NSW election: Gladys Berejiklian emerges victorious after People’s Forum debate in Western Sydney

The man who wants to be NSW Premier has been labelled “embarrassing” after stumbling on key details during the leaders’ debate.

NSW Labor leader Michael Daley’s performance in a leaders’ debate has been labelled “embarrassing” after he stumbled over key policies.

Just days out from the NSW Election, Mr Daley had a disaster in the NSW People’s Forum aired on Sky News on Wednesday night.

He stumbled when talking about Labor’s spending plans on education, stadiums and TAFE.

Speaking on Today this morning, Mr Daley denied he stumbled. On stadiums at least.

“It was embarrassing for you last night in the leaders’ debate. You stumbled on spending in the key policies of education, and TAFE,” Today host Deb Knight said to him.

“I didn’t stumble on stadiums,” he replied.

Knight replied: “You stumbled on education and TAFE big time”.

“Yeah, both of us made a couple of blunders last night. No doubt about that, under the pressure of debate,” he said.

“The Premier announced a new toll on the M4 which she corrected. I got capital and recurrent spending mixed up in education and TAFE, and that’s what happens sometimes in the pressure of a campaign.”

An embarrassing morning for Michael Daley.

Knight said: “You can’t deny it has been a disastrous finish for you though, on the back foot in these last crucial days, every vote, every minute counts and you spent your time apologising for your own mistakes on Asian migration, and stadium sprinklers. Voters are rightly questioning are you up to the job?”

“Absolutely up to the job and if you look at the headlines today, the Premier has headaches herself with reports about the stadium, about how much more cheaply a refurbishment could have been done.”

The Sydney Morning Herald reports today a secret report shows it would cost just $18 million to fix the safety issues at Allianz Stadium.

The Government is demolishing the stadium at Moore Park to make way for a new $730 million venue, with safety concerns one of the reasons for knocking it down.

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian denied that report was correct.

“That report is actually not correct,” she said on Today.

“We have had a business case, a report that’s been publicly available for more than a year. Anybody today can look it up.

“It says very clearly just to fix the basic building code requirements and safety requirements costs $341 million.

“That information has been publicly available for a year. I’m someone who really deals in facts and is truthful.”

PREMIER WINS THE DEBATE

Ms Berejiklian emerged victorious from last night’s debate.

Commentators from Sky News and The Daily Telegraph, who co-hosted the debate, deemed the Premier the “clear winner” in the debate.

The two politicians were thrown questions on everything from domestic violence and climate change, to TAFE funding and the M4 motorway toll.

Mr Daley made some positive promises, including a $200 million injection into social housing in the fight against domestic violence, and vowing to scrap the controversial toll on the M4 motorway, which was reinstated by the NSW Liberal government.

But he stumbled in other crucial areas, unable to give concrete figures when asked about Labor’s education and TAFE funding commitments.

Ms Berejiklian in turn plugged the government’s infrastructure program, arguing the Liberals would take pressure off households.

Gladys Berejiklian has emerged victorious at the end of the NSW People’s Forum debate.

One of the most controversial issues of the night raised was the $2 billion in funding to rebuild Sydney stadiums.

Asked by an audience member to justify the expense in terms of the income it would generate, Ms Berejiklian said the figure was just one per cent of total infrastructure spending and would generate three times that figure over the next 20 years.

“For many families going to a sporting event, having their kids at a great stadium is a positive,” she said.

“The return to the state will be phenomenal (and) for every major event we hold, the return to the state is seven-fold in terms of revenue. It creates jobs and makes NSW a place people want to be.

“For every dollar we invest over 10 years … depending on the stadium, you are looking at, it’s about $3 for each dollar investing. The business case has been on the public record for more than a year.”

Mr Daley said the return figures didn’t matter because the public had to fund the initial investment.

But the Opposition Leader couldn’t confirm what the total cost of the stadium would be under Labor’s plan — and the discussion grew increasingly tense.

“Doesn’t matter what the return is — it’s how much you’re asking people to pay for it,” he said.

“But how much are you gonna spend on fixing it?” cut in Ms Berejiklian.

The host interjected, requesting she let the Labor leader finish responding.

“I just want him to answer the question!” she called, before he proceeded.

But as Mr Daley continued answering, noting a loan would be taken out for the stadium, she cut in again to say, “Uh huh!”

Mr Daley then snapped: “I haven’t been interrupting you, Premier, so I’d ask you to extend me the same courtesy.”

He went on to say people could still have a “refurbished, state-of-the-art, modern stadium” without the taxpayers paying for it.

But when asked by Speers what the total cost would be under his plan, Mr Daley couldn’t answer. “We don’t know, because we don’t know what the stadium will look like when we go into it.”

“Well, we have a pretty good idea of what it looks like now, and the election’s in three days,” replied Speers.

“What I want is for the stadium to be there on the weekend, and the Premier can’t explain why the wrecking balls were in there today. I want it standing on the weekend, so these people can decide what to do with it. That’s the difference in our approaches.”

In a separate incident, a question was deemed null and void after it was revealed the man asking it wasn’t an ordinary undecided voter.

A short while into the event, one audience member asked whether they would allow religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

This audience member asked whether Ms Berejiklian or Mr Daley would allow religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.

Both leaders were vague and non-commital in their responses.

“My personal view is that you’ll have a tough time saying you’re trying to justify that someone can get the sack based on sexuality … I’ve said that before,” Mr Daley responded.

When pressed by moderator David Speers to confirm he would not allow religious schools to discriminate, however, Mr Daley hesitated and said he would “talk to the sector first”.

Ms Berejiklian called for a national approach to the issue. “No child or teacher should feel they don’t belong somewhere because of who they are… everyone should feel comfortable in their school environment,” she said. But she too refused to directly rule it out.

But seconds later, host Speers apologised to both candidates and the audience, noting he’d just been informed the man who asked the question was not actually an undecided voter, but Australian Conservatives candidate Greg Walsh.

As the forum is only supposed to include questions from non-partisan undecided voters, his question was deemed null and void, and the discussion quickly moved on.

The gaffe didn’t escape people’s attention on social media, though:

This guy is an Upper House candidate for Australian Conservatives!

— Peter Phelps MLC (@PeterPhelpsMLC) March 20, 2019

the guy asking the question right now on #peoplesforum is Greg Walsh Australian Conservatives Upper House candidate... wasn't this meant to be swinging voters??? #nswpol #nswvotes

— John Macgowan (@john_macgowan) March 20, 2019

Where did this bloke come from @SkyNewsAust @David_Speers - he is an Australian Conservatives candidate! #NSWVotes #PeoplesForum pic.twitter.com/jwyOUfFEBa

— Mitch (@MtchJC) March 20, 2019

yikes. the australian conservatives snuck one of their own candidates into the debate to ask about religious schools. #leadersdebate #nswpol #nswvotes

— erin ecogay 🏳️‍🌈 (@erynthecute) March 20, 2019

According to the latest YouGov Galaxy poll, the major parties in NSW are neck-and-neck ahead of the state election on Saturday.

A recent poll published by The Daily Telegraph showed the major parties deadlocked at 50-50 on a two-party preferred basis.

The result indicated Ms Berejiklian would lose six seats, forcing her to rely on independents to retain government, while Labor needed an extra 13 seats to regain power in its own right.