Australia PM Albanese beats opposition leader Dutton in first election debate

SYDNEY - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has won the first debate of the 2025 election campaign, defeating opposition Liberal Party leader Peter Dutton in a discussion dominated by questions over cost-of-living issues.

Both leaders traded barbs over the inflation crisis, energy prices, education and healthcare in an hour-long showdown in front of one hundred undecided voters on Sky News Australia.

When asked after the debate, 44 per cent of the audience said Mr Albanese was the better candidate, while only 35 per cent were in favour of Mr Dutton. Another 21 per cent remained undecided.

Ahead of the debate on the night of April 8, the stakes were high for Australia’s centre-right opposition, which has had a mixed start to the campaign. Earlier this week, Mr Dutton made a rare policy backflip, abandoning a plan for a Trump-style crackdown on work-from-home provisions for government employees after it appeared to become politically damaging.

Australia is heading for an election on May 3, with cost-of-living issues and the first months of US President Donald Trump’s administration dominating the campaign. Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced on the night of April 8 that he would hold an emergency meeting with Reserve Bank Governor Michele Bullock and the heads of major banks.

Mr Albanese accused his opponent of cutting healthcare and education when he was last in government, while Mr Dutton said the Prime Minister had spent too heavily and left Australia unprepared for the current global economic headwinds.

Both leaders were allowed to ask the other one question, with Mr Albanese choosing to ask his opponent about how he would pay for his plans to create a publicly funded nuclear power industry in Australia over the coming decades.

Mr Dutton asked Mr Albanese whether his was the highest-spending government over the past four decades.