Australian voters will be faced with very real differences when it comes to the two main parties' approaches to governing and policies.
But whoever you chose to form government in the House of Representatives you need to take out a sensible, principled, common sense third party insurance policy in the Senate which is why you should vote for your Australian Conservatives Senate candidates.
The Australian's Judith Sloan writes: Unlike the 2007 election when Labor pretended to be Howard-lite - who can forget Kevin Rudd claiming to be a fiscal conservative - this time around, Labor is really going out on a limb.
Labor Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has outlined plans to raise $200 billion in additional taxation and he's also refused to commit to the Coalition's self-imposed ceiling on the tax-to-GDP ratio of 23.9 per cent.
Labor has a series of ill-defined but grand plans to spend more on schools, higher education, health and other pet projects. In effect, Labor's pledge is bigger government - higher taxes and higher spending.
The most significant items in Labor's bigger tax war chest are: the elimination of negative gearing, except for new residential real estate; a doubling of the rate of capital gains tax; reimposition of the temporary budget deficit levy, bringing the top marginal income tax rate to 49 per cent, including the Medicare levy; the removal of cash refunds for franking credits with some exemptions; and the imposition of a minimum 30 per cent tax on the income derived from discretionary trusts.
It's not clear that the economy is strong enough to bear the consequences of the dampening of demand that is always associated with a higher tax take.
This particularly applies to the almost immediate loss of income by many retirees that is associated with the removal of cash refunds for franking credits.
And take the timing of the removal of negative gearing. At the time this policy was announced, the housing market was red-hot, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, and investors were regularly outbidding homeowners.
Fast-forward and the situation has completely reversed. House prices are falling rapidly, particularly in Melbourne and Sydney, and investors are almost totally out of the market.
First homeowners are still struggling to get a foothold in the market and the banks and other lenders are imposing stricter lending conditions in line with the recommendations of the Hayne royal commission, which Labor supported.
You only have to look at the budget to see how bad the timing will be if Bowen presses on and makes the changes to negative gearing applicable from January 1, 2020.
According to this week's budget papers, the expectation is that dwelling investment will fall 7 per cent in 2019-20 and another 4 per cent in 2020-21.
What is being proposed under Labor is that the housing market should be further deflated by removing the incentives for investors to purchase properties to rent out.
And those who think that rents won't increase over time need to do a course in economics and understand that the supply curve of rental properties slopes upwards.
A reduction in the post-tax return from investing in real estate will reduce the supply of rental properties and increase rents. How this is really expected to help potential first homeowners is anyone's guess as their scope to save for a deposit will be reduced by dint of these higher rents.
Over the next few weeks, it will be very important to focus on the details of Labor's tax grab as the changes will affect many people on modest incomes rather than people on very high incomes.
You can stop Labor's economic madness by voting "1" Australian Conservatives in the Senate.
