Opinion: It’s been a titanic campaign, but the leaders aren’t clear of icebergs yet

COMMENT: There has been no car crash, no train derailment, no political roof collapse, despite an eight-week campaign that ­delivered an abundant time frame for magnificent catastrophes to befall parties on both sides.

THERE has been no car crash, no train derailment, no political roof collapse, despite an eight-week campaign that ­delivered an abundant time frame for magnificent catastrophes to befall parties on both sides.

Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten have not disappeared down the “now you will see the real Julia Gillard” trapdoor, they’ve skirted the “Mark Latham homicidal handshake” debacle, they haven’t even looked on aghast as one of their team conjured up a Ralph Willis moment.

In 1996, just days before the fall of the Keating government, then-treasurer Ralph Willis called an urgent press conference where he triumphantly held aloft a letter exposing John Howard’s plan to cut grants to states.

Sadly for Ralph, the letter was fraudulent – and while it may not have been solely responsible for ending the Keating government movie, it entertained the electorate with a priceless out-take as Labor left the political cinema for a decade.

Malcolm’s cold could have been catastrophic, yet it only highlighted the PM’s robust constitution as he bounded back into rude good health.

Bill danced close to the precipice yesterday morning when Karl Stefanovic asked him how old he was when Labor delivered its last surplus. Bill’s answer was to stare ­silently into the middle distance darting out his tongue periodically, much like a frog who suspects a passing fly has filched his keys to The Lodge.

But, like a gymnast who knows how to recover poise after a mid-flight mistake, he swiftly put it behind him.

There are but three days to go before polls close. Like Captain Smith, snug on the bridge of the Titanic three days out from New York, both leaders have earned the right to murmur to themselves: “What could possibly go wrong?”

Originally published as Opinion: It’s been a titanic campaign, but the leaders aren’t clear of icebergs yet