Federal election and the economy...The main reason why - and it hasn't gotten any press, as of yet - that the election was called a full year before it was supposed to, is that the ruling party doesn't want to face the electorate when the economy gets into really bad shape, as it might well be a year from now. It has nothing to do with parliament being dysfunctional.
As we all know, and George Bush Senior found out in 1992, governments rarely, if ever, get re-elected when the economy is in the dumps.
Something to ponder.