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Toi Staff
Tarik Cyril Amar
Andrew Mitrovica
Gideon Levy
Penny S. Tee
Sharona Margolin Halickman
John Nosta
Rachel Marsden
Andrew Silow-Carroll
From Trump’s phone number to the price of eggs, our experts give their verdicts on the final debate
Both leaders lost a key point of the final debate of the federal election when a simple question produced two unbelievable answers.
The host of the Seven Network debate, Mark Riley, asked Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton if they could trust US President Donald Trump.
The prime minister hedged at first, and the opposition leader was more direct, but both conveyed an astonishing confidence in the White House. “I start, I think, with people on 100 per cent trust,” said Albanese. Pressed by Riley on whether Australia could trust Trump to “have our back” on security, the prime minister then said: “Yes.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton in a brief moment of good cheer ahead of a negative final debate.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
When the time came for Dutton to respond, he was even more sweeping: “We can trust whoever’s in the Oval Office.”
Few Australians would have given the two leaders any credit for this. The Resolve Political Monitor found this month that 68 per cent of voters believe Trump’s election has been bad for Australia. No sign of trust there.
Americans are sceptical, as well. A New York Times survey in the past few days found that 66 per cent of US voters see the Trump administration as chaotic. Those Americans do not seem to trust whoever is in the Oval Office.
The exchange on Sunday night went to the heart of the flaws in the debate: the move to skate over the bigger issues – like national security or economic growth – and to revert to talking points. At its worst, the debate was a wall of noise as Albanese and Dutton talked over each other.
They even engaged in a meaningless exchange about who might have Trump’s mobile phone number. Neither leader tried to take a deep breath, slow the pace and give a thoughtful answer that departed from their daily lines. Dutton was provocative on the Welcome to Country issue, saying he thought they were overdone.
Albanese played it safe in his response. Any voter who dislikes the Indigenous Welcome would know to vote for........
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