Australians are headed to the polls to vote in a new Federal government.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has officially confirmed that Australia will go to the polls on Saturday July 2, now that Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove has given the nod of approval for a double dissolution election.
Turnbull confirmed his plans for a double dissolution election on Sunday night and says both house of Parliament will be dissolved on Monday.
Last month Turnbull announced plans for a double dissolution election after the Senate rejected legislation to re-establish the Australian Building and Construction Commission for a second time.
The restoration of the ABCC is a “very important part” of his party’s economic plan, Turnbull says, and the upcoming election will give Australians the opportunity to decide whether the resurrection of the building industry watchdog is necessary.
The election will be a “clear choice” for voters, Turnbull told reporters at Parliament House in Canberra.
"To keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labor, with its higher taxing, higher spending, debt and deficit agenda, which will stop our nation's transition to the new economy dead in its tracks,” Turnbull was quoted saying by the ABC.
"It is the most exciting time to be an Australian,” he says.
"But we must embark on these times, embrace these opportunities, meet these challenges, with a plan and we have laid out a clear economic plan to enable us to succeed."
Turnbull says "every measure" the Coalition had set out in last week’s Federal budget promotes stronger economic growth and more jobs.
"And that is why we are asking the Australian people for the privilege of governing this country for three more years to secure our prosperity, to secure our future," he says.
Turnbull’s 55-day election campaign focuses on jobs, growth and economic management, while cautions that at the election of a Labor government would "stop our nation's transition to the new economy dead in its tracks", Fairfax Media reported.
However, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has vowed protect schools, hospitals, workers' pay and conditions and to act on climate change, Fairfax reported.
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