Federal election 2016: Malcolm Turnbull content to fly under the radar

IN sickness and in health, the PM has pounded the pavement but he doesn’t want anyone to get too excited for fear they will vote their way out of an unhappy marriage.

MALCOLM Turnbull keeps campaigning, come flu or come wellness, but he seems to be more like a prime minister who’s just running the country with some of that politics working on the side.

It’s just short of seven weeks since Turnbull started this thing we think is a political marathon, a week after he and Treasurer Scott Morrison delivered a Budget which looked founded and constructed in chaos but in the end didn’t seem to be about much at all.

ELECTION: Follow the campaign trail here

We’ve had three debates, for the want of a better description, which had one thing in common – no-one got excited about any of them.

We’ve had the usual things such as binge-polling (most are what I call “so what?” polls which tell us nothing at all), scare campaigns that either work (Medicare) or don’t (the boats are coming!!) and events that are as confected as cake at a child’s birthday party (and about as nutritious in a democratic way).

However, it has been a different election because so few people are talking about it or paying it that much attention.

The 24 hour news channels might be talking endlessly about the election but in Queensland you can drive for days and find no one who raises it.

You can go to cafe and bars and hear nothing about the election mentioned. If you go to a pre-poll booth there’s politicians and their helpers who are acting like pizza salesmen and women but on the bus people are testing friends, watching cat videos or checking email.

Turnbull’s low profile has something to do with this – his under the radar campaigning style is aimed at people not wanting to get excited about anything and consequently unlikely to vote for change.

It might work. In fact, the bookies say it will although there’s some late money for the ALP.

If this is Turnbull’s game plan – and he doesn’t have a splendid victory but rather just a modest one – there might be some uncomfortable Coalition politicians after July 2.

A win might be a win but this was about not just winning but winning well and, at the very least, holding all the seats won in 2013.

Don’t miss Dennis Atkins and Malcolm Farr’s election podcast Two Grumpy Hacks, available for free on iTunes or Soundcloud

Originally published as Federal election 2016: Malcolm Turnbull content to fly under the radar