Australian PM calls for September elections

Australia will go to the polls on September 14th. 

Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced this today. 

Typically, Australians will only know weeks before when an election will be held. 

So the announcement, which comes almost 9 months ahead, has surprised pundits. 

Ms Gillard said her intention for the early announcement of polls was to give individuals, businesses and investors the ability to plan ahead, 

She said it was not to start the nation's longest election campaign. 

For more this, 938LIVE's Reeta Raman spoke to Dr Ian Cook, a senior lecturer in politics and international studies at Murdoch University. 

She began by asking him to explain why Ms Gillard chose to make an early announcement of the polls.

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