With the passing of former Bob Hawke on Thursday, those shades solidified into real and poignant reflections on the choices on offer to voters.

For Opposition leader Bill Shorten, his channelling of Gough Whitlam earlier this week and the famous 'It's Time' slogan produced a 'It's Not Time' response' from Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

The sad death of union legend Mr Hawke further underlined connections being drawn between former union heavyweight Mr Shorten and his visionary forefathers from the Labor movement.

This in turn illustrates that this election displays more divergence between the policies of the two major parties than any since the 1980s or earlier.

It is unfortunate then that this, of all elections, has seen record numbers of "premature polling" as voters pre-poll in numbers, seemingly indifferent to the messaging of the major (and minor) parties, or simply voting as they have always done or even voting early because their minds were made up.

Whatever the case, reform is needed here because pre-polling should only be allowed for legitimate reasons and not those of convenience.

In Wannon, a venerable seat that came into existence at the time of Federation and has been robustly Liberal since, most notably held by another former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Cabinet Minister Dan Tehan has held the seat since 2010 and a recent boundary distribution saw him gain predominantly Liberal-voting booths in Colac that more than offset some less-strong Labor booths nearer to Ballarat.

Mr Tehan is a blue-riband Liberal, the son of former state Liberal Minister and party boss Marie Tehan. As a Cabinet Minister, he sits at the main table of decision-making and - most importantly - the allocation of funds.

It is worth recognising at this point that Wannon's roads and rail seem more suited to the circa-1901 era of Federation than 2019.

It is also worth pointing out that other than the $60m he announced for works on the Princes Highway, Mr Tehan's position of influence within the Coalition government bore little budget fruit for the people of Wannon.

From the Whitlam and Hawke eras to now is a contrast of major reform agendas to a current situation of government by press release and Mr Tehan reduced to campaigning off the back of grants money, a humbling platform for a man who could be seen as one of the most powerful in the nation.

It seems certain Mr Tehan will retain his seat thanks to its deep conservative-voting history, favourable boundary changes and the policy 'tin ear' of a disenfranchised and early-voting public.

This means we are caught in a trap of our own making.

If the Coalition is swept from office on Saturday, Mr Tehan's political future as one of the most senior members of a political rump will ensure the benefits for the voters of the south-west will be even more unacceptably sparse than they have been.

As vigorous as he may say he will be in Opposition, he will not have access to Treasury funds and as one of the few of an eviscerated Liberal Party in Opposition, he will produce even fewer benefits for the region.

If the voters of Wannon turn history and statistics on their head and vote for Labor, there is no clarity on their position on our highways, rail, hospital upgrades or really anything else for that matter given candidate Maurice Billi has been virtually unsighted.

The people of the south-west do have a choice to make but they can hardly do so with any great sense of optimism.