Australian leaders clash in second election debate

Bloomberg

The two candidates for Australia’s next prime minister were grilled on cost-of-living issues, corruption and rising inflation at a second leaders’ debate less than two weeks from a national vote to be held on May 21.
During the debate, held in Sydney, the conversation often deteriorated into a yelling match between PM Scott Morrison and opposition Labor leader Anthony Albanese, with each accusing the other of being unsuitable to lead Australia after the election.
Morrison was pressed on criticism over his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. When quizzed by Albanese on his comments in 2021 that the vaccination program “was not a race,” the prime minister said he was wrong to use those words.
“It was a race,” Morrison said on Sunday night. “And we shouldn’t have described it in those terms.”
Meanwhile, Albanese faced questions over his party’s previous support of a closer relationship with Beijing and a number of gaffes in the early weeks of his campaign. Both leaders argued over who would be more likely to establish a national anti-corruption commission, with Morrison claiming he had never seen corruption in his own party.
The center-right Liberal National coalition is campaigning for a rare fourth term of office off the back of a strong economy and record-low unemployment.