.

“No, I’m just looking for the truth,” Mr Morrison said, as things got even more heated.

“Well, the truth is we support boat turn backs,” Mr Albanese continued.

“And you didn’t when you were Deputy Prime Minister,” Mr Morrison responded, adding that the boats were coming in at “30 or 40 a week” at that time.

Mr Albanese said “what we did was we established offshore processing”.

Another audience member was then given a chance to ask their own questions, changing the topic to electric vehicles.

The heated discussion comes less than a week after Mr Albanese was forced to clarify Labor’s boats policy, after making comments that suggested he would not need offshore processing.

“Turning boats back means that you don’t need offshore detention,” Mr Albanese said during a visit to the Hunter in NSW last Thursday.

A few hours later he had to clarify that Labor still supported offshore detention – but it was less likely to be used if boat turn backs were successful.

The Coalition has pointed out that during Mr Albanese’s short time as Acting Prime Minister, two boats carrying 156 people arrived between 4 and 7 July 2013.

Originally published as Federal election 2022 leaders’ debate: Scott Morrison cuts in to grill Anthony Albanese about boat turn backs.