By Sherry Yue Shi May 9th

Sydney The Poll date for Australia election has been officially confirmed on 2 July following one of the longest election campaigns in the history of Australia.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called the election several months earlier, and on Sunday he asked the Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, to dissolve both the upper and lower of parliament.

On Sunday afternoon, he announced “The governor-general has accepted my advice to dissolve both houses of parliament effective tomorrow morning, and call an election for both houses, a double dissolution, on 2 July.”

“At this election, Australians will have a very clear choice -- to keep the course, maintain the commitment to our national economic plan for growth and jobs, or go back to Labor with its high-taxing, higher spending, debt and deficit agenda, stop our nation's transition to the new economy dead in its tracks." Mr. Turnbull has fired the starting gun on the campaign.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has fired back standing for a “fair go” for all Australians, “A choice between Labor's positive plan for the future and three more years of dysfunction, dithering and disappointment," he reported.

Shorten said “I would fight the election on issues vital to millions of Australians “such as schools, medicare and climate change.

"Trust Labor to deliver better jobs and reasonable conditions. Trust Labor to stand up for schools, TAFE, childcare, universities. Trust Labor to protect Medicare and bulk billing," he said.

The first formal day of the 2016 election campaign, Coalition has a wafer-thin lead of 51-49 over the Labor in the latest Farefax-lpsos poll, the result is still difficult to predict.