SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) - The two candidates for Australia's next prime minister were grilled on cost-of-living issues, corruption and rising inflation at a second leaders' debate less than two weeks from a national vote to be held on May 21.
During the debate, held in Sydney on Sunday night (May 8), the conversation often deteriorated into a yelling match between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese, with each accusing the other of being unsuitable to lead Australia after the election.
Mr Morrison was pressed on criticism over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
When quizzed by Mr Albanese on his comments in 2021 that the vaccination programme "was not a race," the prime minister said he was wrong to use those words.
"It was a race," Mr Morrison said on Sunday night. "And we shouldn't have described it in those terms."
Meanwhile, Mr Albanese faced questions over his party's previous support of a closer relationship with Beijing and a number of gaffes in the early weeks of his campaign.
Both leaders argued over who would be more likely to establish a national anti-corruption commission, with Mr Morrison claiming he had never seen corruption in his own party.
The centre-right Liberal National coalition is campaigning for a rare fourth term of office off the back of a strong economy and record-low unemployment.
But the government has struggled to make up ground against the Labor opposition, who have led in opinion surveys since the beginning of the campaign in April.
With a rising number of voters turning to minor parties, there is also a possibility that neither leader will win a majority of seats in the 151-seat Parliament, forcing Australia into a minority government.
New polling by Ipsos released shortly before the debate began showed the Labor opposition pulling further ahead of the Liberal National coalition, expanding their lead to 57 per cent ahead of the government's 43%.
Mr Albanese maintained his lead over Mr Morrison as the preferred prime minister in the Ipsos poll.
