MELBOURNE, Australia (AA) – Australia’s parliament was dissolved Monday after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called a federal election for July 2.
News broadcaster ABC reported that the Governor General’s proclamation disbanding both houses was read by the office’s secretary Mark Fraser in Canberra, while Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten campaigned in northeast Queensland state.
The ruling Coalition’s deputy leader in Senate, Mathias Cormann, told ABC radio that the election would be “very close”.
“It’s an election where every single vote will matter,” he said. “And every single Australian will have to carefully weigh up their decision whether they’ll support our plans for jobs and growth or whether they want to put that at risk.”
On Sunday, Turnbull officially launched the nation’s longest election campaign since the 1960s, announcing the first double-dissolution election since 1987.
There have only been six such elections — which will see all 150 House of Representatives seats and 76 Senate places up for election — since the Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901.
It was triggered by a Senate deadlock April 18 that prevented the government pushing through two bills, the most significant of which would crack down on suspected union corruption in the building and construction sector.
While in the city of Brisbane on Monday, the prime minister continued to focus on jobs and growth, underlining the Coalition’s “economic plan” including how to address youth unemployment.
