Peter Dutton and the Prime Minister go head-to-head in leaders debate tonight

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Opposition leader has again found himself on the back foot but he's attempting to stay on message on the topic of housing where he appears to be on more comfortable ground.

Transcript

00:00All roads lead to Parramatta tonight and Peter Dutton is back in the city where his week began

00:07with a campaign launch. It was a chance to reset the narrative after two difficult opening

00:12weeks for the opposition leader and there were two new policy ideas. A temporary income

00:16tax offset and a permanent tax deduction for first home buyers on their mortgage interest

00:22payments if they buy new homes. It was that second idea which captured much attention

00:26in the beginning of the week and even as economists criticised the policy just as they did Labor's

00:31plan over the prospect that it might increase house prices it appeared to be territory that

00:35Peter Dutton was comfortable talking about. Trips to Melbourne and Brisbane were dominated

00:39by visits to new housing developments on the outskirts of town and in the middle suburbs

00:44as Peter Dutton sold the Australian dream to young first home buyers while at the same time

00:49keeping one eye on those who already own their homes. He was happy to reassure them that he

00:54wanted house prices to rise steadily so that they could regard their home as an asset for

00:59their retirement. But just as happened in the first and second week external events derailed

01:03the opposition leader. In the first week it was Donald Trump, in the second week it was

01:07his own backflip on work from home. In the third week it may prove to be Indonesia and Russia.

01:12A report that Russia had requested to station a military aircraft in Indonesia which was later

01:17denied by the Indonesian government created trouble for Peter Dutton because of his immediate

01:21instincts to blame the government. Suggesting they should have seen it coming.

01:25It's obvious that Indonesia, well as a matter of fact that Indonesia has joined with Russia

01:30and with Brazil and with other countries including China. They are closer together now. We don't

01:36know from the government exactly what happened because the government doesn't know. The government

01:42has reacted as the Prime Minister did as I did yesterday to the media reports, very credible

01:46media reports. And the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister

01:52found out about this from media reports.

01:55And while Peter Dutton was defiant about that today, the issue is sure to be one of many

01:59to feature in tonight's debate. Coming at the halfway point in the campaign, it's a chance

02:03to take stock and to look forward. The Easter weekend is looming and on the other side Australians

02:08will begin to cast their votes. With early voting more important than ever, the window is closing

02:13for politicians to sell their message to the Australian public. And with the opinion poll

02:17suggesting that Mr Dutton trails and the composition of the House of Representatives suggesting that

02:21he has the most ground to make up, it is him who is under the most pressure heading into tonight's debate.

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