‘Most bald-faced lie’: Election finally erupts
A fired-up Peter Dutton put Anthony Albanese on blast on Wednesday night — as the debate became very heated.
Federal Election
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Peter Dutton has accused Anthony Albanese of lying to voters and having “a problem with the truth” citing his hairsplitting arguments over whether the government sought advice from the Treasury on changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.
While the Prime Minister has ruled out making changes, both sides of politics have flirted with tweaks to the policy in recent years.
A fired up Mr Dutton put the Prime Minister on blast on Wednesday night during the ABC’s leaders debate after Mr Albanese said it was “not right” that the government had modelled changes last year. This is despite the fact the Treasury provided advice on the issue to Treasurer Jim Chalmers as recently as 2024.
Mr Dutton honed in on Mr Albanese’s denial that he would revisit the tax breaks for investors. “Anthony, your government modelled negative gearing changes and capital gains tax. The treasurer has done that,” he said.
“That’s not right,’’ Mr Albanese replied.
“Was it modelled?” ABC host David Speers asked.
“It certainly wasn’t commissioned by us,’’ Mr Albanese replied prompting laughter from Mr Dutton.
The Opposition Leader immediately seized on the remarks, accusing Mr Albanese of being loose with the truth.
“It was modelled by the government. That’s publicly available,” Mr Dutton said.
“This Prime Minister has a problem with the truth. It’s not just in relation to this debate. “There are many aspects that you could pick up in the course of this campaign.
“That’s where the Prime Minister misled the Australian people.”
Mr Albanese went on to add that the advice suggested wouldn’t bring down rents or address the supply problem contributing to housing affordability.
What Jim Chalmers said at the time
The Prime Minister’s denials he sought modelling come despite publicly reported remarks that Jim Chalmers made in September 2024.
“It is not unusual at all for governments or for treasurers to get advice on contentious issues which are in the public domain including in the parliament,” Dr Chalmers said at the time.
Speaking after the debate, the Treasurer said his comments were not at odds with the Prime Minister.
“What I’ve said before is entirely consistent with what the Prime Minister said tonight,” Dr Chalmers told reporters outside the ABC’s Parramatta studios.
“From time to time, the public service provides us with views on matters that are in the public domain, and that’s what the Prime Minister said tonight.”
Truthfulness
Mr Dutton repeatedly raised issues over the Prime Minister’s truthfulness in the debate after previously ridiculing him for falling off a stage and then claiming it didn’t happen.
Asked on ABC Newcastle if he was okay after he “fell from the stage” in Cessnock, Mr Albanese said: “No I stepped back one step. I didn’t fall off the stage”.
Liberal campaign spokesman Senator James Paterson said the Coalition had established an “Albanese live lie tracker” online, claiming the Prime Minister had lied throughout the debate.
“He’s lied about the Coalition’s record on health, he’s lied about the Coalition’s record on education, he has even lied about falling off the stage,” he said.
“But the lie he told tonight about negative gearing is the most bald-faced lie he’s told in this campaign so far.”
‘A mistake’: Dutton’s concession
Mr Dutton did concede that his comments claiming the Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto had confirmed reports of Russia wanting to base aircraft in Indonesia was “a mistake”.
“Do you admit you got that wrong?’’ Speers asked.
“The reference I was making should have been to the President and was in relation to resources from the Prabowa government,’’ he said.
“It was a mistake.
“What we have seen the last 12 hours or so is that the Russian envoy to Indonesia has confirmed that there have been discussions and obviously there is a concerning closeness in that relationship.
“And I think the main point here is that the Prime Minister knew nothing of it.”
Dutton on climate change: ‘I am not a scientist’
The ABC’s Speers also put the Liberal leader on the spot about climate change.
“Can we stick with your plans again here, Mr Dutton? You’re agreeing we are seeing the impact of climate change?’’ Speers asked.
“I think you can see there’s an impact. In my home state you made reference to floods and natural disasters and events. And that is part of the history of our state of this country,’’ he replied.
“Is it getting worse?’’ Speers asked.
“I’ll let scientists pass that judgement,’’ he replied.
“The Prime Minister refused to make a comment in this regard as well the other day, I don’t know because I’m not a scientist and I can’t tell you whether the temperature has risen in Thargomindah because of climate change or the water levels are up,’’ he said.
“Scientists can provide advice. What I need to do as the alternate Prime Minister in this country is to put forward our plan about how we’re going to help families.”
Australia and Donald Trump
Both Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton were also quizzed on the impact of US President Donald Trump, and whether they “trust” him.
Mr Dutton said as a nation, we “trust the US”, before adding, “I don’t know the President”.
“I said in relation to President Trump I thought the scenes we saw coming out of the White House, the treatment of President Zelenskyy, was a disgrace and appalling. I stand by those comments,” he said.
“We trust the US, and I don’t know the President. I’ve not met him. My point is who I trust is the Australian people. My job is to stand up for our country’s interests which is what I did when we negotiated the AUKUS deal with President Biden.”
Mr Albanese said he had “no reason not to” trust Mr Trump after their most recent chat.
Question Albo won’t answer
Mr Albanese repeatedly dodged a simple question over when power prices would come down.
Speers asked the Prime Minister four times in a row: “When will we see our power bills come down?”
Despite promising ahead of the last election to lower power bills by $275 by 2025, Mr Abanese declined each time to give a date when power bills would fall.
Dutton grilled on public service cuts
Speers also asked where Mr Dutton’s “promised cuts” of $7 million to the public service would actually come from.
“You seem to be having trouble saying where you would cut,’’ he said.
“That is not something you can do from opposition to redesign” Mr Dutton shot back.
Originally published as ‘Most bald-faced lie’: Election finally erupts
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