It was hosted by Basil Zempilas and moderated by Seven News political editor Mark Riley and Lanai Scarr from The West Australian newspaper.
[2] Morrison and Shorten started with an opening address, then were guided to give their views on the topics of climate change, wages growth, immigration and border security, Clive Palmer, franking credits, and finally a closing statement.
Katherine Murphy of Guardian Australia called it "beyond terrible", citing the split-screen broadcast which showed the leaders on screen at all times.
[7] RMIT ABC Fact Check gave their verdicts on the veracity of some of the claims made on the night, including Morrison's statements on hospital funding ("fair call"), Kyoto Protocol targets ("misleading"), and boat arrivals ("more to the story"); and Shorten's statements on the costs of seeing a doctor ("broadly checked out"), the number of apprenticeships and traineeships ("correct") and broadband speed ("correct").
[10] This was widely reported, with some outlets likening it to former Labor leader Mark Latham's infamous handshake with Prime Minister John Howard during the 2004 election campaign.
They were then asked a simple "yes or no" question about whether they supported the creation of an independent debate commission for the next election; both leaders responded in the affirmative.