Leaders pack down for final decisive play

ON any other Wednesday night, they would have been talking about Locky's sore ribs and the Broncos' chances on the weekend without him.

Tony Abbott answers questions from the audience at the Broncos Leagues Club in Brisbane. Picture: Rob Maccoll

ON any other Wednesday night, they would have been talking about Locky's sore ribs and the Broncos' chances on the weekend without him.

But with three sleeps to go before the federal election, and voters starting to turn their minds in earnest to it, two-for-one night at the Broncos Leagues Club in Brisbane became the potentially decisive play of the campaign between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott.

After all the shadow boxing over who would debate whom and where, it was almost a relief to have the Prime Minister turn up, under the same roof as the Leader of the Opposition, to field questions from supposedly unaligned voters.

Greyhound-lean and fighting fit, Mr Abbott looks like he could step into the boots of Darren Lockyer, who is out of tomorrow's big game against Newcastle. He showed last night he had developed a side-step every bit as neat as the injured Bronco's when confronted with questions rarely asked of him.

Ditto for the PM, who was assured when her turn came to face the same audience.

Mr Abbott's "Oh my god" moment came when a young woman walked to the microphone and asked him about immigration. And whether it would be necessary if abortion were banned in Australia. "That's not my policy," the staunchly Catholic Mr Abbott finally admitted, with some prodding from moderator David Speers. "I wouldn't do it."

Mr Abbott secured a restrained round of applause when he announced he was thinking of cutting the HECS debts of university students who did volunteer work.

Mr Abbott said he could understand why gay couples would "feel ripped off" that they could not marry, but he would not be changing his mind. Separately, Ms Gillard reaffirmed she would not be amending the Marriage Act either.

Mr Abbott ignored the lectern and stood at the foot of the podium, looking voters in the eye.

Ms Gillard worked the room, shaking hands and smiling, before she launched into her "positive" plans for the country. She, too, stood on the auditorium floor, fielding questions.

Inevitably, her role in the demise of that other favourite son of Queensland, Kevin Rudd, cropped up. Was she a hypocrite in having participated in his knifing when she had played such a key role in his government?

By now, Ms Gillard is all too familiar with that question. She didn't skip a beat. Having been "vice-captain" of team Rudd, she said she accepted her share of blame for its failings.