Canberra, April 8 Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been voted the winner of the first Leaders' debate of the general election campaign.
At the end of the debate on Tuesday night, 44 per cent of the undecided voters in attendance chose Albanese as the winner compared to 35 per cent for opposition leader Peter Dutton, with 21 per cent undecided.
The debate in western Sydney was the first between Albanese and Dutton, the respective leaders of the governing Labor Party and opposition Coalition, ahead of the general election on May 3.
In their opening remarks, Albanese declared that "now is the time" to look forward and build Australia's future while Dutton promised that a Coalition government would get the country "back on track".
Following their opening remarks, the candidates for Prime Minister faced questions from the crowd of undecided voters for about 90 minutes. The first question of the night asked how each leader would deal with the US administration of President Donald Trump.
Albanese reiterated previous comments that the United States had committed an "act of economic self-harm" through sweeping new tariffs.
Dutton, who has been critical of the government's failure to negotiate an exemption from the tariffs, said that the Prime Minister should "stand up" against bullies and countries that would seek to do Australia harm.
The Coalition on Monday abandoned its plan to end flexible working arrangements, including work-from-home policies, for federal public servants and to reduce government spending by cutting 41,000 federal public service jobs.
Albanese used the major policy shift in his closing remarks on Tuesday to ask how voters can "believe" what the Coalition would do after the election.
"I know that in this uncertain time with what's going on in the world, now's not the time to make cuts," he said.
In his own closing remarks, Dutton said that a Coalition government would "fix the economy" and more effectively deal with the cost-of-living crisis, Xinhua news agency reported.
"A Coalition government will always be a better economic manager," he said.
Tuesday marked two weeks until early voting in the election opens on April 22.
Early voting centres around the country will allow millions of Australians to cast their ballots before election day, although early votes will not be counted until polls close on May 3.
Voting in the election is mandatory for all citizens aged 18 and over who have enrolled with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), a process that occurs automatically for most of the population.
According to the AEC, the enrolment rate of eligible Australians for the upcoming election will be a record-high of over 98 per cent.
More than 17.2 million people voted in the last election in 2022, with voter turnout at 89.8 per cent. Enrolled voters who fail to cast a ballot face small fines.
Albanese and Dutton are set to face off in a second leaders' debate on April 16.
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