It was far from a groundbreaking affair, when Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese took to the stage in front of a packed audience of allegedly undecided Queensland voters last night.
Facilitated and aired by Sky News, the pair were asked about core policy areas impacting everyday Australians including, aged care, the NDIS, foreign security, jobs and small business support.
Those watching might have crowned Albanese a marginal winner by sheer virtue of the fact he didn’t dish up another doozy of a gaffe. But he also refrained from dishing up any major blows. And when Morrison’s track record lends so many opportunities to do this, it made for disappointing viewing.
Sky Commentators naturally determined that the biggest blunder of the night came when Morrison goaded his opponent about Operation Sovereign Borders, pointing the finger at Labor’s failure to support boat turn backs in 2013 when Albanese was then deputy leader.
“Why did you not support turnbacks?” Morrison asked.
“I was on the national security committee. We had established offshore processing … in 2013 when I became deputy prime minister. That was the first step. That was the first step,” Albanese responded.
Morrison then pressed Albanese whether that meant Labor was planning to turn back asylum seeker boats nine years ago, to which the opposition leader replied: “No. No, that’s right.”
The awkward exchange was closed when Albanese challenged the PM:
“Why is it Scott, that you’re always looking for a division, not looking for the truth? The truth is we supported boat turnbacks,” he said.
It wasn’t a major moment, but the incident made Albanese look flappable when it should have been his opportunity to highlight a fatal flaw in Morrison’s leadership and character which has long exasperated the Australian electorate.
What Albanese should have said was that good leaders have the capacity for self reflection. As humans we don’t get every decision right, but those of us who possess true leadership gumption are able to learn, re-assess and do things better the next time round.
Given self reflection and empathy are the two traits Morrison has become best known not to possess, this retort would have resonated widely with viewers.
And it wasn’t just this moment that Albo could have capitalised on where it came to the PM’s empathy deficit. Following a question from the mother of a 4yo boy with autism who’s horrifically faced funding cuts from the NDIS, and therefore wanted to know what the future of the scheme was, Morrison responded with these cringeworthy remarks:
“Jenny and I have been blessed. We’ve got two children who haven’t had to go through that. So parents of children who were disabled – I can only try and understand your aspirations for those children.”
The inference in the PM’s words rang clear for many outraged Australians who took to social media: Children with disability are a burden not a blessing.
Former Australian of the year, Grace Tame came in with the killer blow we all sorely craved when she noted “Autism blesses those of us who have it with the ability to spot fakes from a mile off”. The post was accompanied by the now iconic side-eye photo of her standing next to the PM.
Ultimately, it wasn’t a memorable night. The opposition lacked hutzpah, the Prime Minister (again) demonstrated his notable absence of empathy. Australians will be left with the question: ‘What’s worse?’