LAST WEEK it was health, this week maternity leave, but the political issue that persists is debt. Many Australians are worried about the amount the federal government is amassing and the Coalition ramps up the concern at every opportunity.

For much of the worry we can thank the previous government, which hammered a simple message after it took government in 1996: Labor left a huge government debt which took many years of discipline and surpluses to pay off. Now Labor has returned to office and deficits and debt are back. It’s a good story, easy to understand and easily related to everyday experience – and until his elevation to shadow finance the Nationals’ Barnaby Joyce was particularly good at telling it.

But debt works both ways. The gift for Tony Abbott and the Coalition is that Kevin Rudd’s instinctive approach to the issue, like his approach to everything else, is to avoid the topic. Or talk about talking about it. Rudd’s tight grip on ministers sees his strange fear of the electorate debilitate the whole government