Peter Dutton upstages Anthony Albanese as they trade barbs on Medicare, migration

Peter Dutton has upstaged Anthony Albanese’s signature Medicare card stunt as the two of them clashed in the first leaders debate fought on cost of living.

Peter Dutton has upstaged Anthony Albanese’s signature Medicare card stunt, by using GP out-of-pocket costs to challenge Labor’s record on health, in the first leaders debate fought on cost of living.

The Opposition leader used Tuesday night’s clash to shut down what he labelled Labor “scare campaigns” about Liberals cutting health and education, and upstaged the Prime Minister on a critical point about the lived experience of Australians facing out-of-pocket costs when they visit the GP.

Energy, health, migration and housing were also key issues during the Sky News Australia and Daily Telegraph people’s forum held at the Wenty Leagues Club in the Labor-held seat of Parramatta on Tuesday night.

The sharp policy debate between Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese did not have any major gaffes or slips, with both sides coming across as well prepared, while also landing several blows on their opponent.

About 44 per cent of the audience, made up of 100 undecided voters, said they thought the PM won the debate, with 35 per cent backing Mr Dutton and 21 per cent indicating they remained unsure.

Albo was the people’s choice of the debate. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire.

Hours before the debate began, Mr Dutton was rocked by the news his father Bruce had been rushed to hospital in Queensland after suffering a heart attack.

Asked by a voter if there was any way to stop GP gap fees, the PM spruiked his $8.5 billion investment to triple the bulk billing rate, which has been matched by Mr Dutton.

Mr Albanese whipped his own Medicare card out of his pocket to emphasis his point about the benefits of Labor’s bulk billed urgent care clinics, but the moment was quickly undercut by Mr Dutton who asked the voter if she had to pay a GP fee with her credit card on top of the Medicare rebate.

The audience member replied “yes”.

Rising out-of-pocket costs for seeing the doctor have been a core focus of the Opposition leader’s message this campaign as he has sought to dispel voters’ belief Labor is better at handling health.

Mr Dutton was strongest in highlighting the lived experience of Australians over the last three years of the cost of living crisis, saying it was “confronting” to see about half of the audience raise their hands when asked who was “doing it tough”.

He said when Labor tried to cast the last three years as a “successful period” it was “in defiance of the reality of people’s lives and where we are as a country right now”.

In one of the debate’s most powerful moments, a truck driver Ian called

on both leaders to hand out more cost of living relief, asking Peter Dutton to extend his fuel excise freeze, and Mr Albanese to match it.

In a swipe at Mr Albanese’s $5 a week tax cuts, the truckie Ian told the Prime Minister that “people are hurting now, not 15 months later”.

Mr Dutton did not rule out extending the excise saying, “in 12 months time, if we needed to extend it, we could do that.”

Mr Dutton was strongest in highlighting the lived experience of Australians over the last three years of the cost of living crisis. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire.

But Mr Albanese didn’t miss the opportunity to land a jab over Mr Dutton’s recent policy backflip on work from home and public service cuts, telling the audience “Peter hasn’t been able to stand up for his own policy, so I don’t know how he can stand up for Australia”.

Mr Albanese also scored laughs from the audience when he made a quip about Mr Dutton “gas lighting” voters about the benefits of the Coalition’s plan to flood Australia with cheaper gas.

The PM hit his stride when making broad statements about the need to buy Australian, fully funding public schools and bringing down inflation, but had also clearly been swatting up on facts and numbers that were peppered throughout his answers.

Not being across the detail was the PM’s biggest perceived weakness throughout the last election campaign and at times in government, and he was proactively trying to dispel that during the debate.

Mr Dutton too had clearly homed in on this as a differentiator, almost seamlessly rattling off dollar figures and statistics in key answers on energy in an attempt to create a contrast with the PM.

He also got a laugh for a jab at Mr Albanese over Labor’s emissions reduction plan having a heavy reliance on the development of green hydrogen, which Mr Dutton said at this stage “doesn’t work” as an energy source.

The PM hit his stride when making broad statements about the need to buy Australian, fully funding public schools and bringing down inflation. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire.

In his opening pitch to voters, Mr Albanese said “now is not the time to look backwards”.

But this was precisely what Mr Dutton wanted Australians to do, insisting it had been a tough three years for Australians.

“People have gone backwards,” he said.

The opposition leader moved to shut down Labor’s “scare campaigns” about Liberal cuts to health and education, insisting funding for schools and hospitals was not reduced under the last Coalition government.

“What the Prime Minister is saying is that the funding didn’t go up by as much as he would want each year,” Mr Dutton said.

“But there was no year where funding was cut from hospitals or from education.”

The debate room was packed out with senior Labor and Liberal figures, with Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke, Parramatta MP Andrew Charlton and the PM’s chief of staff Tim Gartrell there supporting Mr Albanese.

Mr Dutton’s support crew included his treasury spokesman Angus Taylor, Liberal campaign spokesman James Paterson, Western Sydney spokeswoman Melissa McIntosh, NSW Senator Maria Kovacic and Liberal candidate for Parramatta Katie Mullens.

Former Liberal minister Bronwyn Bishop was also inside the venue to watch Mr Dutton.

Originally published as Peter Dutton upstages Anthony Albanese as they trade barbs on Medicare, migration