Federal election 2019: Prime Minister Scott Morrison sets May 18 election date

Updated

Voters will go to the polls on May 18 to decide which party will form the next federal government.

Key points: Prime Minister Scott Morrison calls a federal election for May 18

He says voters have a "clear choice" between the Coalition and Labor's handling of the economy

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten vows to deliver "a fair go for Australians"

Prime Minister Scott Morrison visited Government House early this morning to ask Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove to trigger an election.

Mr Morrison said the election would offer a "clear choice" for voters between the economy the Coalition had overseen for the last six years versus "Bill Shorten's Labor Party".

He argued it had taken five years to repair the economy Labor left behind when it lost government in 2013.

"Now is not the time to turn back," he said.

"Keeping our economy strong is how we secure your future and your family's future.

"Keeping our economy strong ensures that we can secure your wage, your job, your business and, importantly, the business you are going to work for today."

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A brief ceremony outside Parliament House prorogued the 45th Parliament at 8:29am.

The Governor-General then dissolved the Parliament at 8:30am, which cancelled the Senate Estimates hearings that were due to commence at 9am.

Labor leader Bill Shorten took to Twitter as Mr Morrison called the election and said it was "ready to deliver a fair go for Australia".

"The case to vote Labor is we will deliver more jobs, better health and education, take real action on climate change and renewable energy and help push energy prices down," he said at a press conference in Melbourne.

"We'll get on top of cost of living burdens and we'll get wages moving again in this country.

"We can manage the economy in the interests of working and middle class people. My team is united. Australians face a real and vital choice at this election."

In making his pitch to voters, Mr Morrison channelled former prime minister John Howard and the "who do you trust" campaign slogan he made famous during the 2004 election.

"So the choice to be made by Australians on May 18 is like it always is at every election, and that is, who do you trust to deliver that strong economy which your essential services rely on?" Mr Morrison said.

"Who do you trust to deliver the strong economy and the budget management that these services can be funded, that the business that you work for will be there in three years, in five years, in 10 years?"

All MPs in the House of Representatives and half the Senate will face re-election.

With the Coalition having slipped into minority government last year, it will need to win seats if it wants to govern in its own right.

Mr Shorten shot back at Mr Morrison and posed a list of questions of his own to voters.

"Do you want Labor's energy, versus the Government's tiredness? Labor's focus on the future, versus being stuck in the past?" he said.

"Labor's positive plan for all Australians or a negative fear campaign from the other side? Do you want a united Government under Labor, or another three years of division following the last six years of division under the current Government?"

Notionally, the Coalition holds 73 seats and Labor 72 seats in the House of Representatives, which will expand to 151 seats at the election.

When voters last went to the federal polls, Malcolm Turnbull was the Liberal leader and prime minister. At the election before that, Tony Abbott held those titles.

But Mr Morrison said voters could be assured he would serve a full term, which would be a first for an Australian government in more than a decade, if the Coalition were to be re-elected.

The writs for an election will be issued today, with electoral rolls to close on April 18.

Candidates seeking election, in both the House and Senate, will have until April 23 to nominate.

The latest return date for the writs is June 28, ensuring the newly-elected senators' terms will begin on July 1.

Topics: government-and-politics, federal-government, federal-election, elections, federal-elections, australia

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