Sky News debate audience verdict: Albanese 44, Dutton 35 (open thread)

A hand-picked audience leans slightly toward Anthony Albanese in a leaders’ debate that likely did neither leader harm nor good.

Last night’s Sky News People’s Forum, which can be viewed in full here, was deemed by 44 out of a hand-picked audience of 100 undecided voters to have been won by Anthony Albanese, with 35 favouring Peter Dutton and 21 undecided. I suspect though that to the extent that the broader public notices the low-rating event at all, what’s most likely to filter through is that Peter Dutton performed creditably immediately after learning that his father had suffered a heart attack. The event was conducted at Wentworthville Leagues Club in the electorate of Parramatta, a culturally diverse electorate notable particularly for its Indian population, which seemed suitably well represented.

The next debate, to be held from 8pm next Wednesday, will assuredly reach a larger audience by virtue of being broadcast free-to-air by the ABC. It too will be held in Parramatta, that being the location of the ABC’s new studios, though that’s of no great consequence as it will not follow the town hall format of the “People’s Forum”. Whether any further debates are held later in the game remains to be determined.

Author: William Bowe

William Bowe is a Perth-based election analyst and occasional teacher of political science. His blog, The Poll Bludger, has existed in one form or another since 2004, and is one of the most heavily trafficked websites on Australian politics.

727 comments on “Sky News debate audience verdict: Albanese 44, Dutton 35 (open thread)”

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  1. Nick McKim is the Greens’ “Economic Justice and Treasury” spokesperson.
    Barbara Pocock is the Finance spokesperson.
    Source: Wikipedia

  2. citizen @ #544 Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 – 8:17 pm

    Scotch College brings Disneyland to Sydney with its new castle. How much of your taxes went directly or indirectly towards its construction?

    Parents furious as Scots sends a bill to attend opening of $60m ‘castle’
    Eastern suburbs private school Scots College will this week unveil the faux baronial castle after years of delay and budget blowouts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/inside-this-sydney-private-school-s-60-million-castle-20250409-p5lqgw.html

    WTF, did they recruit Dumbledore as the new headmaster?

  3. BK

    Angus is making up numbers – Greenwood and Clennel not much better.

    And every single Vox pop is anti Labor.

    Jimmy is smiling however

  4. Holdenhillbilly @ #549 Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 – 8:19 pm

    Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is in danger of losing his western Sydney seat of McMahon to local tech millionaire Matt Camenzuli, according to independent polling showing ­power bills a top concern.
    Mr Bowen holds the seat, which has always been in ALP hands, with a margin of about 10 per cent after an electoral redistribution, but Compass polling taken last weekend shows him on just 19 per cent support, well ­behind independent candidate Mr Camenzuli on 41 per cent.
    Not only does the polling show Mr Bowen behind the local businessman, but also just below the Liberal support of 20 per cent.
    The distribution of Liberal preferences could decide the outcome on election night.
    https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/election-2025-shock-polling-has-energy-minister-chris-bowen-at-risk-in-mcmahon/news-story/3b7f3e0b1c03fe5db90809f339d1bcbd?amp

    Typical of the state of journalism at The Australian, failing to declare that 100% of polling samples was taken straight from Matt Camenzuli’s arse.

  5. Dr Fumbles McStupid re: Walthers

    Agree Trump’s trade war is going to severely hurt the hobby industries in the USA. Most things in U.S. model railroading other than laser-cut kits are manufactured in China. Microtrains in Oregon is one of the few exceptions. I imagine it is the same for many similar hobbies.

    These things are not going to be replaced by robotics anytime soon.

  6. citizen @ #546 Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 – 8:17 pm

    Scotch College brings Disneyland to Sydney with its new castle. How much of your taxes went directly or indirectly towards its construction?

    Parents furious as Scots sends a bill to attend opening of $60m ‘castle’
    Eastern suburbs private school Scots College will this week unveil the faux baronial castle after years of delay and budget blowouts.
    https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/inside-this-sydney-private-school-s-60-million-castle-20250409-p5lqgw.html

    It’s to accommodate their new Magic class, where they learn the spell “Expecto Makemerich.”

  7. Keep saying this federal Lib/nats propaganda media units is predictable as sun coming up in the day

    as predicted months and months ago

    When the federal election is over for the lib/nats, the lib/nats propaganda media units will do a propaganda poll aka Daniel Andrews will lose his seat, on a Labor minister

  8. Looking at the response to the leaders debate last night and the debacle of tonight’s “ debate” it would seem the Murdoch orchs are a tad twitchy. They did not even pretend tonight.

    Add in the “ exclusive polling “ in The Australian of Chris Bowens seat and one could take the position that all is not well in the coalition HQ.

    What a complete lot of bullshit tonight. Alas, my own fault for even watching.

    Cheers and good night to all.

  9. Nath as a hollow as a delicately crafted wind blown glass ornate but not nearly as practical and much less expensive.

  10. Let’s get real.

    Dutton won the debate last night, and Angus Taylor easily won tonight by exposing Chalmers’ fear rhetoric lies.

    It’s all irrelevant. The debate that counts will be next Wednesday night.

  11. I thought greenwood was fairly even handed, apart from insisting that Chalmers apologise which was a bit over the top. But then again he did call Taylor a liar but I think let him off on how the nuclear bullshit is going to be paid for.

  12. Centre that’s not what the Sky News audience said Anthony Albanese won the debate anyway what about your betting tips on who’s gonna win the election you feel still think it’s coalition because I haven’t seen you around for the bet but hey your buddy Trump we’ve done a real good job on the economy crashing it he done a real good job in crashing it

  13. The Coaltion keep making policy changes and backflips,how on earth can you believe them on anything, two weeks ago they believed in this and two weeks later it is something else.. Fair dinkum what do they believe in?
    And then it is their candidates telling lies, i am a renter so i care about you strugglers, only to find out she has two apartments. Others think marxists are taking over and women are not welcome in the miltary..
    Their gas policy is shambolic, uses a economic consultancy group to make something up, their overall energy policy is chaos, fancy putting a cap on renewables, how will that work?
    And all they can offer is cheap fuel for a year helping the big oil companies..
    And yet we still do not know how they are going to pay for missing 7 billion in public service cuts now shelved? Their a car without an engine, stalled at the starting line.

  14. For Paul A

    6 month free Binge, expiring on 9/5/2025 when $19 per month starts – if I dont cancel before then.

    Rupert is ripping you off with your $42 per month for PoxTel.

    Hi Sprocket_
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  15. Quentin R

    There has been a shift in sentiment towards the Socialist Red Labor Party as I have expressed in my latest betting market analysis last Sunday.

    Hopefully, there is still more to play out before this election is out.

  16. citizen says:
    Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 8:17 pm

    Scotch collage.. says everything about tasteless, talentless, botox injected & overpaid Eastern suburbs parents that sit on the Scotch Collage Board

  17. nath you need to be compos mentis at a bare minimum to tangle with LB in a good old fashioned game of ‘you remind me of’.

  18. I refuse to get Foxtel and missed tonight’s debate. Thanks for the commentary.

    From the PB reporting it sounded like a Lions game versus Collingwood at the MCG. Jim Chalmers had to take on his opponent, the referee and the audience panel, all madly barracking for their boy Angus.

    I’m not sure what this achieves? A battle of facts versus fiction with nobody calling out the fiction.

    Meanwhile Trump’s trade tariffs have come into effect and the trade war is under way.

  19. Greg Jericho, AI

    “Poverty…anyone…anyone?

    Oddly both Taylor and Chalmers as they talk about people doing it tough are not mentioning anything about those living on Jobseeker – those who live around 38% below poverty.

    And talk of increasing that? Nope. None. Even though as we saw during the pandemic, raising Jobseeker took people out of poverty.

    Amazing how both the ALP and LNP forget the obvious and forget history.”

    https://live.australiainstitute.org.au/2025/04/australia-institute-live-day-12-of-the-2025-election-campaign/page/2/#be1e8e73a5

  20. I have always held the view that climate change is exaggerated for political and ideological reasons.

    Give it a rest you eggheaded dropkick. You are lucky I replied, I won’t bother next time.

  21. I think 2 hours till NYSE opens, it’s 1% down,5day average is 10% ie 2% per day .. this after 84% top up on China tariff rate.. I call it fake news (prediction) … Would say today’s fall will be around 4%

  22. leftieBrawler says:
    Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 8:30 pm
    Where is Dave byrne when you need him ‘burning down the house’

    _________

    Posted earlier. Briefly was the muse 😉

  23. Donald Trump’s tariffs have triggered a “fire sale” in bond markets in one of the clearest signs yet that US assets are losing their status as a safe haven for investors.
    US government bonds, which are traditionally considered a place for investors to put their money in times of turmoil, faced a sell-off on Wednesday despite the deepening losses on global stock markets.
    The move will pile pressure on President Trump, who has made it one of his key priorities to lower yields on bond markets – a benchmark for government borrowing costs.
    Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, said in February that the president “wants lower rates”, adding “he and I are focused on the 10-year Treasury and what is the yield of that”.
    Calvin Yeoh, a portfolio manager at hedge fund Blue Edge Advisors, said: “This is a fire sale of Treasuries.“I haven’t seen moves or volatility of this size since the chaos of the pandemic in 2020.”
    The 10-year US bond yield – a benchmark for federal government borrowing costs – has surged 41 basis points this week, with the rises impacting the cost of servicing national debt around the world.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/09/trump-tariffs-trigger-alarming-bond-market-fire-sale/

  24. Centre the labour socialist mate the center that’s probably why they’re winning the the polling I kept telling you betting’s not a good way to predict who would win and that the liberals weren’t in they even a good position to even win unless labour f****** spectacularly well looks like they get at home

  25. Observation from the LGM blog.

    https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/04/hooked-on-a-feeling

    The outcome of yesterday’s meeting between Trump and Netanyahu is probably the worst economic news so far.

    1. Prior to the effective date of The Tariffs*, Israel offered the US across-the-board zero tariff rates. (Now, Israel’s average effective tariff rate on US exports is in the 1-2% range, but that’s neither here nor there.) Trump refused and imposed tariffs on Israel on schedule.

    2. Immediately after the imposition of The Tariffs, Netanyahu requested an immediate personal meeting with Donald Trump. His request was granted. Now, this is the stuff Trump loves. A world leader “begging” for a meeting! A chance to have a “negotiation!” Face-to-face! Two men in a room! The White House scheduled a press conference following the meeting, presumably expecting to have something Very Beautiful to announce.

    3. The meeting happened.

    4. The White House cancelled the press conference, opting instead for a brief joint appearance from the Oval.

    5. The only “agreement” announced was Netanyahu “agreeing” to do something about Israel’s trade surplus with the United States. The tariffs remain in place. (Also, Iran bad.)

    My — speculative — interpretation of this sequence of events is that (a) Netanyahu did everything right — i.e., did everything he possibly could to flatter and mollify Trump, and (b) it wasn’t enough, because Trump is serious about this trade deficit crap.

    The fact that Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t find a way to get Trump to budge on this seems, to me, to be incontrovertible evidence that Trump is all-in on his insane trade war. It’s not a con; it’s a genuine obsession. Which is disastrous news.

    * I suspect that we’re going to wind up capitalizing The Tariffs, a bit like The Troubles.

  26. Centre says:
    Wednesday, April 9, 2025 at 8:45 pm
    Quentin R

    There has been a shift in sentiment towards the Socialist Red Labor Party as I have expressed in my latest betting market analysis last Sunday.

    Hopefully, there is still more to play out before this election is out.

    _________

    At first blush I say no. Minority Labor will do nicely. But with the lack of redeeming features to date from the Opposition, I think I now prefer to risk a Labor majority just to be sure.

    So I agree, let’s keeping playing this out 😉

  27. I don’t think last night’s debate had the reach to make a difference. If I recall correctly, Shorten beat Morrison in a similar debate.

    As for tonight’s debate, it will be forgotten by the morning. Next Wednesday night could prove of significance.

  28. Train wreck of a performance from Snake tonight. $1.23 trillion debt, bequeathed to future generations.

    Onto the seat of MacMahon.
    Some guy – Matt Camenzoli – polling 41%, Libs at 20% and Blackout Bowen at 19%.

    Go Matt Camenzoli, whoever you are. Better than the worst politician in Parliament – Bowen.

    And more important things – Centre whilst you’re around tonight.
    Easter Saturday. Chooks v Panthers? Your thoughts?

  29. The price of Brent crude oil fell below $60 a barrel on Wednesday for the first time since February 2021 as Donald Trump’s aggressive tariffs on China went into effect, raising fears about demand in the world’s second-largest oil consumer.

  30. Australian election 2025
    ‘Congratulations Peter Dutton’: LNP incorrectly declares leader election debate winner before audience votes for Anthony Albanese

    https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/09/election-leaders-debate-winner-albanese-social-media-posts-congratulate-peter-dutton

    “Official social media accounts for the Coalition declared Peter Dutton the winner of Tuesday night’s leaders’ debate, despite Anthony Albanese winning the support of more undecided voters on the Sky News panel.

    Albanese won 44 votes out of 100 at the Wentworthville leagues club in western Sydney, Dutton won 35 and 21 people remained undecided. Neither leader made a major misstep in the Sky News forum and many political commentators described the face-off as a spirited draw.

    But multiple social media accounts for the Liberal National party and the Nationals proclaimed Dutton had won the debate, well before the official results were declared by Sky.

    The debate finished at 8.30pm on Wednesday – the same time the Coalition released the long-awaited modelling on its gas plan, which Dutton had until then declined to discuss in detail. Just three minutes later at 8.33pm, about 40 minutes before Sky announced the official results of the debate, the LNP posted to its Facebook account “congratulations Peter Dutton”, with a photo of Dutton below with the words “Sky News debate WINNER!”

    The LNP – a distinct entity which operates in conjunction with, but separately from, the Liberals and the Nationals – exists in Queensland, Dutton’s home state.

    The LNP published the same “WINNER” post and graphic to its X account and also on Instagram.

    The National party of Australia, the junior Coalition partner, also posted on its Facebook that Dutton was the “winner of the debate”.

    It confused many.

    “How was the victory decided? I thought more of the audience picked Albo at the end?” one person on Instagram commented.

    “This post was made before any media outlet reported a Dutton victory,” said another.

    No wonder LNP supporters on PB are saying that Dutton has won last night’s debate.

  31. Xi will not come to the White House on his hands and knees to ‘negotiate’ with Trump about his poxy tariffs. You can take that to the bank.

  32. Man maybe if the coalition didn’t an suck Trump off that probably have a better chance now well do they realize that 60% of the country hate him hell probably more going to hate him

  33. Now we will see how Trump reacts to this new tariff.
    Trump raises to 54% last week.
    China hits US goods with 34% on Sunday.
    Trump adds 50%
    China adds 50%
    Balls now back in the orange one’s court.

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