Australian PM Albanese named winner of final election debate

Incumbent Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been declared the winner of the fourth and final debate against opposition leader Peter Dutton ahead of Saturday's general election.

Following Sunday night's debate, 50 percent of an audience of undecided voters chose Albanese as the winner compared to 25 percent for Dutton, with another 25 percent undecided.

Asked how PM candidates performed on a series of key issues, more undecided voters said that Albanese won on the cost of living, housing and tax cuts, while more chose Dutton as the winner on defense and Indigenous affairs.

It marks Albanese's second leaders' debate victory during the campaign for the May 3 election. Dutton was declared the winner of the third debate, and no official winner was named in the second.

During a debate that focused almost entirely on domestic affairs, the leaders clashed several times on economic issues, with Dutton telling Albanese that he should be "ashamed" of how inflation has grown under his Labor Party government.

Australia's headline rate of inflation hit a 32-year high of 7.8 percent in the 12 months to the end of December 2022 but has steadily fallen to 2.4 percent in the year to February 2025, with data for March to be released on Wednesday.

"You have created an economic mess in our country," Dutton, leader of the conservative Coalition, said on Sunday night.

In response, Albanese pointed to the budget surpluses delivered by Labor in the financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24, which were Australia's first consecutive surpluses since 2008.

Earlier on Sunday, both leaders addressed supporters at party rallies.

Speaking at an event in western Sydney, Albanese announced that a re-elected Labor government would spend 204.5 million Australian dollars (130.9 million U.S. dollars) over four years to deliver telephone access to free round-the-clock health advice for all Australians.

Under the proposal, callers to the telehealth service will be connected to a registered nurse who will either provide advice or refer them to another service, including free phone consultations with doctors.

Albanese said that the system would prevent an estimated 250,000 people from making unnecessary visits to hospital emergency departments each year, relieving pressure on the health system.

Labor has based much of its re-election campaign on healthcare policy, which is considered a traditional point of strength for the party.

Prior to calling the election in late March, Albanese in late February promised an 8.5 billion Australian dollar (5.4 billion U.S. dollar) funding boost for Medicare -- Australia's publicly funded universal health care system -- under a second-term Labor government.

Dutton in February pledged to match the Medicare funding boost "dollar for dollar," and the Coalition on Sunday said it would also match the telehealth commitment.

The Australian Associated Press on Saturday published new polling undertaken by the Australian branch of UK-based firm YouGov, which found that 62 percent of Australians could not think of one election policy from any candidate that they believe would improve their life.

Among the 38 percent of respondents who could name a life-improving election policy, improvement to Medicare was the most common answer.

While the official election date is May 3, early voting centers across the country have been open since Tuesday.

According to the Australian Electoral Commission, approximately 2.9 million people had voted early, either in person or by post as of Saturday, representing over 16 percent of the 18 million registered voters and an increase of 400,000 pre-poll votes compared to the same point in 2022.