Federal election 2025 leaders' debate three: Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton make it personal in fiery clash
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have clashed on healthcare and who has plans for cuts but avoided questions over serious structural budget repair in a lively debate as voters head to the polls.
The leaders were pushed on the state of the budget and Australia's economic future but neither could articulate a long-term plan for dealing with the sky-high debt or forecast years of deficits.
This was the third time the pair have come together to debate and the toll of the campaign was showing, with each getting under the other's skin with increasingly personal attacks.
Although the host said she didn't want to see a regurgitation of talking points, there were still plenty aired.
Both leaders also ignored questions they didn't want to answer, and accusations of lies continued to be tossed around like confetti.
An opportunity to debunk the biggest lie their opponent was telling showed where each leader's sensitive spots were.
'Just one?' Mr Dutton asked.
He started with Labor's claim nuclear power would cost $600 billion – although his awkwardly worded answer almost avoided saying 'nuclear' – and shifted across to the Mediscare 2.0 campaign the Liberals have been complaining about.
Notably, Mr Albanese didn't repeat the $600 billion figure later in the debate when the questioning turned to energy policy.
'There have been a lot of lies told by Labor over the course of this campaign, but I don't think Australians are stupid. I think they see through it,' Mr Dutton said.
The Prime Minister immediately picked up on Mr Dutton's accusation that bulk-billing rates were in free-fall, saying that was the case under years of frozen rebates instituted by the Coalition but things were turning around.
This prompted a lively exchange over healthcare, the same point the leaders have clashed over in their other two debates.
Mr Dutton put in a stronger performance than in the previous two bouts.
He had a sharper response this time to the accusation that he cut $50 billion from hospitals as health minister, insisting that the funding still increased every year.
'What you're saying is that it should have gone up by a bit more each year, and that's what you describe as a cut,' he said.
Mr Albanese responded: 'No, you described it as a cut. The 2014 budget described it as a cut.'
Mr Dutton then said the Prime Minister 'couldn't lie straight in bed, honestly; this is unbelievable', prompting his opponent to say that resorting to personal abuse was 'a sign of desperation'.
Mr Albanese made multiple definitive promises throughout the hour, which his colleagues will be hoping won't come back to bite him down the track.
This included saying couples on average wages would be able to afford homes under his plans, that 'we certainly want people to be better off in three years' time', and that bulk billing rates would rise.
On the latter, he repeated the one-word answer he used about real increases to minimum wages in the 2022 campaign.
Asked if he would stake his prime ministership on bulk-billing rates rising, Mr Albanese said: 'absolutely.'
'We have a plan … what we've done with the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive for concession card holders, we know that that worked in lifting the rates for concession card holders. When we do that, it will lift the rates right across the board,' he said.
He cited the example of the doctor's clinic he visited in Tasmania last week which announced while he was there that it planned to bulk-bill every patient once the new incentives were in place.
The leaders also clashed in what was supposed to be a rapid fire round of questions, stalling on what deals Labor may or may not do with the Greens in the event of a hung Parliament.
Mr Albanese insisted there wouldn't be any deals with the Greens. Mr Dutton said Labor would 'fall over themselves' to do one.
'It's just an untruth put forward by Peter, who's part of a coalition. The only party that's trying to form government in our own right is the Australian Labor Party,' Mr Albanese retorted.
For his part, Mr Dutton said in the event of a hung parliament the Coalition would not deal with the Greens, but it would seek backing from crossbench independents.
Both leaders supported four-year terms of Parliament (although Mr Albanese thought Mr Dutton would 'never back a referendum' to make it happen) and protecting children from the harms of social media, and agreed they were punching above their weight in terms of their partners and families.
Mr Dutton conceded that his pre-politics career as a policeman had made him 'hardened', saying everyone who entered parliament was shaped by their life experiences.
'I've always been serious in my public life, as a police officer and since I've been in parliament, in protecting people, and I'm very genuine about that,' he said.
Mr Albanese said he had repeatedly shown himself capable of making tough decisions.
'Kindness isn't weakness,' he said.
'I've been in public life, like Peter, for a long period of time and you don't get to be Prime Minister and to lead the Labor Party without a toughness. It's a tough forum.'
On budget repair, Mr Dutton reiterated that he would have to wait until winning government to get a proper look at the books, saying outlining a full budget was 'not something you can do from opposition' and painting himself in the model of John Howard.
He also attacked the two surpluses Labor boasts of, saying they only came about because of persistently high iron ore prices.
'People will have their different trigger points but people know that a Coalition government more effectively manages the economy,' he said.
'If we do that, we can bring inflation down. We can help families get through this godawful period of the last three years and help get their own budgets back on track.'
Mr Albanese pointed out the last Coalition government was Tony Abbott's, not Mr Howard's, and accused Mr Dutton of hiding plans to cut with this approach.
'There will be cuts afterwards, he's just confirmed that, but they won't tell you what they are. Now, that's just not being fair dinkum,' he said.
Asked about his own plans for structural budget repair, Mr Albanese pointed to the $95 billion in savings Labor has found over the past three years and the way it has lowered debt by $178 billion, saving taxpayers tens of billions in interest payments.
'We have shown our economic responsibility,' he said.
'We didn't promise a surplus, but we've delivered. We'll continue to work on savings, continue to produce value. That's because we understand how important it is.'
After all the sledging, the evening ended with kind words after each leader was asked to name three things they admired about their opponent.
'We only ever prepare one,' Mr Dutton quipped, although he managed to think of two.
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