And so a grand political experiment enters its testing phase. A series of them, in fact. This is the true significance of this campaign. In the past three years, every significant grouping in Australian politics has dramatically shifted the way they operate: what they stand for and how they see themselves. In five weeks’ time, we will discover which of those experiments have been successful – and which have failed and will be scrapped.

These dramatic stakes are obscured by the petty nature of the political debate now unfolding. A few days in, we have a tiny tax cut versus a temporary fuel excise cut; a vague supermarket policy versus an unexplained gas policy. A Dutton government would no doubt be very different from the Albanese government, but the differences being debated are mostly minor.

Forty per cent of voters now rank Peter Dutton (left) and the Coalition as best to manage the economy, with only 24 per cent naming Anthony Albanese and Labor.Credit: Marija Ercegovac

The leaders don’t put it that way. Peter Dutton warns of ruin if Anthony Albanese is re-elected: “Setbacks will be set in stone.” Albanese, meanwhile, almost gleefully runs through fact after fact about the past three years, reciting contrasts with the Coalition.

Albanese is sharper than he has been for a long time. His lists have always been boring. They are still boring but they are infused now with conviction (as much as lists can be). This reflects the contrast at the heart of the Albanese experiment. It has been horribly tedious and breathtakingly audacious.

Tedious because there has been so little........

© The Sydney Morning Herald