‘I too thought it was going to be a lot more boring’: Leonardo Puglisi reviews the first leaders’ debate

Leonardo Puglisi is the 14-year-old founder of 6 News Australia, a YouTube-based news station. Recently, he scored an interview with the prime minister. Crikey asked him to review last night’s debate.

The first leaders’ debate arrived with arguably less anticipation and promotion than the one between Scott Morrison and Bill Shorten which aired on Channel 7 in the 2019 campaign. Perhaps, as covered by Crikey, the debates may be increasingly irrelevant. In fact, I actually forgot it was happening until I checked social media at around 7:05 pm and then tuned in.

What I did see wasn’t as headline-grabbing as a “space invaders” comment from the Morrison-Shorten debate, but there were certainly some interesting and heated moments.

The leaders opened the debate with the standard handshake, addressing each other by their first names. They weren’t sitting on stools on a green-screen set, not looking at each other, unlike the aforementioned Channel 7 debate. This was a nice change.

While it was mostly polite, Morrison and Anthony Albanese did clash over one issue in particular — border security. At one point, the prime minister jumped in and asked the opposition leader “why [he] didn’t support boat turn-backs” when he was deputy PM during Kevin Rudd’s second prime ministership.

Albanese paused for a moment, before firing back. He then paused after another question from the PM. While it can be described as a “stumble”, it probably won’t dominate the headlines as much as him forgetting the unemployment rate last week.

One question that caught my eye (or should that be ear?) was the final one of the night. The leaders were asked how they’d look at “disillusionment” with regards to only 55% of 18-year-olds currently being enrolled to vote.

Now, I’m only 14 — turning 15 — so not even of the age where I can enrol. In fact, if the 2025 federal election is held before November 12, I’ll have to wait until 2028 before I can have my say at a federal level. Thankfully, though, there will be a Victorian state election in 2026.

In reply to the question, Albanese said “we need to engage with young people” and figure out new ways to do so. I thought back to Labor’s official TikTok account, which seems to be pushing the party onto young voters, barely of legal voting age. Almost all the videos are either memes of Morrison or edited clips of Albanese.

Even if some may be a bit cringeworthy, they’re definitely engaging young people — I’ve had multiple schoolmates bring them up in conversation a couple of times this year. The Liberal Party also has a less-followed TikTok account, that also (unsurprisingly) posts memes. From what I’ve seen, they’re not the most popular among young Aussies on the app — and that’s evident in the comments alone.

The PM then spoke about “the corrosive impact of social media on our society”, something I’m very familiar with (and something Crikey has also reported on).

In the end, the result from the audience was fairly close — Albanese beating Morrison 40-35, with 25 undecided. If you’re a large supporter of Labor or the Liberals, you may have made up your mind before the debate even began.

But to sum it up? There wasn’t a major blow to either leader, but there were moments that will be used in packages on the nightly news for days to come.

To quote an audience member, I thought it was going to be a lot more boring.