Federal election set for September 14

Wednesday, 30 January 2013

From the AFR:

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced the federal election will be held on September 14, 2013 in a move she says is designed to give voters certainty and shift the focus from politics to policy.

A good move. Gives her high moral ground on the policy debate and inhibits Lord Kevin in-so-far-as he can’t run the leadership then call snap poll. Most importantly, it gets the election in ahead of the weakening second half economic data.

On the downside, it’s an eight month holiday for the public service. Boorah!

About the author

David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.