Last night’s political debate saw plenty of “fair dinkum”, “moving forward” and “action plans”, but more points scoring than policy.
At the Business Spectator, Alan Kohler yawned at the “he said/she said” debate. Kohler carves it up as “She said her party saved us from the GFC; he said his did. Neither talked about budget projections, but they are the same.”
Annabel Crabb at ABC’s The Drum called it “a narrow win to the Opposition Leader, prevailing against low expectations”. Like Kohler she saw “no howlers” and only a “few zingers” such as “Tony Abbott’s signoff about Labor being a government of ‘record spending, record deficits, record boats and getting rid of a prime minister in record time’ was one that stung”.
The Australian stopped just short of calling it an Abbott victory believing he “put on a disciplined performance in last night’s leader’s debate, overcoming underdog status to come close to victory.”
Over at the Age, there’s the story of “style over substance” as Julia apparently arrived wearing the same jacket as Julie Bishop. Similarities run deeper than the same white jacket though as political writer Michelle Grattan concluded there was no clear winner. Grattan writes “They were too frightened of putting a foot wrong. Rehearsed to the hilt, they provided nothing new.”