The main takeaway from the election campaign we had to have has been the lack of focus on the future for Tasmania.

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Surrounded by big challenges and opportunities the traditional parties squandered the opportunity to show vision and instead focussed on the hip pocket and day to day issues. None of the issues - health, housing, cost of living - can be solved by the fifty five projects and initiatives proposed by the major parties. Yes, the election commitments will make a difference but on current trends the same issues will all be back for the next election.

Tasmania is full of opportunities that could make us the global place to be. Getting the balance right between growth, sustainability and equity sits at the centre of the equation but was not part of the campaign.

Somewhat paradoxically the only nod to the future in the past few weeks has been the recent reveal of the angry looking Tasmanian Devil.

The elections commitments have mostly been band-aids. Solutions to the rising cost of living for example require fundamental changes to the way markets operate and a significantly more interventionist (and costly) role for all levels of governments. Managing rising debt whilst also raising additional income was missing in action.

Perhaps the most significant omission from the election campaign was the lack of focus on the Parliament and its main objective which is to develop legislation to guide Tasmania into a better future. The focus from the traditional political parties has been on themselves and how each of them (alone, not together) can lead Tasmania. Because they know what's best for us the end justifies the means - including dodging any issue to do with transparency, accountability and openness.

At the 11th hour there were a few muted nods to the reality of having to work with others but even then words like trust and cooperation were scarce.

This should have been an election campaign about how the next parliament could tackle our enduring policy challenges (education comes to mind) and how to better leverage and lighthouse our major assets (a sustainable future comes to mind).

It should have been about who we are as Tasmanians and how we want to live in the future. It should have been about our children's, children's children.

But that was not to be.

Professor David Adams University of Tasmania