Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton to go head-to-head in second leaders debate

A group of pro-Palestinian protesters have reportedly gathered outside of the ABC’s Parramatta studios, which is hosting tonight’s leaders debate.

The group are waving Palestinian flags and holding signs which say ‘Free Palestine’.

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will get another chance to make their pitches directly to voters tonight as they face-off for the second debate of the Federal election campaign.

The Prime Minister is flying at the halfway point of the campaign and was the victor of the first debate last week, held by Sky News in front of an audience of 100 undecided voters.

Asked if he felt confident going into the clash tonight – this time hosted by the ABC – he said: “You have to take any campaign day by day”.

Meanwhile, the Opposition Leader has struggled to find his footing and sell keynote policies.

Dutton handled himself well after news his father had suffered a heart attack hours before he was due to take the stage at the first debate. But tonight, he will be on the backfoot for different reasons.

Earlier this week he dodged questions about whether he would use his family wealth to help his children get into the property market.

Last week’s debate was the people’s choice, but tonight’s contest will follow a more traditional style. The leaders will present opening and closing remarks and be granted equal time to respond to questions.

It kicks off at 8pm AEST and will be held at the ABC’s Parramatta studios. Insiders host David Speers will moderate.

The Nightly’s Latika M Bourke writes:

Peter Dutton’s campaign has felt “over” several times already.

But on Wednesday, it felt like the trap the Opposition leader had been trying to set for the government on national security snared him and all but ended his tilt to live in Kirribilli House, barring a catastrophic error from Anthony Albanese.

Seventeen words did the deed.

“Did the Prime Minister know about this before it was publicly announced by the President of Indonesia?” Mr Dutton queried on Tuesday.

Read Latika’s full analysis here.

In a first for Australian politicians, a Greens MP has joined OnlyFans to spruik a new policy that would make a vital HIV-prevention medication free.

Queensland Greens MP Stephen Bates has joined the subscription-based platform to announce his party’s campaign to make PrEP and PEP medication free for anyone with a script.

PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) is a tablet that people can take to reliably prevent HIV and costs about $31 a month with a prescription.

Read the full story here, but I think the less said about this one the better.

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton will face off in their second of four leaders debate on Wednesday evening.

The leaders are expected to clash on the ABC from 8pm AEST in a live broadcast moderated by David Speers from the ABC’s Parramatta studio.

It comes after the pair went head-to-head in the Sky News-Daily Telegraph’s People’s Forum on Tuesday, April 8 in Western Sydney.

Unlike their previous clash, questions won’t be asked by undecided voters in the audience. Instead they will be directed and controlled by Speers.

Mr Albanese had been declared the winner of the last debate but it was much over muchness, with little blows delivered by either side.

This debate on the ABC comes after the parties have passed the halfway point of the election campaign.

They have been on the road for 20 days with just 17 to go before polling day on May 3.

The campaign is also expected to be low tempered across the next week as Australians switch off for the Easter holidays, followed by the Anzac day weekend.

Both leaders have used the past few days in the lead up to the debate to sell their headline housing policies which teach camp unveiled at their respective launches on Sunday.

After both visiting housing developments in Melbourne on Wednesday morning, Mr Albanese and Mr Dutton travelled to Sydney this afternoon to prepare for the debate.

Following the ABC’s debate, the leaders will duel again on April 22 and then the last debate before election day will be held by Channel 7 on April 27.

Mr Albanese is also expected to give a separate address at The West Australian’s Leadership Matters on April 24 at Crown Perth. It comes after Mr Dutton spoke at the same event on Friday, April 11.

Both housing frontbenchers tried to lay out their plans to tackle Australia’s housing crisis during the National Press Club housing debate.

However, the contest between Housing Minister Clare O’Neil and shadow Michael Sukkar was instead centred on credibility.

Did we actually learn anything new? Not really. Both Ms O’Neil and Mr Sukkar were strong on their own briefs, but spent most of the debate sledging each other rather than unpacking new policy detail.

Both sides are accusing the other of making up numbers – and neither really committed to publicly releasing the modelling behind their housing figures.

The most the audience got was Ms O’Neil saying: “we will release modelling as it ordinarily occurs”.

When then asked “In the election campaign?” by National Press Club president Tom Connell, she responded: “Not committing to that, sorry.”

Ms O’Neilgave a more passionate account of wanting to fix the housing crisis after leaning heavily on stories of real Australians struggling to enter the market.

Mr Sukkar framed the Coalition as the party of homeownership and cast doubt on Labor’s track record after three years of a deepening housing crisis.

A record he used to warn of more of the same if the Government is re-elected.

As the National Press Club housing debate drew to a close, both sides made their final pitch. Both parties said they’ll fix the housing crisis and accused the other of making it worse.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil used her one-minute closing argument to portray the Coalition’s housing plans as unserious and damaging.

She warned that under Peter Dutton, Australians could expect “more of the same” from a party that neglected housing for a decade.

“I think what you have heard from Michael today is that under a Peter Dutton government we will expect more of the same,” she said.

“They will make homes more expensive through the ridiculous housing policy.

“We offer an alternative, a government that is genuinely serious about taking a running crack at the underlying problems that have led us where we are today.

“We will build more homes, we will make sure renters get a better deal and make that hard work to get more young people around this country into home ownership.”

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar fired back, declaring this a “sliding door moment” for Australia, claiming the Coalition would give first home buyers the “firepower” they needed.

“The Labor Party is offering you three more years of the same,” he said.

“Their criticism of us is that our ambitions for homeownership are too high.

“Our first home buyer mortgage deductibility scheme is going to finally give first home buyers the firepower they need to purchase a home.

“We are going to… deliver more homes for those first-time buyers.”

At the heart of the National Press Club housing debate has been a political slugfest over numbers, with both frontbenchers accusing each other of being liars over housing figures.

Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has accused Coalition of inflating, twisting, or outright fabricating the figures underpinning their housing plans.

“This is a policy of weird things that were written on the back of a napkin,” she said in her closing address.

“The Coalition’s estimates are totally fanciful, absolutely ridiculous.

“If it was that easy to fix the problem we wouldn’t be in a crisis. We know that because this is something the Coalition tried last time they were in office,” she said.

But the gloves were also off for Shadow Minister Michael Sukkar who positioned Coalition as the party grounded in pragmatism while painting Labor as dangerously misleading.

He said opposition plans to unlock 500,000 homes with $5 billion in infrastructure funding was based on real consultations and line-by-line spreadsheets from councils and developers.

“We have literally met with hundreds of councils,” he said.

“Labor’s either discovered some building formula unknown to every other home builder in this country, or this is just another comical lie from the government.

“How on earth can any Australian believe you when you say… that you’re going to build 100,000 homes for first home-buyers, when you’ve failed to deliver on any of the promises you made at the start of this term?

“The numbers don’t stack up… and I think that you are treating voters like mugs.”

Towards the end of the housing debate held at the National Press Club, president and moderator Tom Connell has allowed the frontbenchers to ask each other one question.

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar challenged Clare O’Neil on Labor’s housing record, accusing the government of failing to deliver on its key housing promises.

Sukkar: “How on earth can any Australian believe you when you say, from here on - that you’re going to build 100,000 homes for first home-buyers, when you’ve failed to deliver on any of the promises you made at the start of this term?”

Ms O’Neil hit back, labelling Sukkar’s comments as misleading and highlighting the Coalition’s record of building, claiming they had just 373 social and affordable homes over nearly a decade. Mr Sukkar rejected her figures and accused her of misleading the public.

O’Neil: “My question is actually on social and affordable housing. I want to ask Michael, if he’s committing a future government to actually supporting the people who are most in need out of the community?”

Shadow Housing Minister Michael Sukkar was asked by a journalist a question about the specifics of Coalition housing policies and was challenged for not committing to a specific target for the Coalition’s housing plans.

Mr Sukkar responded by avoiding committing to a specific housing target, instead he described Coalition’s plans as more pragmatic and slammed Labor for pulling figures “out of thin air”.

“The numbers don’t stack up,” he said.

“I think that you are treating voters like mugs.

“We could easily pull any figure out, which I suspect is the 1.2 million figure that they’ve just pulled out of thin air.

“It’s not based on any recent research out of the industry - I can assure you.

“The Government were told that they were going to fall a couple of hundred thousand short. So what did they do?

“Instead of revising the target or coming clean with the Australian target and saying, look, we’ll try our best but we’re probably falling short, they’ve steadfastly stuck to the line that they’re going to deliver 1.2 million homes. They’re delivering less homes.”