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| Gillard sets Australia poll date of 14 September | Gillard sets Australia poll date of 14 September |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called a general election for 14 September. | Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has called a general election for 14 September. |
| Ms Gillard said that she would ask Governor-General Quentin Bryce to order parliament be dissolved on 12 August. | Ms Gillard said that she would ask Governor-General Quentin Bryce to order parliament be dissolved on 12 August. |
| She said the announcement - eight months in advance - was "not to start the nation's longest election campaign" but to give "shape and order" to the year. | |
| Ms Gillard leads a minority government that relies on independents. | |
| She said the rare long run-up to the election would allow individuals, businesses and investors to plan ahead. | |
| "It gives shape and order to the year, and enables it to be one not of fevered campaigning, but of cool and reasoned deliberation," she said. | |
| "I can create an environment in which the nation's eyes are more easily focused on the policies, not the petty politics. I can act so Australia's parliament and government serves their full three-year-term." | |
| The deadline for the election to be held was 30 November. The previous election, held in August 2010, left both parties short of a parliamentary majority. | |
| Ms Gillard, who leads the Labor Party, formed a coalition government with the support of the Greens and independent legislators. |