Where are the political heroes?

Maybe we will get a closer look at the likely shape of the next Government when both leaders address the National Press Club later this week.

Meanwhile there is no debate about the fact that Labor has made a mess of things under Rudd and Gillard and it is reasonable to assume that things would have to be better under the conservatives.

But Rudd-Gillard Labor has created a nation of dependents with its endless handouts most recently designed to camouflage the effects of the carbon tax. Abbott has gone hard on the evils of this tax promising to scrap it as soon as he assumes government along with Labor’s offset allowances which he says will no longer be necessary without this tax. The problem for Abbott is that the carbon tax seems to be going off the boil as an issue but people have become used to Labor’s largesse.

The question that arises here is whether the electorate will be more influenced by economic rationalism than traditional hip pockets issues.

Whatever the case, the sleeper may well be the issue of asylum seeking boat people - something that is continuing to show up strongly in Liberal Party focus groups. A campaign that focuses on a core policy of “no immigration without integration” may well generate a positive response across the broad spectrum of the national electorate.