Australian Labor Leader Albanese Wins Over Audience in Election Debate

(Bloomberg) --

A snap poll showed Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese had the edge in the first combative debate of a tightly-fought election campaign against Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

Faced with undecided voters, about 40% of their audience said they believed Labor’s Albanese had the upper hand, according to a tally by host Sky News, while 35% said Morrison had come out on top. The remaining 25% of attendees were undecided after the event. 

As the two rivals slugged it out on Tuesday night, the most fraught issues to emerge were around political corruption, domestic manufacturing of green energy and the ways to support the country’s nurses in the wake of a health pandemic that saw Australia largely sealed off from the outside world.

The debate grew heated when Morrison was asked about the news that the Solomon Islands had signed a security agreement with the government in Beijing despite Australia’s objections. Morrison accused the Labor Party of “taking China’s side, ” which Albanese called an “outrageous slur.”

Morrison grilled Albanese on his previous comments on Australia’s border protection policy, and in particular the government’s controversial strategy of turning back refugee boats en route to Australia. “Why is it, Scott, that you’re always looking for a division?” responded Albanese.

“No I’m just looking for accuracy and the truth,” Morrison said.

Morrison, however, is on the defensive. He currently holds power by a majority of one in Australia’s 151-seat parliament, while Labor would need to win eight seats from the coalition to govern in their own right.

The prime minister was heavily criticized on social media for responding to a woman, who asked about support for her four-year-old autistic son, by saying that he and his wife had been “blessed” and that “we’ve got two children who haven’t had to go through that.”

Both parties have had a rocky start to the campaign, with the latest polling released Monday highlighting the risks for investors of a hung parliament. 

The poll showed a drop in support for both the center-right Liberal National coalition government and the Labor opposition. According to a Monday Newspoll survey, Labor currently leads the Coalition 53% to 47%.

Labor started with a strong lead, but an early misstep by Albanese where he was unable to remember the unemployment rate played into Morrison’s criticisms over the Labor leader’s economic credentials. 

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.