The character of this election is now clear.
The reason we're all feeling bemused - or bored - is that it's not really an election at all, in the conventional sense. It's not about issues; it's not about policies. It's certainly not about competing visions. It's not even about personalities.
It's essentially a formality: an opportunity for the electorate to ratify the recent change of prime minister. The axing of Kevin Rudd was 2010's political climax; this is the denouement.
There's a faint echo of 1975 here. When the governor-general sacked the Whitlam government, there were howls of outrage from Labor supporters who assumed Whitlam would be emphatically reinstated at the election. But the voters simply ratified the actions of the G-G, as we are now being asked to back caucus's decision to replace Rudd.
That's why there will be no earth-shaking policy initiatives, nor any seductive spending proposals from the government. That's why there's so much talk of policy convergence. That's why there only needs to be one debate, and why the campaign slogans are so vapid.
Julia Gillard, poised and charming, is simply asking us: ''May I move into The Lodge now?'' Having been installed as PM only four weeks ago, she knows we wouldn't subject her to the indignity of a bizarre double: Australia's first female and shortest-serving prime minister.
Of course, she must assert the election is on a knife-edge, just as the media must continue its blanket coverage, in an attempt to make this look like a serious campaign. Every word must be weighed, every stumble scrutinised, to maintain the illusion that we're ''choosing''. But the choice was made for us: we already have a new prime minster.
No wonder Tony Abbott chose Hey Hey It's Saturday's Red Faces over The 7.30 Report this week.
Hugh Mackay is a social researcher and author.