Rudd and Abbott to hold debate next week

An attempt to lock Kevin Rudd into a series of election debates appears to have
backfired on Tony Abbott, who will now be forced into a head-to-head clash on health
next week.
The prime minister and the opposition leader will meet at the National Press Club
(NPC) next Tuesday for a showdown on health, the first of three debates between the
pair ahead of the next federal election.
In what may turn out to be an ill-advised tactic, Mr Abbott prodded Mr Rudd into the
exchanges, keen to display his straight-talking style against the prime minister's
customary verbosity.
But, in a strategic move, the government has set health as the topic of the first
debate, forcing Mr Abbott onto less comfortable policy ground.
After a trying few weeks - marked by poor opinion polls, a problematic insulation
program and questions over his communication skills - Mr Rudd stole the political
running on Thursday as parliament wound up until May.
Aside from a brief recall due next Friday for a scheduled address by United States
President Barack Obama, politicians won't face off again in the parliamentary bear
pit until the release of the budget on May 11.
Mr Rudd wrong-footed Mr Abbott by agreeing to the debates and then positioning the
first as a showdown on health, a Labor strength.
It was one of a series of tactical blunders by the coalition, which struggled to set
the agenda and was ill-prepared for an attack on Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard
on education spending.
The Rudd government senses health may be a fatal weakness for the former health
minister.
Labor has unveiled a plan for a major overhaul of public hospital funding in an
effort to resolve intractable problems in the system, while the coalition has
released only a glimpse of its plans, targeted at NSW and Queensland.
On Thursday, the government upped the pressure on Mr Abbott, first calling his bluff
after he suggested he'd be happy to talk about health - giving him the floor of the
parliament for an impromptu 15-minute speech on the issue.
Mr Abbott met the challenge, labelling Mr Rudd a fraud and a phoney for telling
"grotesque untruths" about the Howard government's health record.
He argued the government couldn't be trusted to deliver its promises given its poor
track record on program delivery.
"Why would you trust this prime minister with something as serious as hospitals when
he can't be trusted with something as simple as insulating homes," Mr Abbott said.
Mr Rudd responded it was Mr Abbott's credibility that was shot.
"This leader of the opposition's credibility on health is in tatters," Mr Rudd said.
"He gouged a $1 billion out of the public hospital system ... he put a cap on the GP
training system."
Having acquitted himself in the impromptu debate, Mr Abbott perhaps misjudged the
moment when he went on to challenge Mr Rudd to three more during the "election
season".
He was trying to capitalise on the prime minister's perceived poor communication style.
Mr Rudd agreed to the series of debates against Mr Abbott, confirming at the end of
question time the NPC was available to host the clash next Tuesday.
The challenge, however, was a dangerous mission for Mr Abbott, who is remembered for
his cranky exchange with Nicola Roxon during the last election campaign when he was
running late for their health debate.
The question also gave Mr Rudd carte blanche to raise Mr Abbott's ill-judged
comments to dying asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton.