Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull fired the starting gun on Sunday on one of the longest election campaigns in Australia’s history, against the backdrop of a flagging economy and heated debate over sensitive political issues like asylum-seekers.
Mr Turnbull officially called federal elections for July 2, several months earlier than originally planned, using rarely invoked powers to dissolve both Houses of Parliament after the Upper House Senate repeatedly blocked government legislation.
The federal poll throws up the spectre of more political instability in Australia, where infighting among the leading parties has resulted in a revolving door to the top job at a time when Australia is trying to rebalance its economy away from a once-in-a-generation mining boom.
Mr Turnbull, considered a moderate in the conservative Liberal Party-led coalition government, became the fourth leader in two years when he deposed right-wing predecessor Tony Abbott in an internal party coup in September.
He goes to the polls as Australia, renowned for its almost unscathed survival of the global financial crisis, finally shows signs of a slowdown. Its future, once pegged to iron ore and steel, is now likely to hinge on its success in grabbing export markets for agriculture, education and pharmaceuticals in a rapidly modernising Asia.
“We live in an era when the scale and pace of economic change is unprecedented through all of human history,” Mr Turnbull said after setting the election in motion.
“In a few years more than half of the world’s middle class will be living in Asia,” Mr Turnbull said. “The opportunities for Australia are enormous.”
