And the only time he spoke the word "fairness" was to promise fairness between generations by not bequeathing debt. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with his grandson Jack after addressing the party at the national Liberal party campaign rally in Homebush, Sydney. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer Turnbull provided almost a caricature of Coalition brand identification, overwhelmingly emphasising economic growth and border security. It was a deliberately restrained launch that announced only the most parsimonious of new spending, designed to portray the Liberals as the party of grown-ups. The prime minister said that the UK's Brexit vote was "a sharp reminder of the volatility in the global economy" and went on to offer himself as the right leader for such times.

"Always expect the unexpected," he intoned sagely on Sunday, only to have the Labor Party come up with something completely expected a few hours later. Attorney-General George Brandis and Treasurer Scott Morrison have said they expect the results of the plebiscite to be fulfilled. Credit:Jason Edwards Labor played along with this campaign of caricatures by promising a bigger national debt. Its budget costings, released on Sunday shortly after the Liberal launch concluded, just confirmed the most fundamental electoral misgiving about the party. Mr Turnbull on Sunday. Credit:Andrew Meares

It promised to deliver a total deterioration in the budget deficit that would be $16.5 billion worse over four years than the Coalition's pledged deficits. The Labor brains trust apparently thought this was a brilliant plan. They must have, because it would be so simple to do better. The cumulative total spending in the federal budget over four years will be about $2 trillion. So Labor confirmed all the old fears about its profligacy for a sum that is a minuscule 0.8 per cent of total spending, less than a 10th of a per cent. An experienced budget examiner could have suggested a hundred ways to cut this much – or more – without materially harming any key Labor undertaking.

Labor has gained nothing by this, and lost so much. But outside politics and in the place known as reality, neither party is offering the country responsible budgeting. The analyst who assesses Australia for the credit ratings agency Moody's, senior vice-president Marie Diron, says: "Whatever the outcome" in the Australian election, "we don't expect significant change in fiscal consolidation. "Both sides put emphasis on spending restraint, and this seems to be very difficult for governments in Australia," she tells me. It doesn't have to be this way.

"Spending restraint has been more effective in New Zealand," where the government has just delivered its second consecutive budget surplus, she points out. Although Moody's rates Australia at the highest possible level of creditworthiness of AAA, it is "vulnerable to a shift in sentiment – debt is supplied by foreign investors and sentiment can shift dramatically" she tells me. Indeed. Just look at how the global tolerance for economic risk has whipsawed in the past few days. The Liberal and Labor parties are competing for power. They are not truly competing to solve Australia's spending addiction. They are both leading the country into a fiscal fantasy. Loading

Just as the Prime Minister pretends to be a true conservative, both parties pretend to manage the national finances conservatively, with the tiniest margin of difference just enough to give life to the old caricatures. Follow us on Twitter