As politicians hit the road in the lead up to the election, this is a campaign distinctly lacking in vision | Caleb Bond

How many true differences could anyone name between the two parties vying for control of Australia’s future, writes Caleb Bond.

What will Australia look like in a decade? No one seems to care – not those campaigning to form government on May 3, anyway.

This is an election campaign distinctly lacking in vision. The only major differences in long-term planning between Labor and the Coalition that I can discern are support for nuclear energy and a national gas reserve.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

Beyond that, I’ve scarcely heard anyone talk about tomorrow. As seems to be typical of politics these days, everyone is talking about yesterday – and today if you’re lucky.

Of course, there is value in assessing the Albanese government on the past three years.

More than a million permanent migrants have entered the country, we have a housing crisis and we are paying more tax than we ever have before.

But no one seems to want to articulate how and why Australia could look better in a decade than it does today.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and his opposition counter part Angus Taylor faced off in a Sky News debate on Wednesday night.

Dr Chalmers spent most of the hour talking up his record without explaining how it will get better. Mr Taylor canned Labor’s record without really explaining how it would be different under his regime.

There was no big thinking about the economy – no plans for serious tax reform or how to future-proof an economy that has been propped up by mass migration.

Neither had a plan to ease the growing tax burden on Australians.

Nor did either bring up the fact more than 75 per cent of jobs created in Australia last year were in government-funded sectors such as health and education.

Dr Chalmers claims 25,000 new businesses have been created every month since the Albanese government came to power.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton. Picture Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

For those playing at home, that would mean 875,000 new businesses by the time we go to the election.

God knows what they’re all doing, but it’s not much under their own steam.

It’s one of the most pressing economic questions this country faces – you cannot sustain an economy long-term on government funding – and yet no one has a serious plan to change it.

We’re in a campaign where rather than stick by the principle of an argument, the opposition dropped its policy to cut the public service.

Politics is increasingly played on the back foot. It’s defend and attack, not prepare and reform.

I fail to see exactly why this has become the case.

There is an argument that governments are simply interested in surviving a three-year term and then securing another three-year term, so they can never see beyond three years.

It’s not without merit – but I think the electorate is smarter than that.

Australians will eventually grow sick of watching their standard of living slip while politicians keep doing what they’ve always done.

Originally published as As politicians hit the road in the lead up to the election, this is a campaign distinctly lacking in vision | Caleb Bond