The Prime Minister of Australia calls for election next month

Julia Gillard the new Australian Prime Minister said Saturday that election would be held on Augst 21. “This election, I believe, presents Australians with a very clear choice,” she said. ”This election is about the choice as to whether we move Australia forward or go back.” In Canberra Julia Gillard presented her campaign platform and announced that the population will go to vote in a month. The new prime minister disposed of the former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on June 24. Gillard said that she wants the public’s approval and that’s the motive of the election. Julia Gillard was the deputy Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, but she was voted by the Labor Party to take the place of Rudd.

The response of the Conservative opposition was quick. Tony Abbott leader of the Conservative party said: “The prime minister wants to move forward because the recent past is so littered with her own failures”.

Tony Abbott said that the rapid ascension to the post of Prime Minister of Gillard should raise some question marks through the voters, he also said after the announcement of the elections that Gillard “has rushed to the polls before she’s established her credentials to govern”.

Why should people trust Julia Gillard when even Kevin Rudd couldn’t?” asked the conservative leader.

Even if the low unemployment rate is characteristic for Australia the country managed to avoid the recession during the worldwide crisis so the important piece of puzzle in the next election will be economic issues. “Moving forward of course means bringing the budget to surplus by 2013 — three years ahead of schedule, a surplus that I will protect in this election campaign by not going on an election spend-a-thon, by making sure that any promise we make to spend money is offset by a promise to save money,” said the Prime Minister.

While Julia Gillard promises to maintain the economy of the country strong, Abbot said that his government would end the investment of money in not-necessarily governmental departments. He assures the population that he will repay all debts of Australia and that will stop all the new taxes.

When she became Prime Minister, Julia Gillard a 48 years old lawyer, said that she knew that she was the first woman in Australia who gets to be in this position.

“I didn’t set out to crash my head on any glass ceilings; I set out to keep my feet on the floor”, said the Prime Minister.

Investment in renewable energy and solar power, introducing a new national curriculum that will reform the education system, were just a few of Gillard priorities.

Increasing taxes on mining companies was an idea that made a lot of controversy and opposition from the industry of mining and she announced that the leading companies in iron ore and coal mining from Australia agreed to pay a 30 percent tax on the profits they made. The “super profit”, the name of the tax, is a step back from what former Prime Minister Rudd wanted 40 percent tax on profit in all the mining industry.

Gillard is now in a strong position with a lot of chances to win the election because of the rapid resolution of the issues. In a month she managed to establish a good public approval in polls not like the conservative leader Abbot who is not doing so good.

56 % of people preferred the prime minister while 35 percent supports Abbot, said a poll made by the Herald.

In the run up to the election a lot of hard and upsetting question are made and Gillard says that she can handle all of them.

“I believe that election campaigns should test their leaders. I believe that we’ll all be tested in this election campaign,” she said.

Tony Abbottt said that he is set to win this election race, he said: “I expect this to be a filthy campaign from the Labor Party, but as far as I’m concerned, it will be hard, it will be fair and it will be clean”