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Fear not over debate rebuffs, says Abbott

04 August 2010 03:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Tony Abbott has knocked back an offer by Julia Gillard to debate him on the economy "anywhere, any time" before the next election, APA reports quoting theaustralian.com.au web-page.
The Prime Minister again threw down the gauntlet to the Opposition Leader yesterday for a second debate, saying she would be willing to debate him on any night after her original offer of this Sunday clashed with the Liberal Party’s campaign launch.
Mr Abbott said he would not disrupt his campaign to debate Ms Gillard after she had refused his request for three debates before the election. He denied it was because he was scared of debating her on the economy.
"The last thing I am is scared of a debate," Mr Abbott told Brisbane’s 4BC radio.
"Julia Gillard had the chance to agree to three debates and on at least seven occasions she said no.
"The fact of the matter is, based on her commitment to one debate only, I’ve organised my campaign. It’s a carefully organised campaign. I don’t see why I should disorganise my campaign because her campaign is in a mess."
As the Prime Minister turned the focus on her campaign to Labor’s economic management record, she accused Mr Abbott of not being interested in the economy. Declaring the economy to be "at the core of this election campaign", Ms Gillard said she believed Mr Abbott would be fearful about a debate on the economy, "because he doesn’t have an economic plan for the future, and what that means for Australians is he doesn’t have a plan about them having a job, he doesn’t have a plan about the skills and capacity of our economy".
Earlier, Mr Abbott sparked controversy when he questioned whether when Ms Gillard said no, she really meant it. "Are you suggesting to me that when it comes from Julia, no doesn’t mean no?" he said, in reference to her initial refusal to debate him.
Mr Abbott denied the comment, which was repeated three times, had any link to sexual consent. "The Labor Party spin merchants are running around saying this is terrible, this shows Abbott is insensitive to women," he said.
"I’m not going to cop this kind of vicious smear from the Labor Party. I’m the father of three daughters; no one respects women more than I do.
"I made the point that you just can’t be confident what she’s on about," he said.