Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull urges stability after Brexit vote

Australia will head to the polls for the federal election this Saturday, July 2.

The Coalition’s campaign launch stood out from Labor’s launch last week with attacks ads played against a bright blue backdrop in between opening addresses by Bishop and Barnaby Joyce before welcoming Turnbull with a video of his childhood and younger years with Lucy.

(Lukas Coch/Pool Photo via AP).

On Friday night Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said “tradition in the Liberal Party is that on matters of this kind, it is a free vote”. It comes from exactly the same sort of cynicism in policies that Mr Turnbull’s offering Australians at this election.

Australia’s only two surviving conservative prime ministers – John Howard and Tony Abbott – had front row seats at the campaign launch.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is vowing to prioritise talks with New Zealand on maximising opportunities – if his coalition is re-elected.

Turnbull said the first order of business, for when the Brexit occurs, would be to negotiate a free trade deal with Britain, as the current arrangement is made exclusively with the EU.

Mr Turnbull added that the impact on Australian trade deals in the short-term were likely to be “very limited” as it would take some years for Britain to negotiate its exit from the EU.

On Friday Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Britain’s expected European Union departure was a “momentous and historic decision”.

“Our clear economic plan is more essential than ever as we enter this period of uncertainty in global markets following the British vote to leave the European Union”.

Mr Howard is Australia’s second longest serving PM, lasting nearly 12 years before his government was defeated at 2007 elections.

Mr Turnbull is being briefed by Australian diplomats on the situation in Europe and told reporters on Monday the report would be presented to government early next week.

Australia’s politics have been turbulent in recent years, with a “revolving door” of those in charge.

Opposition leader Bill Shorten says the government is divided.

“If you only really know the leader of a minor party, but don’t know their candidates, if you don’t really know their policies, then don’t vote for them”, Mr Turnbull said. “He’s saying that he’s a weak man, and he says it’s a major lesson of the Brexit outcome in the United Kingdom is you need to elect a government which can deliver stability and unity”. But such Galaxy Research polls are usually nationwide with margins of error smaller than 3 percentage points. “Labor’s been calling for reform of the visa system, and today’s scandalous revelations require the Government to provide a full accounting immediately of the crisis in our visa system”.