Australian PM calls for August election

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced a date for the general election as predicted this weekend. Australians will go to the polls on August 21st, a mere 35 days away, which has had all the major parties scrambling to their election campaign organisers. Ms Gillard visited the Governor-General this morning to discuss the plans before announcing the date during a press conference at Parliament House. Ms Gillard has only been Prime Minister of Australia for three weeks but already her popularity has overtaken that of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. Her fans say that her tough talking on population, immigration and the economy have been her strengths.Ms Gillard meanwhile is keen to move away from the Labour government under Kevin Rudd, saying: We would go in to our second term with some lessons learnt. She also promised that there would be no big Australia Rudds controversial policy but instead a sustainable Australia.