This was published 10 months ago
Albanese has trounced Dutton in tonight’s debate, recording 50 per cent of the vote from Seven’s undecided voters.
Dutton attracted just 25 per cent of the vote, with another 25 per cent undecided.
Albanese won on key issues, including housing, cost of living and tax cuts.
Dutton won on defence and Indigenous affairs.
That concludes our coverage of the final leaders’ debate. Thanks for your company and have an enjoyable evening.
Seven’s undecided voter base laughed at Dutton’s guess that a dozen eggs costs $4.20, with just 14 per cent of voters declaring the opposition leader as the winner of the ‘hot takes’ segment, in which he also called Elon Musk an “evil genius”.
Albanese picked up 50 per cent of the vote in that segment – perhaps buoyed by his $7 price tag for eggs. The correct answer was $8.50.
Dutton triumphed on the issue of defence, however, drawing support from 43 per cent of the undecided voters compared with Albanese’s 37 per cent.
Among Seven’s undecided voters, 46 per cent supported Dutton’s stance on Indigenous affairs, after watching the opposition leader say Welcome to Country ceremonies were overused.
Dutton said when used before sporting matches, the ceremonies were divisive.
Just 27 per cent of voters back Albanese’s stance on Indigenous affairs.
Speaking on Seven after the debate, Liberal senator James Patterson said the Welcome to Country ceremonies were meant to be “meaningful and appropriate” but they could be tokenistic when performed to excess.
Separately, 49 per cent of voters backed the PM’s tax policy, while only 21 per cent supported Dutton’s position on the issue.
Seven’s audience of undecided voters felt Albanese would provide better outcomes on both housing and cost of living.
On housing, 35 per cent of the audience supported Albanese after the debate, while 30 per cent backed Dutton to address housing affordability.
Albanese overwhelmingly won over the audience on cost-of-living issues, with 65 per cent of the audience determining him the winner on that topic. Just 16 per cent found Dutton to be preferable on the issue.
“We are the greatest country on the planet, and we’re driven by our people, as well as, of course, the natural assets that we enjoy,” said Albanese.
“And I want to back our people through skills and training. That’s why we’re investing in every school by [creating] better and fairer schools. That’s why we’re investing in early childhood education. That’s why we’re investing in free TAFE to give people that opportunity to be the best that they can.
“That’s why we’re working so hard with Australian people to bring down inflation. The future is so bright for us because we live in the fastest-growing region of the world in human history, and our people are our greatest asset, including our multiculturalism [which], of course, gives us such direct links to the economies of Asia.”
Here is Dutton’s closing statement:
“I believe we live in the greatest country in the world. I know that many Australians are really doing it tough at the moment, and I don’t believe Australians deserve three more years of increased cost to everything,” said Dutton.
“I want to make sure we can deliver support immediately through the 25¢-a-litre cut in fuel tax, the $1200 tax rebate. And I want to make sure we transform our energy market, get more gas into the system, bring the wholesale price of gas down by 23 per cent – if we do that, we can bring down the costs across the economy.
“If we make the right decisions now, we can protect our generation and future generations and make our country and our communities safer, and that’s exactly what I’m dedicated to doing. If people vote for the Liberal-National candidate at this election, we can get our country back on track.”
The leaders were asked what their first thoughts were on seeing a photo of billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk, who plays a core role in the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
Dutton said “evil genius”.
Albanese said “Tesla” and “a very rich man”.
Labor has likened Dutton to Trump and said his pledge to cut the public service came straight from the DOGE handbook.
The debate has thrown up one of the more curious statements from a political leader, with Albanese wondering aloud if US President Donald Trump has a mobile phone.
Despite literally thousands of scatter-gun posts from Trump on his social media platform, Albanese said this when asked if he had the US leader’s number: “I’m not sure he has a mobile phone, the US president … it is not the way it works with any global leader.”
This questionable responses gave Dutton a free kick.
“I think the answer was ‘no’ there,” Dutton said, reminding viewers that Albanese was unable to say that he did in fact have Trump’s number.
The leaders guess how much a dozen eggs costs – neither was on the money. Here’s how they guessed.
Dutton: $4.20
Albanese: $7
The answer: $8.50
It is worth noting that Dutton guessed first, to which the 7News hosts said, “You might get six”, before the PM took a guess.
The leaders have turned their attention to energy policy, with the PM promoting renewables and Dutton backing nuclear.
“If we have a look around the world at the top 20 economies, Australia is the only one that doesn’t have or hasn’t signed up to nuclear power. It’s a zero-emissions technology,” said Dutton, who added he’d be happy to have a nuclear reactor in his electorate.
Albanese said:“We think the future is renewables, backed by gas, by hydro, backed by batteries.”
Dutton was quizzed as to why he had not visited any sites of his proposed nuclear power plants, but evaded giving a direct answer.
The leaders then clashed on energy. Dutton said solar energy was leaving homes without power at nighttime and the Labor’s transition would “ruin the economy”.