2016 federal election: Peta Credlin says no-one talking about big issues

THIS election campaign is so dull even ABC news is often running it down the bulletin. This isn’t because politics is boring. It’s because no-one is talking about the big issues, writes Peta Credlin.

THIS election campaign is so dull that even the ABC news is often running it down the bulletin. This is not because politics is boring or because Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten are inherently uninteresting.

It’s because no-one is talking about the big issues — how we keep our economy strong and how we keep our country safe — or honestly facing up to tough decisions that need to be made.

Three weeks in, both sides seem to be going through the motions and focused on “gotcha” moments rather than having an honest conversation about the challenges facing Australia and how they might tackle them.

Elections are supposed to matter.

In 2007, people were excited about gaining a young new leader whose “fiscal conservatism” meant they could trust him with government. In 2010, there was dismay about the ambush of the elected prime minister and a determination not to let the country be run by the faceless men of the union movement.

In 2013, people were embarrassed by a government that had built grossly overpriced school halls, put batts into roofs that had caught fire, promised not to introduce a carbon tax and then done so, and completely lost control of our borders.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with wife Lucy. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/News Corp

But what are we fighting for this time? And why does it matter?

Three weeks in, it should all be clear but it just doesn’t feel right.

There’s a formerly right-wing union official leading what even Mark Latham says is the most left-wing Labor opposition in decades. But there’s a left-of-centre Liberal leading a right-of-centre government and he doesn’t seem to belong to his own side.

The government says that we have to live within our means but no one is honestly telling us what has to be done to bring this about. We all know that if you can’t meet the mortgage repayments you don’t keep the house.

We all know that if you don’t pay your phone bill you can’t make any calls. But the people contesting this election seem to think that the nation’s mortgage never has to be repaid and that bills don’t really matter.

Get real. Like households, governments can’t spend what they don’t have. If they need more, like households, they borrow and in Australia’s case, much of this borrowing is from overseas.

We currently pay $1.05 billion in interest on our government debt each month: that’s $12.6 billion per year. When you think what that money could do in your own community (roads, schools, hospitals, jobs), you’ve got a right to feel angry after all it’s your money going down the drain on interest payments.

And like your own mortgage, I’m talking about interest: this doesn’t even make a dent on the capital we’ve borrowed.

This is why fixing the budget matters. Getting the debt under control frees up money for the things we need and it gives us a buffer.

Labor has no plan to manage the budget or deal with debt.

We haven’t forgotten that John Howard’s Coalition government paid off the debt and left money in the bank when Kevin Rudd took over in 2007. It is easy to promise the world on big spending polices in areas like health and education but eventually it has to be paid for.

But don’t think the Liberals are perfect either. Mr Turnbull talks incessantly about his plan for a strong new economy and “jobs and growth” but that boils down to a company tax cut in 10 years’ time paid for by retrospective superannuation changes now. And a lot of people aren’t so sure about the “new” economy either — they just want the current one working at full strength, and we want to know our job is secure.

Both sides say that economic growth is needed to drive more jobs and more prosperity but the best Labor can do to promote growth is to spend more on schools and hospitals while the Liberals’ “plan” needs more detail and has to be fleshed out beyond “jobs and growth”.

In tonight’s debate, both leaders have to tell us why this election matters and precisely what they are going to do to change our country for the better. The Prime Minister has to spare us the endless guff about how there’s never been a more exciting time and reassure us that his plan for a strong new economy won’t mean that everyday workers lose their jobs.

Thumbs up to former prime minister John Howard, who he is still popular with voters. Picture: AAP Image/Matt Coughlan

Thumbs down to David Feeney, who has been campaign cyanide two weeks in a row. Picture: Hollie Adams

The Opposition Leader needs to tell us how spending even more money on schools will make them better when all the previous spending — $16 billion in fact — has actually made them worse at literacy and numeracy.

If neither leader can properly explain our problems and his solutions, the suspicion will grow among millions of Australians that our political leaders don’t have a real plan or don’t trust us with the truth.

Malcolm Turnbull is right to tell us that we have to live within our means but he also has to tell us exactly what he’ll do to bring that about and start tackling our structural budget problems.

Bill Shorten is right to say that we need the world’s best education system but he also must explain how extra money will improve things and how he is going to pay for it.

Otherwise, it will hard to take either of them seriously.

Please Malcolm, please Bill; drop the rehearsed lines and speak from the heart tonight.

Don’t treat us like children to be patronised or as idiots who can be bought off with yet another promise we can’t afford. Some of us might disagree with you if you tell us what you really think but more of us will respect you.

I know you both and appreciate the strengths you each have but you owe us more than you’ve shown in the first three weeks of this campaign.

Watch Sky News political contributor Peta Credlin appear exclusively on The Bolt Report, CH601, Monday, 7pm