Is it just me or is this Australian election campaign even more petty and pathetic than usual, characterised as it is equally by massive and seeminly irresponsible attempts to buy votes with big giveaways and by scare mongering. One advert that I find particularly irritating is the Liberal ad saying how interest rates are bound to rise under Labor.

In 1983 the Australian Labor Party floated the Australian dollar on the world market, a step which would have sat more comfortably with Liberal party doctrine and is now generally accepted as a wise move by both sides of politics. Since that time the interest rates have been far more governed by the global economic climate than by which particular flavour of government we had.

By way of demonstration I include, courtesy of the Reserve Bank of Australia, a list of 10 year bond interest rates for Australia and a number of comparative currencies.

As you will no doubt observe, predictably, our economy tracks the other major world economies regardless of who is in power and the small amount by which our government can influence it both parties are throwing to the wind with their reckless spending.