The Australian federal election debates of 2016 consisted of a series of leaders' debates between the leaders of the two main parties contesting the

2016 Australian federal election The 2016 Australian federal election was a double dissolution election held on Saturday 2 July to elect all 226 members of the 45th Parliament of Australia, 45th Parliament of Australia, after an extended eight-week official campaign period. It ...

: Malcolm Turnbull, Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party; and Bill Shorten,

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

and Labor Party. Other debates, between portfolio spokespeople for example, were also held.

Background

On 8 May Turnbull attended Government House to advise Peter Cosgrove, the

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, to issue the writs for a

double dissolution A double dissolution is a procedure permitted under the Australian Constitution to resolve deadlocks in the bicameral Parliament of Australia between the House of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). A double dissolution ...

. At his press conference, Turnbull said "we haven’t discussed debates but I look forward to having a number of them". The following day Shorten said "I’ll debate Malcolm Turnbull anywhere, anytime". Richard Di Natale, leader of the

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

, has called to be included in the leaders' debate.

Leaders' debates

13 May – ''Sky News Daily Telegraph People's Forum''

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

had planned a debate in Brisbane for Thursday 12 May. Shorten agreed but Turnbull did not and so the debate did not occur. Shorten had tried to hold a debate in Townsville. The ''Sky News Daily Telegraph People's Forum'', the first leaders' debate, took place at 7:00pm

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on Friday, 13 May in the RSL club in Windsor, New South Wales. It was organised by

and '' The Daily Telegraph'' and broadcast on Sky News. David Speers moderated the debate. The audience was made up of 100

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selected by polling company

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. The leaders open the programme with a statement, and close with a speech, with the unscripted questions asked in between. Shorten won the audience vote by 42 votes to 29, with 29 undecided. '' The Sydney Morning Herald'', '' The Courier-Mail'' and '' The Australian Financial Review'' have criticized the debate being held on a Friday night, which generally has low television viewership. It drew an average of 54,200 viewers, making it the thirteenth most watched pay television program of the night. Sixty people protested against the proposed Western Sydney Airport outside the venue.

29 May – ''ABC News 24 leader's debate''

The first official leader's debate between Shorten and Turnbull took place on the 29 May at the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

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. The debate, organised by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, was moderated by ABC political journalist Chris Uhlmann and the panel consisted of three journalists from

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, and

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8 June – ''Sky News Daily Telegraph People's Forum''

The second ''Sky News Daily Telegraph People's Forum'' took place on Wednesday, 9 June in the Brisbane Broncos sports club in Red Hill, Queensland. It was organised by Sky News and The Daily Telegraph and broadcast on Sky News. David Speers moderated the debate. The audience was made up of 100 undecided voters. Shorten attended but Turnbull declined and instead appeared on ''

7.30 ''7.30'' is an Australian nightly television current affairs program which broadcasts on ABC and ABC News at on Monday to Thursday nights. The program is currently hosted by Sarah Ferguson. History The program first aired on 7 March 2011, re ...

''.

17 June

A third federal election debate took place on Friday, 17 June 2016. The debate was hosted jointly by News.com.au and Facebook, and was the first to be predominately broadcast using Facebook's video livestream feature.

Other debates

18 May – ''National Press Club Environment Debate''

On 18 May, Greg Hunt,

Minister for the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of an ...

debated Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for the Environment at the

. It was broadcast on ABC News 24.

25 May – ''ABC Regional Leaders Debate''

On 13 May, Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs and member of the Labor Party, called to debate

Barnaby Joyce Barnaby Thomas Gerard Joyce (born 17 April 1967) is an Australian politician who served as the 17th deputy prime minister of Australia under Malcolm Turnbull from 2016 to 2018 and under Scott Morrison from 2021 to 2022. He was the leader of the ...

, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources and leader of the National Party. Fitzgibbon, Joyce and Di Natale debated in the ''ABC Regional Leaders Debate'' which took place from 7:30pm

on Wednesday, 25 May at Goulburn High School in Goulburn, New South Wales. It was broadcast on ABC News 24 and ABC NewsRadio and moderated by Chris Uhlmann.

16 June – ''National Press Club Defence Policy Debate''

On 16 June,

Marise Payne Marise Ann Payne (born 29 July 1964) is an Australian politician who served in the Morrison Government as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2022 and as Minister for Women from 2019 to 2022. She has been a Senator for New South Wales sin ...

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

and Stephen Conroy, Shadow Minister, debated Defence policy at the National Press Club. It was broadcast on ABC News 24 and was moderated by Sabra Lane.

References

External links

''Sky News Daily Telegraph People's Forum''
on

''National Press Club Environment Debate''
on ABC iview
''ABC Regional Leaders Debate''
on ABC iview
''ABC Regional Leaders Debate''
on YouTube {{2016 Australian federal election Debates and forums Australian federal election debates and forums, 2016 Federal election debates and forums Federal election debates and forums Election campaigns in Australia