Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott will face off at the National Press Club for a debate on health routinely ranked one of the most important issues for voters. The agreement was reached after a raucous question time in which two Labor and three Liberal MPs were suspended for one hour for disorderly behaviour.

The stiffest penalty was handed out to a fourth Liberal MP, Paul Fletcher, who was suspended for 24 hours.

In the final question time before the May budget is handed down, the Opposition opened with a challenge to the Government to ''revoke the permanent protection visas granted to the three individuals found to be part of a plan to cripple SIEV 36''.

Five Afghan asylum-seekers died and 40 were injured in a blast aboard the fishing vessel referred to as Suspected Illegal Entry Vessel 36 or SIEV 36.

The Prime Minister countered with a two-pronged attack on MrAbbott based on his record as health minister and for remaining ''stoically silent'' on the Government's plan for a new National Health and Hospitals Framework.

The Commonwealth would become dominant funder of public hospitals and Local Hospital Networks would run small clusters of hospitals under the plan. ''My question again today two weeks into this debate, plenty of time to review its content is does the Leader of the Opposition support this plan or oppose it?'' Mr Rudd said.

Mr Abbott made a point of order, saying ''if the Prime Minister wants to give me leave, I am happy to speak on health and hospital policy in this Parliament''. The Government obliged, suspending question time so Mr Abbott could speak for 15 minutes about health.

For more on this story, see the print edition of today's Canberra Times.