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World / Americas

Australian PM Turnbull formally calls July 2 election

Published: 08 May 2016 - 08:36 am | Last Updated: 08 Nov 2021 - 02:51 am
Peninsula

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaks to the media during a news conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, May 8, 2016  AAP/Lukas Coch/via REUTERS 

 

SYDNEY: Australia will go to the polls on July 2 after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called an election that will likely focus on the flagging economy and hot-button issues like the country's tough asylum seeker policy.

Turnbull, whose Liberal-National coalition is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the centre-left Labor opposition, visited Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove in the
capital, Canberra, to seek the dissolution of both houses of parliament.

He told a media conference Australians faced a clear choice: "To stay 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."

Reuters