Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton repeated debunked claims about nuclear power as they offered competing visions for Australia at the second debate of the 2025 election.
The prime minister and opposition leader traded barbs across everything from the economy to housing and national security at the ABC's studio in western Sydney on Wednesday night.
Energy was a major point of difference between the two, as Mr Dutton spruiked his nuclear-led plan, while Mr Albanese tried to sell his largely renewables-backed strategy.
DOUBT OVER NUCLEAR COSTS
Echoing the first debate, both leaders became embroiled in a dispute about the coalition's nuclear plan.
Mr Albanese repeated claims the coalition's nuclear plan will cost $600 billion, a figure that's been cherry-picked from a 2024 Smart Energy Council report into nuclear.
In response, Mr Dutton claimed the coalition's nuclear plan will cost $331 billion, which is based on modelling a leading expert has previously described as "fundamentally flawed".
Experts told AAP FactCheck that Labor and the coalition are presenting highly uncertain estimates about nuclear power costs, and the reality is that no one knows.
"I don't have any confidence in anyone's predictions of what it would cost to develop nuclear in Australia," Victoria University energy economist Bruce Mountain said.
FOCUS ON COALITION 'CUTS'
Mr Dutton's record as health minister also came up in the second debate, with Mr Albanese claiming $50 billion was cut from hospital funding in the coalition's 2014/15 budget.
"We know what happened last time [the coalition was elected], the cuts came to health, they came to education, $50 billion out of hospitals," Mr Albanese said.
Experts have told AAP FactCheck that while it's accurate to say Mr Dutton tried to cut $50 billion from hospitals funding as health minister, the coalition eventually abandoned the plan.
Malcolm Turnbull later lifted hospitals funding when he became prime minister, though the increase didn't return spending to the levels that were forecast under Labor in 2013/14.
Mr Albanese also claimed the coalition has a plan to make cuts to education in his closing remarks, which isn't the full story.
"This election is a real choice, a choice between Labor's plans to build Australia's future, and the coalition's plans for cuts when it comes to education," Mr Albanese said.
The coalition has promised to match the Albanese government's funding for public schools.
However, experts told AAP FactCheck that Mr Dutton's plan to cut public servants from the federal government's department of education could have a meaningful impact on students.
It's unclear whether these roles would be carved out of the coalition's plan to freeze hiring across the public service and offer voluntary redundancies to save $7 billion a year.
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