Labor leader unsure on his party’s figures in debate with Gladys Berejiklian, two days before state poll

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Michael Daley has suffered two moments of memory lapse during the final leaders’ debate before the NSW election, admitting he could not recall the exact numbers around his education and Tafe funding policies.

The Labor leader told the audience he would spend more on education, with a promised “100% Gonski funding”.

“What is the dollar difference?” the Sky News host, David Speers, asked.

“I can’t remember the exact figure David, off the top of my head,” Daley said. “But it’s 100% Gonski funding, at the moment it sits at about 77%.”

Daley then also had to recheck his figures on Tafe, mistakenly saying he would invest $3bn. Earlier reports suggested Labor’s plan would cost $65m for the first four years.

Speers reacted in surprise. “Three billion?” he asked.

“Let me check the figures,” Daley responded.

Earlier, Daley and the premier Gladys Berejiklian – who face off in Saturday’s state election with the polls tied at 50/50 – clashed on high-profile issues such as stadium spending and climate change.

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The debate was interrupted at one point when an “undecided” questioner was revealed as the lead candidate for the Australian Conservatives who had “snuck in” to the audience.

Speers was forced to apologise after he discovered, live on air, that a man who asked about the right of religious schools to discriminate against gay students was a candidate in Saturday’s election.

The debate, hosted by Sky News and the Daily Telegraph, was billed as an audience of 100 undecided voters and neither leader raised an eyebrow when one questioner asked if religious schools should be allowed to discriminate against students on the basis of their sexuality.

But a few minutes later Speers revealed the questioner was Greg Walsh, who is the lead candidate for the Australian Conservatives in the upper house, and is prominently featured on their election material.

Neither leader appeared to recognise Walsh as they answered his question, and the debate had moved on to youth mental health, before Speers announced Walsh’s identity.

“I am told you are an Australian Conservatives candidate in the election,” Speers said, pointing at Walsh. “I am not quite sure how you worked your way into the audience.”

The Canberra bureau chief for Sky News tweeted that he was a guest for a later show who had “snuck down” into the audience.

Thomas O'Brien (@TJ__OBrien) He is a guest on one of the post-Forum programs later and has snuck down into the area for the 100 undecided voters. Galaxy Research selected all 100 voters independently.

During the debate Daley said he would allow the school climate strikes to happen “every year”. Last week, Daley came out in support of the 15 March strike, but Berejiklian said students should not protest during school hours.

On Wednesday night he said he still “backed them in 100%”.

Speers asked: “If you win the election, will you encourage students to strike again? They did one last year, if they do it once a year, would that be OK?”

Daley responded: “That would be fine.”

Berejiklian said she still opposed the strikes.

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The two leaders also clashed on the issue of Sydney’s stadiums.

Berejiklian claimed Daley did not know the cost of his own plan, and said Labor would have to pay a near-identical $700m sum to repair and refurbish the stadium if it won government.

But Daley countered that he would make the Sydney Cricket Ground trust pay for any costs, rather than the taxpayer.

Berejiklian told the audience that every dollar spent knocking down and rebuilding the Allianz Stadium would create roughly $3 in future revenue.

“Depending on the stadium ...it’s about $3 for every $1 you are investing over the course of the next 15 to 20 years,” she said.

But Daley said the taxpayer would not need to pay anything under his plan.

“I will have the newly constituted SCG trust take out a loan for a refurbishment,” he said. “Under my model [the taxpayer] doesn’t put any money into it. You still get a refurbished, state-of-the-art stadium, a modern stadium ... but you don’t have to have the taxpayers pay for it.”