Elections aren't so much about winning a debate as a battle to define what the debate actually is.
By announcing an $8.5 billion splurge on Medicare over the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is clearly trying to shift the election battleground to safe territory for Labor.
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton — arguing that his own commitment to match that spending dollar-for-dollar will be offset by cuts to the public service — is attempting to wrestle the conversation back to fiscal responsibility.
Hanging over both pledges is the question of where the money will come from, with Labor having factored most, though not all, of its spending into its last financial update.
