Mark Riley wants Seven’s election debate to be better than Nine’s Sunday night ‘spectacle’

Seven News political editor Mark Riley says he’ll use “a chair and a whip” to control Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese in the third and final leaders’ debate and avoid a repeat of Sunday night’s “spectacle”.

“The two leaders will be behind podiums with me in the middle with a chair and a whip,” Riley told Guardian Australia ahead of Seven’s The Great Debate: The Final Showdown.

It will air on Wednesday at 9.10pm after Big Brother finishes. Seven’s debate format will be different to the first and second debates.

Sky News had members of the audience ask the leaders questions on 20 April and Nine News on Sunday had a facilitator in Sarah Abo and a panel of three journalists asking questions.

Nine’s debate rated well but was roundly criticised for the lack of moderation which led to the two men shouting and talking over each other – leaving viewers unable to hear what they were saying.

Seven’s debate will have a single moderator asking the questions in a more traditional format, Riley said.

“At the last election the ABC’s Sabra Lane hosted the National Press Club debate – and this is a little heretical for me because I was involved in one of them – it was the best debate of the three,” the veteran reporter, who has won Walkleys for commentary and foreign reporting, said on Wednesday.

The debate will be broadcast live on Channel 7, 7plus and the West Australian, and will feature a so-called Pub Test to determine the winner, using a panel of 150 undecided voters who will judge the debate and cast their votes live from pubs in seven marginal seats around the country.

The seats are Macquarie in NSW, Chisholm in Victoria, Lilley in Queensland, Boothby in South Australia, Hasluck in Western Australia, Solomon in the Northern Territory and Bass in Tasmania.

Voting 101: What is pork barrelling? – video

Riley hopes to produce something that is “worthwhile to viewers who’ve been making up their mind which way to go”.

“They’re here to debate not berate,” Riley said on Seven’s Sunrise. “Voters want to hear about their policies, not their put-downs. This is about the highest office in the land. It’s not a game of marbles. I think they’ll get that after the weekend. I mean, the spectacle of Sunday night didn’t shine well on either of them. I think they understand that. But you know, if they do it again, I’ll get the whip and the chair out and stop it.”

Riley said the leaders will deliver opening statements and then be asked a number of questions.

“They’ll be given time to do that,” he said. “I won’t be cutting them off mid-sentence. They’ll finish their thoughts. And then after they’ve answered those questions, there’ll be a time for engagement and real debate after that in a civil way, we hope, so voters can get an idea about the differences in their policy positions, the differences in their characters, the differences in their vision for the country. That’s what’s important.”

The West Australian’s federal political editor Lanai Scarr will also get the chance to ask a few questions and analyse the debate in a special edition of Seven News with Michael Usher. It will cross live to the marginal seats for the Pub Test.