Thread by @PRGuy17

LEADER'S DEBATE — a thread. I'll be commentating live so you don't have to watch. #LeadersDebate #auspol

Morrison won the coin toss, he's talking about resilience and glossing over his record. Already told a lie about the economy in the first 15 seconds. He's a little nervous and quite wooden, which is understandable, he's under a lot of pressure.

Now to Albo, he's a bit more at ease than Morrison, talks about need for costs to come down and wages to go up. Recognises the economy needs to improve and Australia needs to pick up manufacturing again. We must do better and we can do better. Says an ICAC is needed. Good start.

Question on housing affordability - what is gov't doing / and what is gov't doing about foreign ownership?

PM: Acknowledges it's hard, says economy is tough, talks about how tough it was for him and Jenny. Cites Bris median house prices (to show he's done some prep). Rattling off some schemes that apparently help (but do they help?). Says he's made it easier despite prices going up.

Albo: Says he's hearing the hardship on the ground and his generation took it for granted. Speaks of his upbringing in public housing. Says it's too tough now, acknowledges there is some assistance, but not enough. Says his Housing Future Fund will address this and rentals.

First barb of the night: Albo ribs Morrison over PM's poor taste comment that struggling renters should simply buy a house. Morrison is defensive now, rattling off some numbers - this man can't admit when things aren't good enough. Why can't he just say yep, it's bad.

Morrison struggling a few times with the word 'foreign' - a few times sounds like 'furren'. Maybe he's not having furren. PM is cut off for waffling.

Question on health - what will you do to support local nurses and aged care nurses?

Albo: Knows his numbers, speaks stats on nursing crisis. Says there aren't nurses in nursing homes now, Labor will place an extra 20,000 funded uni spots for nurses. Says Aus will need more nurses as we age and this is the beginning. More stats, he's really done his homework.

Albo says we need to find out where every single dollar is going - put that money towards food, nurses, not profits. Mentions that food scraps are being scraped off floors onto plates for consumption - not good enough.

PM: Telling his personal story about his father being in Aged Care, says it was all good. He then contradicts, says he called RC because Aged Care wasn't working. Says the problems are too complex and we can't just fix them (to date, he hasn't even tried, it's been 2 years).

PM says if you lift standards in homes, you'll actually be shutting down homes right around Australia (a startling admission). Says there's been a few miserly improvements to meal allowances, but there are not easy solutions, because if you improve it, you'd have to maintain it.

Albo says he's been speaking with Aged Care homes right around Australia to get his plan together.

Question on ICAC - what will you do to get up an ICAC with actual teeth?

PM: Defends his ICAC model (despite questioner noting it had been universally panned). Morrison says lots of really complex things, like tax office and other depts, very difficult, says he's spent some money on it but federal police already exists so it's okay.

PM says we don't need a kangaroo court and who your boyfriend is shouldn't matter, and he's not impressed with ICACs.

Albo: We need to restore faith in politics. Doesn't matter which side, there's a stench. Mentions a number of major government scandals which remain unresolved, quite a lengthy list. Says teeth are a must, and says govt's model is controlled by MPs, not good enough.

Albo makes a very strong point about teeth being a must. Notes Morrison's scorns against ICAC are misplaced because NSW ICAC has uncovered and addressed very serious crime.

Question on scare campaigns: Host is asking this, offers his own editorial on what will / won't happen after the elections.

Albo cites Anne Ruston's confirmation on rolling out Indue to all on welfare. Makes point that Labor's warnings are based on fact, not fiction.

PM repeats his angry defence on Indue card, says it won't go to pensioners (despite what's on the record, and the fact that there are already pensioners on the card). Sorry PM, lie counter gets another ping.

PM now says Indue card is good (sort of contradicting why he would not put pensioners on it)?

Now onto the boats. Morrison says he designed Operation Sovereign Borders, says his case for boats scare campaign against Labor is that he stopped the boats. Bit of a rubbery case, given Labor's policy is a complete match, and boats haven't stopped (what are they turning back).

Morrison now asking Albo directly. Heated moment. Morrison asks Albo why he opposed Morrison's turn backs. Albo disputes Morrison's record. There's a bit of argy bargy. Albo asks Scott why are you always looking for division? This is quite heated.

Question on batteries and EVs - how will you get these moving?

Albo says he supports exporting resources but there are also opportunities to turn what we dig out of the ground into tech right here. Slams Morrison over his "EVs will steal your weekend" rubbish. Albo will also cut taxes on EVs.

PM tells a story about how it's already happening here and "Angus is here who can back me up" *cough* ... PM concedes Albo is right and is repeating Albo's policy. Bit flimsy, now talking about other countries, and fuck, this is just management speak, sorry, it's bad.

PM dropping buzzwords like energy powerhouse, yikes.

Question on cuts to NDIS - what does the future of the NDIS look like?

PM: Talking about Jenny, says he's blessed to not have disabled children (fark). Says it's a very complex system, bigger than medicare, but says he loves it because it's not welfare and it helps people with disabilities like his brother in law Gary.

PM says he's fully funding it (so questioner is lying?). Puts down questioner's sons problems to teething problems because it's a difficult system and there's no cookie cutter approach, but he thinks he's a great and ambitious program, it's expensive, very expensive...

Questioner calls PM out on her question, why the cuts? PM says he's happy to speak one on one after. Oh dear...

Albo thanks the questioner, very sincere, says questioner's story isn't isolated, says his team are slammed with similar concerns, says NDIS is a proud Labor reform which has been gutted, but which Labor can fix. Tells troubling story of person forced to re-use colostomy bags.

Says that story introduces more risk of worse social and health outcomes and actually costs more. So by reducing neglect, it'll actually reduce the cost. PM acknowledges Labor started the NDIS, but it's always the Libs that have to fix these schemes because they cost too much.

(Side note: No government in Australia has ever wasted as much money as the Morrison Government.)

Albo says it's true, Labor definitely does deliver the programs which make life liveable for Australians. NDIS, Medicare, NBN, GFC payments. Says Morrison Gov't is holding us back and trashing big reforms.

Question on surging national debt from host.

PM says he's turned the budget around by getting people into debt. Says debt is only up because of pandemic (another big ding on the lie counter). Now smoke and mirrors, some (disputed) employment figures. Says he and Josh thought up JobKeeper (another ding, ping @sallymcmanus).

@sallymcmanus Albo says unions, Labor and business called for Jobkeeper and Morrison gov't rejected it (true, all on the record). PM says that's not true (even though it is). Albo lists some terrible examples of major waste, and notes Morrison doubled debt before the pandemic hit.

@sallymcmanus Albo adds Labor will invigorate the economy through local manufacturing and renewables.

@sallymcmanus Question on Jobkeeper for those iced out - "we were left in the cold, got no jobkeeper, we were told to dip into our super, what is your plans to help businesses hurt by this?"

@sallymcmanus PM says if you have tools in your toolkit, you can write them off through some nifty tax loopholes, mentions all the data, cloud accounting and data wizardry, buzz words, digital economy, so many are doing amazingly well and business needs to be more agile (omg, omg).

@sallymcmanus PM cannot speak to people. He's in manager speak mode again. It's a non-answer and a total non-acknowledgement of the pain in that question. Just dropping business buzzwords.

@sallymcmanus Albo asks questioner what business he's in, questioner says food production, formerly for aviation. Albo acknowledges questioner's pain, says there are lots of stories like this because of eligibility hoops for Jobkeeper.

@sallymcmanus Albo says Labor has supported all measures to help, but more were needed. Going forward, wage growth is a central pillar to address repair, not just to business and workers, but to improve the economy. PM interrupts Albo, he's not happy, "Anthony..."

@sallymcmanus PM has taken over Albo's time, he's clearly got a beef with Albo and the questioner. Yikes, not a good look.

@sallymcmanus Question on flood relief - how can we do better than what just happened?

@sallymcmanus Albo says emergency response fund is meant for this, but it's not being spent - floods, bushfires, cyclones - the fund has grown through interest to $4.8 billion. Albo says his gov't will be getting those funds to the ground through dedicated and structured programs.

@sallymcmanus Albo slams Morrison over failures and massive delays to call national emergencies.

@sallymcmanus PM goes into croaky voices (an instant tell when he doesn't have the goods). Says actually he got everything done really, really quickly, and it was all very difficult, and he was personally there, and it was really quick, in fact quicker than ever.

@sallymcmanus PM is dropping some names of agencies he created for this, says though that states have to work with him, it's not just all on him, like states aren't clearing fuel loads, and that's their fault. He says he'll spend money anyway, but blames a Labor council for failures (?).

@sallymcmanus Question on foreign policy failure re China from host.

@sallymcmanus PM blames Penny Wong for saying that. Says all the countries turned to Australia for vaccines. He built an undersea cable. He vaccinated Fiji. But Labor said this was a policy failure and no it's China's fault, not his fault. PM's lack of action is China's fault, according to PM.

@sallymcmanus PM lists off his diplomacy incidents as proof that he's been tough on China (apparently not realising that provoking our neighbours led to this exact scenario). Now says Albo has taken China's side, wtf.

@sallymcmanus Albo says that's an outrageous slur, and national security shouldn't be a slurring match. Albo says China has become more aggressive and we need to understand and respond appropriately. Albo says this is a Pacific stuff up, a major foreign policy failure.

@sallymcmanus Albo says Aust govt's have got this right since WW2, and Morrison Government is the first to stuff this up. He cites Julie Bishop who said today that Morrison should've sent senior minister, not junior minister. He notes US is getting this right. It's responding.

@sallymcmanus Albo says cutting aid and alienating neighbours is a clear stuff up and has opened the door to China. He's right.

@sallymcmanus Question on low faith in integrity of politics - how will you restore trust?

@sallymcmanus PM: Says his economic plan is about getting people off welfare and into work, help Aussies save to buy a home, and the economy is the strongest in the world (bing), and his credit rating is really good, and this is an election about the economy (hello, question was on integrity).

@sallymcmanus Albo: Says it's going to start with an ICAC, but will go further. Says he will embrace a Liberal opposition and get ideas from across the floor, not just from his own team. Says it'll be collaborative government which credits both sides for ideas.

@sallymcmanus Albo says he wants to embrace employers and workers, business and employees, get consensus and unite people on ways forward. Really powerful answer.

@sallymcmanus Question on bullying, safety and culture - how can we fix it?

@sallymcmanus (Question was in context of young people, I understand). Albo says he wants to address cultural nonchalance towards democracy by engaging everyone, young people, minorities, working out ways to get everyone involved.

@sallymcmanus Scott Morrison says it's all about social media, and that's where bullying is happening, and we've got to tackle social media, and it's ruining political debate and putting young people off, croaky voice now, it's hurtful, it's destructive, and we'll stamp it out.

@sallymcmanus Question on deals with independents - lol - this is one I never pay attention to. Both leaders are coy. There's some great independents out there, embrace them.

@sallymcmanus PM in closing: Thanks everyone, says this election is a choice, and it's all about the economy of the next 10 years, your job, your wages (falling under Morrison), rubbery employment numbers, disputed economy claims, etc.

@sallymcmanus Albo in closing: Thanks everyone and thanks Scott, says the problem with the gov't is it's stale, it's got no plan, it's got very little done, why are wages going backwards, Albo wants them going forward. Says we need to aspire for more, be more optimistic.

@sallymcmanus Albo says two things drive him - no one left behind, and no one held back.

BOOM

"If I'm Prime Minister, I'll accept responsibility. Not always blame someone else."

@sallymcmanus Absolute rockstar performance by Albo tonight and Paul Murray is already out - he's doing vox pops. Murray says people are partisan and may not necessarily see what they think they saw (lol).

@sallymcmanus Sky News hosts are calling it a tie, lol. They're disappointed that Albo didn't fall over. Hosts say they didn't know Albo wanted an ICAC and they thought ICAC was a teal thing (these people claim to be political reporters).

@sallymcmanus Credlin looks sour, she hasn't spoken yet.

@sallymcmanus Sky News hosts say it's because Morrison didn't rehearse. Credlin speaks now, she says Sky News' format was the winner, not the leaders, but she says the questions were stacked in Labor's favour (lolololol).

@sallymcmanus That's right Peta, Albo won, blame the audience, hahaha. Credlin says PM should be credited for not being too smug. Credlin says boats was most important issue.

@sallymcmanus Andrew Bolt up now, looking majorly pissed. Says Albo should've stuffed up, but he does think Albo did very well. Bolt concedes Albo won the night, says PM looked plan-less, empty handed. Albo won the battle for the future, Bolt says.

@sallymcmanus "It's a win for Albanese" - Andrew Bolt

@sallymcmanus Just a bunch of stunned Sky News hosts looking sour and irritated, going back and forth, but they are calling it for Albo, begrudgingly.

@sallymcmanus Credlin now accuses the National Press Club of being "stacked" - nobody knows what to say. They're doing a post mortem on Albo's win, it's bloody hilarious.

@sallymcmanus Sky News hosts are now talking strategy about how PM can turn his fortunes around. They say he needs to have some vision, to be able to tell a story for the future. This is glorious.

@sallymcmanus Here's where the pings landed, sorry if I missed some.

@sallymcmanus So it's official, Sky News hosts agree, begrudgingly, Anthony Albanese won the night convincingly. Well done, Albo.

@sallymcmanus Paul Murray finished broadcast by declaring "twitter isn't real life" (not unlike Sky News after dark)