Early this morning, even before dawn broke, Australia’s Labor party prime minister, Anthony Albanese, asked the country’s governor-general to call a general election for Saturday 3 May. Albanese’s short drive to Government House in Canberra capped a week when his government brought down a budget, in response to which Liberal opposition leader Peter Dutton set out his stall as prime minister in waiting. Effectively, both leaders gave their critiques of each other, and outlined their policy manifestos.
It’s only day one, but the signs so far are it will be a bare-knuckle, five-week election campaign
This will be one of the closest and most unpredictable elections for years. All indications are that the likely result on 3 May will be three years of chaos and instability at a time when Australia’s economy is sputtering, and the international and regional environment is increasingly dangerous and unpredictable, with Xi Jinping’s China on the march and the Trump administration putting the reliability of the bedrock US alliance into doubt.
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