Both sides of politics need to better explain their plans for managing issues associated with population growth before polling day, the Local Government Association of Queensland (LGAQ) has said.

LGAQ president, Cr Paul Bell, said little had been said about population growth since the start of the election campaign.

“The public deserves to get the detail of their plans before polling day,” Cr Bell said.

“We had the 10-minute teaser on a way forward early in the piece, but now we want to see what’s really behind their carefully-crafted and focus group-tested pitches to the community.”

Cr Bell said that communities on the urban fringes of capital cities wanted to know how the backlog of infrastructure and services was going to relieve pressures on the regions.

“With only seven days left to the election, neither side of politics has given us their urban and regional vision and plans for the future,” he said.

“We want to see how they will use migration settlement patterns, location of government employment, tax incentives and capital spending to promote decentralisation.”

“If it was important enough for Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott to mention population issues in their very first campaign interviews, then surely the public deserves to see all their cards laid out before polling day.”