‘Liar, liar’: Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton in bitter row over campaign truths

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have engaged in a tense exchange over claims of lying and abuse.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during the third leaders' debate. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen

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Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have engaged in a tense exchange over claims of lying and abuse, with the Prime Minister describing his rival as desperate and the Opposition Leader ­accusing his opponent of not being able to “lie straight in bed”.

In the third of four campaign debates ahead of the May 3 election, which coincided with early-polling centres opening on Tuesday, the leaders clashed over scare campaigns, character, migration and fiscal responsibility.

During an exchange over Medicare bulk-billing rates, Mr Dutton told Mr Albanese that he “couldn’t lie straight in bed”, to which the Labor leader chipped back that “you can go to abuse … that’s a sign of desperation”.

After both leaders paused campaign events and offered ­condolences to millions of Catholic Australians following the death of Pope Francis, they resumed hostilities in a Nine Network debate that focused on cost of living, housing pressures, rising power prices and integrity.

Mr Dutton, who criticised Labor’s attempts to frame him as a “lightweight version” of Donald Trump, maintained confidence that the Coalition remained in the election fight despite falling behind the ALP in polls. The Liberal leader, who invoked Scott Morrison’s 2019 election victory over Bill Shorten as proof that polling isn’t always accurate, conceded the task of unseating a first-term government was tough.

“I believe that we’ve got a very strong chance at the next election,” Mr Dutton said. “A first-term government hasn’t lost since 1931, but there’s not been a worse government in Australia’s history since 1931 than this one. So we have to make sure that we have the policy alternatives that people can embrace.”

Quizzed on his performance during the campaign, Mr Dutton said Labor had spent $20m “throwing mud and negative ads and that has an impact”. “But for a lot of Australian families, over the course of the next few days, they’re going to have to make a decision about what’s in their best interest and what’s in our country’s best interests,” he said.

Asked what he stood for, Mr Dutton cited the Coalition’s temporary policy pitch to halve fuel excise, his pledge to cut migration, new measures helping Australians buy a home and making communities safer.

Peter Dutton on Tuesday night. Picture: James Brickwood

Anthony Albanese on Tuesday night. Picture: James Brickwood

Questioned on whether he was seeking to win the election based on not being Mr Dutton, similar to the 2022 election result against the deeply unpopular Mr Morrison, Mr Albanese said: “I have a very clear philosophy that can be summed up with two phrases: No one left behind, but no one held back. What do I mean by that? No one left behind, that’s the vulnerable people. No one held back – that’s about opportunity.”

On fiscal responsibility, Mr Dutton accused Labor of inheriting two years of surpluses from the previous Coalition government but they had “blown that money”.

Mr Albanese said Mr Dutton was not being truthful and that there would be “cuts after” the election to pay for the Coalition’s nuclear reactor plan.

In response to why millions of voters have drifted away from the major parties, with at least one in three Australians expected to vote for minor parties or independents, Mr Albanese said things had changed.

“We live in times where the old rules of 40 per cent of people voting Labor, 40 per cent of people voting for the Coalition and 20 per cent being up for grabs, they’ve gone,” Mr Albanese said.

“That reflects the changes in our economy, the changes in our society, and we recognise that.”

After both leaders were grilled on whether they would consider tweaking capital gains tax concessions to improve the chances of first home buyers to enter the market, Mr Dutton said: “We’re not going to change the CGT discount … we’re not going to change negative gearing.

“Obviously, the Prime Minister can only form government along with Adam Bandt after the election, which would be a disaster for our country. I want to make sure that we can have the tax settings in place so that we can encourage investment because young Australians have to rent for a period of time until they can afford to get into their own home. And if we don’t have investors in the market, then we don’t have that rental accommodation and we reduce the stock of housing.”

Mr Albanese, who came under pressure last week after claiming his government never commissioned negative gearing modelling from Treasury despite Jim Chalmers previously confirming he requested advice, said the ALP had “made no changes to negative gearing or capital gains tax”.

“The proof is in the pudding. We won’t be making the changes that you suggest, because we’re concerned that it would have a negative impact on supply and would push up rents. That is why we are not making those changes, and we haven’t done so.”

Mr Albanese, who in response to attacks from Mr Dutton declared that migration under Labor had “come down by 31 per cent in the last year”, attacked the Opposition Leader for having the “gold and silver medal for the most number of visas that have been issued by any migration minister since Federation”.

He claimed he would not do any deals with the Greens in a hung parliament, to which Mr Dutton accused him of not giving a “truthful answer”.