Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slammed Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese as things turned nasty when the pair squared off in Sydney.
Welcome to our live coverage of the second leaders' debate between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese.
The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have wrapped up a debate at Channel 9’s Sydney studio.
The final result: Well, after more than 30,000 votes, the debate was called a dead heat.
After more than 30,000 votes, viewers of the second leaders debate have declared it a "dead heat".
Channel 9 had at one point declared Mr Morrison a winner with 52 per cent of the vote.
To keep things interesting they flipped that result, awarding Mr Albanese the win with 51 per cent of the vote.
But moments before wrapping up the broadcast, host Sarah Abo delivered more news. It was, in fact, a tie.
The two leaders wrapped up the debate with a final pitch to voters.
"This election is a choice," Mr Morrison began.
He said it was a choice between a government "that has a strong economic plan" and one that "has ensured Australia is coming out of this pandemic stronger than almost any other economy in the world today" or an opposition "that have no plan".
The PM promised "investing in the better roads, and ensuring the essential services you can rely on".
"Labor have no plan, they are unknown, and … I think over the course of this campaign, as they have put forward what they have been talking about, Australians have been seeing and asking the question, 'Are they really up to this?', and 'Is Mr Albanese really up to this?'"
Mr Albanese's closing statement promised he will never utter four words.
"There are four words you will never hear from me – That's not my job.'I will never say it. If I get the job, I will do the job each and every day."
He said Australians have a choice to "change the country for the better".
"And we can do so much better than we are doing right now. There are real issues right now. Childcare costs are spiralling right now. Aged care is in crisis right now. Work has never been more insecure than it is right now. Climate change is an opportunity, not just a challenge, right now.
"I believe Australia is the greatest country on earth. But with a better government, we can be an even better country into the future."
The debate has basically descended into a rabble.
Both leaders have taken to shouting over each other and host Sarah Abo, who has repeatedly tried to bring things back under control, after a question over the Solomon Islands and China.
"You both agreed to the rules," Abo pleaded at one point.
The ugly scenes started with Scott Morrison being asked to define what his "red line" would entail if China established a military base in the Solomons.
"It means that was something Australia believes would be completely against our national interest, and we also believe it will be against the Solomon Islands's national interest, and we share that view in a similar language with the United States," he said.
Asked how Australia would enforce such a "red line", Mr Morrison said it would be "very unwise for any government to speculate around these issues".
Mr Albanese chimed in that it was a "massive foreign policy failure", with Mr Morrison asking the Labor leader "why you cut defence spending".
The two began to argue back and forth over China, with the PM asking how the Labor leader would "stand up to China when some of the loudest voices on being pro-Beijing come from your party".
"That is an outrageous slur," Mr Albanese said.
Mr Albanese was asked whether he will investigate serious allegations of bullying and harassment of the late Senator Kimberley Kitching.
Panelist Deb Knight said "many people believe that treatment played a part in her death".
"The death of Kimberley Kitching is a tragedy," Mr Albanese said.
"She was just 52 years of age. The procedures that are in place have been in place for some time. Kimberley, like other members of the caucus, were all part of adopting them in 2021."
Knight followed up, asking whether he was guilty of double standards for criticising the government for its track record on the treatment of women.
"You have been very critical, though, of the government's track record on this. Can you criticise them when you will not launch an investigation into claims of bullying by women who make up your frontbench?"
Mr Albanese again failed to answer the question.
"I think it is a tragedy that she was lost, particularly to her family and her close friends but to the Labor family as well, far too early," he said.
Mr Morrison chose to grill Mr Albanese on Labor's "help to buy" housing scheme, which will see the government take an equity stake of up to 40 per cent in a home.
"If there is a young family, young person, earning $80,000 a year, and their partner may be earning about $30,000 a year, they will be eligible for your scheme to go and buy that home, that's right?" he said.
"Yes."
"Let's just say the person who is ending $30,000 decides to go back to work full-time. They were go over $120,000 a year. Under your policy, that means they will have to pay you back your equity at 40 per cent. Why is that a good thing to do in the design of that scheme? Or didn't you just think it through?"
Mr Albanese said Labor's scheme was designed on "schemes that are actually operating".
"But is that true? Would they have to pay back 40 per cent?" Mr Morrison pressed.
"You will have leasability in the scheme," Mr Albanese said.
"But they will have to pay it back!" the PM insisted, raising his voice.
"You have asked your question," the Labor leader said.
Mr Morrison said, "You go back to work and you've got to sell your house! It is not helping to buy, it is being forced to sell."
The leaders are now asking each other questions.
Mr Albanese asked the PM if he was willing to accept that he got it wrong when he told Aussies it was "not a race" to secure vaccines early in the pandemic.
"Both you and I have unfortunately both got Covid this year. But because we followed the science and we were vaccinated, fully vaccinated, the impact was less than it was on people who are unvaccinated," Mr Albanese said.
"We followed that science. But early on in the pandemic, when Australia was running way at the back of the queue in terms of countries, and people were getting vaccinated, you said that it wasn't a race. And as a result, there was more people who had worse health outcomes and there was a bigger impact on the economy.
"Prime Minister, do you now accept that indeed it was a race, and you should have secured vaccines earlier?"
The PM admitted it was a mistake.
"It was a race, Anthony, and we shouldn't have described it in those terms," he said.
"Yes, we had our challenges early on… And what we achieved is, we ensured that everyone who wanted a vaccine could have one in the middle of October."
Scott Morrison has slammed Anthony Albanese as a leader who has been "hiding in the bushes".
Mr Albanese was outlining why Australians are "disillusioned with the political system".
He said it is one of the reasons we need "a national anti-corruption commission to restore faith".
He told viewers that Labor has "a series of plans" around cheaper childcare, secure work and climate change.
Mr Morrison chimed in, asking why there aren't any concrete plans.
"Given he is so passionate about this, why haven't you drafted your own legislation for such a mission," Mr Morrison asked.
"You have had three years. You have two pages, that is it."
He went on: "You have been hiding in the bushes for three years."
Scott Morrison has told Anthony Albanese "you can't just make stuff up, mate", after the Labor leader suggested the PM "can't even campaign with your Treasurer" because he is too divisive.
"I was with him today, I have been in Kooyong today," he said. "You can't just make stuff up, mate."
The PM then pivoted to a jab, saying the Labor leader had "53 reviews you have announced during this campaign and that is more than the number of policies you have announced".
"You will hit the ground reviewing if you come to government," he said. "You have had three years to come up with a plan and all you are coming up with are reviews."
Mr Albanese insisted "we are in North Sydney right now and the member for North Sydney will not be seen with you during this campaign".
"That is your assertion," Mr Morrison said.
Mr Albanese was asked directly by Nine's Chris Uhlmann if he lied to reporters last week when he was asked to recite six points of his party's NDIS policy.
"Character has been a central part of this campaign, in fact Mr Albanese, your campaign rests on the claim that the Prime Minister is a liar. This week you claimed you are not, but given the opportunity to detail a policy you clearly did not know, wasn't that a lie?" Uhlmann asked.
Mr Albanese tried to answer: "I do know the policy…" he began, before Uhlmann interrupted.
"At the time you clearly did not know it," he said.
"That is not right," the Labor leader said. "The question of the NDIS isn't about a number of points. What it is about is how do you fix the NDIS, and Labor created the National Disability Insurance Scheme."
The two leaders got into a back-and-forth over energy prices.
Anthony Albanese was asked why, given Labor continually attacked the Coalition's economic policies, "you copy them".
Mr Albanese then outlined "a whole range of areas we are not matching them", and started to discuss the national energy market.
"How much more will you spend on transmission?" Scott Morrison asked.
"That investment will happen. And the plan is there," Mr Albanese said.
"How much more will you spend on transmission?" the PM said. "Then they have to recover that from the consumers and prices go up. It is recovered from the consumers and they pay the electricity prices which meant prices go up. It is 30 per cent of the bill."
Mr Albanese said the Coalition had not addressed the "low hanging fruit when it comes to fixing energy in this country", which he said was "fixing transmission".
"And that puts up the price of electricity," the PM insisted.
"There is not an energy economist in the country that agrees with you," Mr Albanese hit back.
"Frontier Economics is one and the Grattan Institute made comments in favour of this as well," Mr Morrison said.
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