Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten go head-to-head in news.com.au Leaders’ Debate

TONIGHT, Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten will submit to a very different kind of debate. For the first time, viewers have a chance to set the agenda.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten.

TONIGHT, Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten will submit to an unprecedented national debate in which a vast audience will be given an active role.

For the first time, the two men vying to lead the government will address the electorate through live, online video in an overdue use of the main communications innovation of this century.

One participant has already hailed it as possibly the way of the future.

The event will be hosted by news.com.au and Facebook and will be a major departure from a generation of increasingly underwhelming televised debates, harnessing the growing power and authority of the online audience.

News.com.au has about 5.5 million unique browsers a month and Facebook has 1.7 billion active users every month.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten shake hands in Canberra. Picture: Tracey Nearmy

The first nationally televised debate was in 1984 between Prime Minister Bob Hawke and Liberal Leader Andrew Peacock. The format and delivery systems have changed little since then.

The May 29 National Press Club Leaders’ Debate, broadcast by the ABC, had about 600,000 viewers in five capital cities. Viewers were turned off by the format and the performance of the two leaders, and there were increased demands for a change.

A western Sydney regional debate run by subscription broadcaster Sky News on May 13 drew about 40,000 viewers.

Malcolm Turnbull declined to attend a second Sky News debate, in Brisbane, and work began on tonight’s groundbreaking event.

Tonight, the viewers will shed the passivity of past engagements and will be able to make comments in real time. The flow of responses will make the notorious Worm look antique.

If a leader dodges a question it won’t be a handful of Worm wranglers reacting, but a large number of online viewers.

And the questioning won’t be by a small number of journalists.

The Liberal and Labor leaders will take questions from a live audience of undecided voters while others will come from a batch lodged on Facebook, or arrive during the debate, again in real time.

It will be about “engagement”, as Prime Minister Turnbull said yesterday.

And it fits cleanly into an election campaign where “innovation” is elevated a central economic driver.

“The platforms that you’re all — most of you are actually pounding away on your iPhone, you’re all connected on your smart phone — that’s how most people connect to the internet now days most of the time,” Mr Turnbull told reporters.

He said: “My desire was to make sure the debate enabled us to engage with as many people as possible.

“But we will see. We’ll find out. It will be good, and I believe it may be the way of the future.

“The fact is you are all proving my point with your dexterous thumbs and fingers as you hit those keyboards.”

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks as opposition leader Bill Shorten listens at a leaders' debate at the National Press Club in Canberra. Picture: Tracey Nearmy

While it is an innovation, the political contest will still be there, as Labor’s Bill Shorten made clear.

Mr Shorten said he was looking forward to a genuine debate and would take any opportunity to talk to people.

“I think it’s very telling Mr Turnbull has been resistant to doing more debates like this,” he said.

“Given Mr Turnbull has already told Australians he’s won the election, there’s no doubt he sees debates like this as an inconvenience.

“I relish the opportunity to talk about my plans to save Medicare, deliver jobs and build better schools.

“This is a great chance for people to tell Mr Turnbull what they think of his plan to give a $7.4 billion tax handout to the big banks.”

People arrive to vote near a photo of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in Melbourne, Australia. Picture: Scott Barbour

And the ALP campaign director George Wright is encouraging voters to get their questions in.

Mr Wright said in an email it would be “a great chance for Bill to talk directly to Australians about our plans to stop Medicare privatisation, and your voice should be part of it”.

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