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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/may/13/leaders-debate-turnbull-and-shorten-in-first-peoples-forum-of-election-campaign-live
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| Leaders' debate: Turnbull and Shorten in first people's forum of election campaign – live | Leaders' debate: Turnbull and Shorten in first people's forum of election campaign – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| 9.39am BST | |
| 09:39 | |
| No stamina. | |
| @btckr @murpharoo "A rip roaring Friday night" I know rip roaring friday nights, and I can tell you, this is not one of them. | |
| Certainly sounds like a rip roaring Friday night at the Windsor RSL. | |
| 9.28am BST | |
| 09:28 | |
| Good evening to Magic Mike Bowers. We are definitely in second Sydney airport territory. | |
| 9.25am BST | |
| 09:25 | |
| 9.20am BST | |
| 09:20 | |
| Malcolm Turnbull is in the house in Windsor. | |
| 9.17am BST | |
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| These town hall events are an interesting mix always of the bleeding obvious and the totally random. The questions people ask will give us all a good guide about whether the key campaign themes being pursued by the major parties are registering at the end of week one. | |
| They are also a good reality check in the sense that people always ask questions about issues the leaders don’t expect. | |
| Speaking of the end of week one, we have this evening launched our campaign podcast, Australian Politics Live. My colleague Lenore Taylor and I will produce an episode a week for the duration of the campaign. Our aim is to have a conversation about the contest and about our various projects and about the issues we find interesting – and then, time permitting, have some guests join us to provide their perspectives. | |
| Our guests in episode one are the campaign spokespeople, the Coalition’s Mathias Cormann and Labor’s Penny Wong. We don’t want these conversations to be a recitation of talking points, we want to try and go behind the scenes to bring you a perspective you might not get if you just consume the intra-day circus. Where else could you learn, for example, that Penny Wong gets hangry. | |
| Related: Australian politics live podcast, with Lenore Taylor and Katharine Murphy | |
| Have a listen. If you like it, subscribe – and let us know what you think. | |
| 9.00am BST | 9.00am BST |
| 09:00 | 09:00 |
| Sky tells me that the Labor leader Bill Shorten has arrived at the Windsor RSL. Fair contingent of protestors out there now. | Sky tells me that the Labor leader Bill Shorten has arrived at the Windsor RSL. Fair contingent of protestors out there now. |
| 8.58am BST | 8.58am BST |
| 08:58 | 08:58 |
| Local Labor members gathering outside #leadersdebate at Windsor RSL (raffle tickets go on sale at 5pm) #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/pYdiIreZww | Local Labor members gathering outside #leadersdebate at Windsor RSL (raffle tickets go on sale at 5pm) #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/pYdiIreZww |
| 8.48am BST | 8.48am BST |
| 08:48 | 08:48 |
| Hello good people of live blogs | Hello good people of live blogs |
| Good evening everyone and welcome to our live coverage of the first leader’s debate of the 2016 federal election campaign. Where else would you rather be on a Friday night? Certainly not watching the first semi-final of Eurovision. | Good evening everyone and welcome to our live coverage of the first leader’s debate of the 2016 federal election campaign. Where else would you rather be on a Friday night? Certainly not watching the first semi-final of Eurovision. |
| Oh no sir, certainly not. You’d be clamouring for politics, in Sydney’s west. So here we all are, delighted with our bounty. Order in pizza, crack open a bottle of pinot, slip your ugh boots on, and get ready for a big night of #ausvotes. Oh, that’s just me? Never mind. Given it’s never a good idea to drink alone I’ll do us all a favour and keep the pinot on hold until stumps. | Oh no sir, certainly not. You’d be clamouring for politics, in Sydney’s west. So here we all are, delighted with our bounty. Order in pizza, crack open a bottle of pinot, slip your ugh boots on, and get ready for a big night of #ausvotes. Oh, that’s just me? Never mind. Given it’s never a good idea to drink alone I’ll do us all a favour and keep the pinot on hold until stumps. |
| As I mentioned in the opening greeting, tonight is the first head-to-head between Turnbull and Shorten. Unlike a lot of political journalists, and some members of the public, I absolutely refuse to be bored by this campaign. Despite my mildly regretful monologue about opportunity cost at the opening of proceedings, I’m very interested to see how Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten perform at tonight’s event. This forum is hosted by Sky News and takes place in front of one hundred undecided voters in western Sydney. The town hall is being held in the Windsor RSL in the electorate of Macquarie, currently held by the Coalition. The local MP Louise Markus has represented the electorate since 2010. | As I mentioned in the opening greeting, tonight is the first head-to-head between Turnbull and Shorten. Unlike a lot of political journalists, and some members of the public, I absolutely refuse to be bored by this campaign. Despite my mildly regretful monologue about opportunity cost at the opening of proceedings, I’m very interested to see how Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten perform at tonight’s event. This forum is hosted by Sky News and takes place in front of one hundred undecided voters in western Sydney. The town hall is being held in the Windsor RSL in the electorate of Macquarie, currently held by the Coalition. The local MP Louise Markus has represented the electorate since 2010. |
| At the Windsor RSL for tonight's People's Forum in Western Sydney #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/TH2wrT3w9I | At the Windsor RSL for tonight's People's Forum in Western Sydney #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/TH2wrT3w9I |
| Let’s begin with a bit of scene setting. | Let’s begin with a bit of scene setting. |
| Apart from a public outing in Adelaide earlier today, Turnbull has tried to run week one of the campaign firmly in small target mode. No challenging interviews, a light public schedule, one daily media conference with only a handful of questions. | Apart from a public outing in Adelaide earlier today, Turnbull has tried to run week one of the campaign firmly in small target mode. No challenging interviews, a light public schedule, one daily media conference with only a handful of questions. |
| The prime minister’s communications this week have been variable to say the least. Tonight, Malcolm Turnbull has no choice but to climb on the high wire with only minimal safety equipment. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Turnbull always backs his capacity to charm and communicate, and at his best he is a very good communicator. Lately he hasn’t been a particularly disciplined communicator. By that I don’t mean that he should sound like a talking point spouting robot, merely that he understand the likely issues coming his way, and exhibit a degree of clarity and tidiness in the answers. | The prime minister’s communications this week have been variable to say the least. Tonight, Malcolm Turnbull has no choice but to climb on the high wire with only minimal safety equipment. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Turnbull always backs his capacity to charm and communicate, and at his best he is a very good communicator. Lately he hasn’t been a particularly disciplined communicator. By that I don’t mean that he should sound like a talking point spouting robot, merely that he understand the likely issues coming his way, and exhibit a degree of clarity and tidiness in the answers. |
| As for Bill Shorten, he probably benefits from being seen as the underdog in this session. I suspect that helps the Labor leader more than it hurts. The other structural benefit of debates for opposition leaders is it places them in a position of equivalence: voters can literally line up the candidates side by side and make an assessment. If you bring your A game as opposition leader, then debates help your campaign. If you strike out, obviously that’s profoundly unhelpful. Shorten has been practising these town hall sessions over the past few months, and there’s been coaching behind the scenes. Let’s see if practice makes perfect. | As for Bill Shorten, he probably benefits from being seen as the underdog in this session. I suspect that helps the Labor leader more than it hurts. The other structural benefit of debates for opposition leaders is it places them in a position of equivalence: voters can literally line up the candidates side by side and make an assessment. If you bring your A game as opposition leader, then debates help your campaign. If you strike out, obviously that’s profoundly unhelpful. Shorten has been practising these town hall sessions over the past few months, and there’s been coaching behind the scenes. Let’s see if practice makes perfect. |
| So with that preamble, let’s stride purposefully into our evening. Magic Mike Bowers is on the spot out at the debate venue, bless him. Tonight’s comments thread is open for your business, bless you people. If the thread’s too bracing for you, we are up and about on the twits – he’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. If you speak Facebook you can join my daily forum here. And if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the day and the looming campaign, give Mike a follow on Instagram. You can find him here. | So with that preamble, let’s stride purposefully into our evening. Magic Mike Bowers is on the spot out at the debate venue, bless him. Tonight’s comments thread is open for your business, bless you people. If the thread’s too bracing for you, we are up and about on the twits – he’s @mpbowers and I’m @murpharoo. If you speak Facebook you can join my daily forum here. And if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the day and the looming campaign, give Mike a follow on Instagram. You can find him here. |
| Fluff the pillows on the sofa, push the cat off your lap to allow unencumbered viewing of your laptop or tablet or smart phone, pop your feet up – here comes a rip roaring Friday night. | Fluff the pillows on the sofa, push the cat off your lap to allow unencumbered viewing of your laptop or tablet or smart phone, pop your feet up – here comes a rip roaring Friday night. |